Healthy eating
8 foods that are not as healthy as you think
© Africa Studio / Shutterstock
We like to classify foods as “healthy” and “unhealthy”. But it’s not always that easy – because some foods are not healthy at all, as we always thought.
Fruits and vegetables are good for us, sweets are harmful – right? Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple. As the famous physician Paracelsus already knew: The dose makes the poison. Because there are foods that are very healthy for us in small quantities, but can also harm us in large quantities. In addition, no two people are the same – and our diet is therefore also a very individual matter.
Nevertheless, there are some foods on whose health benefits experts can agree. And some who are actually not as healthy as we always thought.
These 8 foods are less healthy than you think
1. Peas
Peas are one of the most starchy vegetables. So they have a much higher carbohydrate and calorie content than other vegetables. So you should be moderate with peas if you want to eat a balanced diet.
2. Broccoli
Cruciferous broccoli has many health benefits — it’s low in calories and high in vitamins B, C, and K, as well as calcium and potassium. But: Broccoli is also very high in fiber, and we can only digest this fiber in the large intestine. This can lead to digestive problems such as bloating. So if you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, for example, you should be careful here.
3. Agave Syrup
Agave syrup or agave syrup is very popular as an alternative to sugar. But is it really that much healthier? Not necessarily. Because yes: agave syrup contains fewer calories and less glucose than table sugar – that doesn’t drive up the blood sugar level as quickly. However, agave syrup has a lot of fructose, and in large quantities it is just as unhealthy as glucose.
4. Fruit
Speaking of sugar: When it comes to fruit, most people only think of the health-promoting vitamins. In fact, fruit is often very sugary, especially dates, cherries or bananas and dried fruit in general. You should therefore enjoy these fruits in moderation and eat more of low-sugar fruits such as berries. And: This hidden sugar is of course also found in smoothies, juices and fruit yoghurt.
5. Eggplant
Eggplants have some health benefits because they are low in calories and high in fiber. But they can soak up fat and spices when cooking – and thus become a hidden calorie trap. So you should pay attention to what you combine the vegetables with.
6. Rice
We often consider rice to be the lighter source of carbohydrates than pasta, for example. But how healthy it really is depends primarily on the way the grain of rice is processed. With classic white rice, the husk, the so-called silver skin and the germ are removed – so only the starchy kernel of the rice grain remains and the white rice has hardly any nutrients.
So-called parboiled rice is a bit healthier because it is soaked and treated with steam pressure before it is peeled. In this way, the nutrients migrate to the interior of the grain, and the rice still retains around 80 percent of its vitamins and minerals. Whole grain rice, also known as brown rice, is the healthiest. Because here the grain remains whole and still contains all the beneficial vitamins, fiber and co.
7. Low-fat + light products
Many people like to use diet products and light variants of foods such as yoghurt, cheese and Co. Unfortunately, these are usually not really healthier than the full-fat variants, because the manufacturers like to compensate for the missing fat with sugar or sweeteners.
8. Vegetable oils
Many people fear an increased risk of cardiovascular disease when using butter, which is why they prefer to use rapeseed oil or sunflower oil for frying and cooking. The problem with vegetable oils: they are rich in unhealthy polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acids. For example, if they are not balanced by the healthier omega-3 fatty acids, they can promote inflammation in the body. These oils are also often highly processed – the organic version or other fats such as avocado or olive oil are always healthier.
Sources used: quarks.de, codecheck.info, utopia.de