Supposedly Healthy Foods That Aren’t So Healthy After All

Eating healthily is hard. Common misconceptions about food make it difficult to make smart choices. And many supposedly healthy foods are actually really bad for you.

Here are some foods that you might think are healthy, but that you should probably avoid…

Fruit Juices and Smoothies

Even 100% fruit juice is loaded with sugar. And when you drink juice instead of eating fruit whole, you’re consuming all of the sugar and none of the healthy fiber you probably aren’t getting enough of in the first place.

You’re almost always better off eating the fruit and not just drinking its juice.

Low-Fat Ready Meals

A lot of ready meals bill themselves as “low fat”, which is meant to entice to hungry dieters. Without fat in these foods, though, manufacturers use something else to make them tasty: loads of added sugar. And it’s sugar, rather than fat, that makes the body store extra fuel for later.

You’re better off eating a smaller portion of a fatty meal, or, better yet, avoid ready meals altogether and make something from scratch.

Protein Bars

Want to fill your stomach quickly with something healthier than a candy bar? You might be tempted to reach for a protein bar. But most protein bars contain just as much sugar as candy. And you’ll get only a few extra grams of protein.

The rest of the bar is made up of trans fat (the bad kind of fat), sugar and other fillers. A better solution is a purer form of protein, like eggs, meat, beans or legumes, or the best protein bars with simple ingredients.

Peanut Butter

You may have heard that peanut butter is a healthy snack rich in protein. That can be true, but the peanut butter you’re buying may less than healthy. Because most popular brands of nut butter add a lot of sugar. Look at the ingredients list.

If you want to avoid the unhealthy stuff, buy a brand whose ingredients don’t go far beyond just nuts and salt.