6 'Healthy Alternatives' That Are Actually Terrible For You

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The dream of every child, and an awful lot of adults, is that one day the world would wake up to find that chocolate was good for you, and it was broccoli that was unhealthy. The food groups would become cake, cookies, ice cream and candy. People could eat as much of any of them as they wanted and remain healthy. Unfortunately, that is not the world that exists today, and that world is unlikely to come into existence any time soon. Until then, people are left eating healthy food to keep their bodies in working condition and small bits of junk food to pacify their taste buds and control cravings.

Given the natural desire to have healthy food that tastes just as good as junk food or junk food that is just as good for you as healthy food, people are always very excited to find out about healthy alternatives to their favorite junk foods. Unfortunately, those “healthy” alternatives are sometimes just as bad as the things they are replacing. Here are six “healthy alternatives” that are actually terrible for you.

Artificial Sweeteners

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Avoid eating sugar and fat. This is pretty much the basic creed of healthy eating. Unfortunately, the human body is wired to enjoy sugar and fat as they were both excellent sources of energy and calories when humans were living in caves and hoping to catch a mammoth so the tribe could eat. Since most people no longer need to struggle to find enough food to meet their raw caloric intake needs, sugar and fat have become problematic cravings. That has not stopped people from enjoying the taste of sugar and fat.

Artificial sweeteners seemed like a gift from heaven. They taste like sugar without actually being sugar and are thus free from all the bad properties of sugar, right? Wrong. Artificial sweeteners are actually arguably worse for you than sugar. They are sweeter and contain fewer calories than sugar, but they bring a whole host of problems with them. Artificial sweeteners interfere with the body’s satiety hormones, leaving you more likely to overeat. They also increase your cravings for sweet things and can kill off the bacteria in your digestive tract that is necessary for good gastrointestinal health. This can lead to a depressed immune system, worsening or unstable moods and other issues. Artificial sweeteners also take twice as long to clear your system as sugar, meaning those cravings and sugar high stick around longer.

Veggie Chips

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There is not a human being that can eat a single potato chip and be satisfied. Anyone who says they can is either lying or bet someone a great deal of money that they could do it. Unfortunately, potato chips rank toward the top of the unhealthy food list. They are deep fried and drenched in salt. There is nothing even approaching healthiness in them.

Given how terrible potato chips tend to be for you, people were thrilled to hear about potato chips being made out of carrots, beets and sweet potatoes. Healthy potato chips were suddenly being created! Those “healthy” chips, however, are no healthier than ordinary potato chips. Normal potato chips are made from thin slices of potatoes, hence the name. Potatoes are healthy and good for you. As such, the problem is clearly not what the chips started out as. The problem is the method for creating chips. Veggie chips are made using just as much oil and salt as ordinary chips. They also are not usually made from slices of actual vegetables but are infused with ingredients like “carrot powder” and “evaporated beet juice.” You are better off eating either baked potato chips, which at least cut down on the oil somewhat, or simply minimizing how many chips you eat when you do break open a bag of Doritos.

Reduce Fat Peanut Butter

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Peanut butter is a favorite food of many Americans. It is a filling snack and tastes fabulous. Like the nuts from which it is made, however, peanut butter tends to be relatively high in fat. As such, many people try to avoid it when possible or replace it with the reduced fat versions available in many grocery stores. Although the logic behind the decision to choose reduced fat peanut butter is sound, it actually may be a worse decision than simply eating normal peanut butter. Reduced fat peanut butter contains the same number of calories as normal peanut butter but is much higher in sugar. In addition to the increased amount of sugar found in reduced fat peanut butter, the fat that is removed from reduced fat peanut butter is actually the sort of fat that is good for you. It contains omega-6 fatty acids and oleic acid, both of which have health benefits. Unfortunately, reduced fat peanut butter removes both those nutrients in addition to being a far more processed, and thus chemical laden, food.

Granola

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Granola is a favorite among health gurus. It adds a little crunch to otherwise bland seeming foods and helps make breakfasts that consist mainly of fruit and yogurt seem a little more filling. Unfortunately, it is also a terrible health choice. Many granolas tout that they contain oats, flaxseed, chia seeds, nut pieces and other healthy ingredients. They fail to mention that those healthy ingredients are often heavily processed in order to keep them shelf-stable during the long life of granola. There may also be large amounts of salt used to keep granola good for longer. To make matters worse, many granolas and granola bars contain copious amounts of sugar. In fact, many granola bars have as much sugar as the average candy bar. If you wanted to be healthy, you would not crumble up a Milky Way to mix in with your oatmeal, but when you use granola, you are pretty much doing exactly that.

Smoothies

Who does not love a good smoothie in the summer time? They are rich, filling, refreshing and wonderfully cool during the hottest months of the year. Given that they are made with fruit, they are a healthy alternative for lunch or breakfast on the go, right? Not necessarily. Homemade smoothies that contain only fresh fruit, Greek yogurt and ice are certainly a healthy snack. Unfortunately, most people do not make their own smoothies from scratch. Instead, they tend to rely on store-bought smoothies. It is easier, and those smoothies often taste better anyway. There is a reason for that. Store-bought smoothies often contain extra fat and loads of sugar meaning you may as well be having a milkshake for lunch.

Even a homemade, healthy smoothie is not a good alternative to a simple lunch or breakfast. Smoothies tend to contain little to no fiber or protein which are both required to keep you feeling full for longer periods of time. As such, you may chug down a massive smoothie right before work only to be hungry an hour later. This can easily lead to you overeating throughout the day.

Gluten Free Anything

The creation of gluten free foods was a wonderful thing for the small percentage of the population that suffers from gluten intolerance and celiac disease. The bizarre trend that equates “gluten free” with “healthy” is not so wonderful. Ordinary people who can digest gluten tend to think that gluten free foods are automatically more healthy and thrill in the idea that they can eat as many bagels and biscuits as they like without consequences. This, however, is a patently false notion. Gluten free foods usually contain just as many calories as those that include gluten. Gluten free foods, however, tend to be much more heavily processed. Those processes tend to lead to a loss of nutrients in gluten free foods. To make matters worse, a diet entirely devoid of gluten can actually lead an otherwise healthy person to develop a gluten intolerance as their body forgets how to digest and process gluten.

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Replacing unhealthy ingredients and foods in your diet is an admirable goal and usually a good thing. Unfortunately, some of those supposedly “healthy” alternatives are nothing of the sort. As such, you have to pay close attention to what is really in the food you consume instead of relying on its reputation as a health food. Given that no one really wants to research every ingredient in their granola bar when they are hungry, it is probably best to keep your rules for healthy eating simple. Consume mainly fresh fruits, vegetables and lean meat or fish. Then, when you are really craving that cookie, eat the cookie. When it comes to food, moderation usually works better than elimination.

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