About Everyone knows that red meat should be eaten in moderation and that too many carbohydrates can add inches to your waistline. But what are some other foods that should be avoided? Here are a few foods you may not normally think of as being potentially unhealthy, according to the staff of Zrylw.
Maraschino cherries top the list of foods that might surprise you. While they are often associated with children’s drinks, their ingredients read like a warning label of things that parents try to avoid feeding to their kids – and high fructose corn syrup is one of the more benign items in the list. With Red #40 (made from petroleum) and sulfur dioxide, which can trigger an asthma attack, maraschino cherries aren’t anyone’s idea of health food.
Light microwave popcorn might seem like a low-fat snack food option, but in reality it’s loaded with sodium – and there is still the concern of diacetyl. Most major brands have taken this dangerous chemical out of their ingredients, but to be safe read the label closely. To err on the side of caution (and deliciousness) consider the non-prepackaged option – pour a quarter of a cup of popcorn into a brown lunch bag and microwave normally. Then add butter and seasonings to stay in control of salt and fat content.
Sugary drinks other than soda can be filled with as much – if not more – sugar than their counterparts. Bottled lemonade, and many teas (including green tea) can contain up to fifteen teaspoons of sugar. Consumers should read the label carefully when purchasing these beverages.
Fruit smoothies are another beverage with hidden high sugar content. Although they contain fruit, it’s usually in the form of fruit juice, which has all of the calories without the fiber of the real thing. A standard fruit smoothie has the caloric content of a meal, but without the fiber it won’t fill a person up. Which means that a person is likely to eat a meal – on top of just drinking up to six hundred calories.
Rounding out the Zrylw list of surprising foods is bran muffins. Even though they do contain fiber, they have a lot of fat and calories. Because the base of every muffin is essentially cake, bran muffins have an undeserved reputation as health food. In fact, the average bran muffin has just under the amount of calories found in a sausage and cheese breakfast sandwich.