Everyone wants to be healthier, after all a healthy person is a happy person they say. With the advent of health and exercise being something that everyone is concerned with, health food is a big must for a lot of people. However companies are starting to take advantage of that and started releasing some rather unhealthy food that is marketed otherwise. At the very least they could be shown to you in a rather different light, that makes you put it in your grocery basket, but let’s take a closer look at these deceivingly unhealthy food that you really need to avoid.

Smoothies – You’d think that this is a good way to really get your needed fruits and maybe even some vegetables, but unfortunately in most cases a smoothie is something we can count on as an unhealthy food. In order to make some smoothies more palatable and a lot more salable, they add a ton of sugar that cannot be good for you, in fact some of them have so much sugar it’s like you’re drinking a milkshake, which is a large bulk of the calories you need for the entire day. I’d rather recommend you make your own healthy smoothie at home.

Sushi – I know that this is somewhat a shock for a lot of people, after all sushi is thought to be less processed and rather healthy. I wouldn’t say it’s a completely unhealthy type of food however it depends on what and where you order something. While the basic and delicious regular sushi is great, there are a lot of variations that uses a ton of mayonnaise, cheese, fried items and so much more. While this potentially unhealthy food can seem harmless as most can be eaten in a single bite, it can pile on the more you eat and the more fried items or creamy sauces are mixed in to each sushi, so just be weary and you’ll be alright.

Rather than pre-packed goods, go for homemade as much as possible as you would have control over the calorie and sugar intake of the food you will eat.

Turkey and veggie burger – Shocked? I’m pretty sure you are, but don’t worry not all turkey and veggie burgers are unhealthy food items, at least it depends where and what you get once more. There are products out there with a shockingly high amount of calories in each patty, let’s not forget about the toppings, fries and so on. These can really pile on and eventually you’ll be eating your intended daily calorie intake in one sitting. Take the time to read the packaging and know what you are consuming.

Pre-packed yogurt – With fruit in the bottom of the cup is rather high in sugar, almost soda can sugar high if you catch my drift. I love yogurt and fruits, but I tend to avoid the pre-packed items as I know that they add quite a bit of sugar in them, it makes it more palatable and of course it is so much easier to sell something sweet to the consumer. Make sure you avoid this unhealthy food simply by getting plain yogurt and getting fresh fruit from your local market, you’ll be fine and the freshness just brings it to another level.

Granola – Yes the go-to healthy food of a lot of people, can turn dangerously unhealthy if you aren’t careful with your proportions. Make sure to watch your intake with this as it’s so easy to overeat and if you go overboard with the mix, you’ll also be consuming too much sugar. Pre-packaged ones are even more dangerous as they usually pile on the sugar content into it to make it easier to eat for a lot of people, in the end the safest way to eat granola is to make it yourself which isn’t too terribly hard to do plus the freshness can’t be beat.

Salad – The salad option has really launched off into a diversity unseen before, when you used to go to a restaurant they would have a viand or two as appetizers, nowadays you can see an entire restaurant dedicated to salads. As healthy of a food this is, it can quickly turn unhealthy just as fast, so be weary of your salad. The calories can pack on depending on what is in your salad, plus the dressing is a big contention for calories, sugar and much more. Make sure you watch your dressing as that can really be the one that can make your salad a food that is healthy to something rather unhealthy. 

Sports drinks – If by some chance you think this is a healthy drink or better than juice, I’m afraid to burst your bubble. Although not really considered part of the food group, I wanted to make sure that you know that sports drinks are unhealthy for you. Once again it depends what you get but if you don’t really get into sports or exercise a lot, you are just accumulating unneeded sugar in your body, especially if this is your everyday go-to drink. So unless you’re rather active, which I hope you are, sports drinks are a no-no, in fact even if active go for water instead. It’s delicious, refreshing and has no sugar, pretty much what you want in a drink.

It’s the dressing and the sides that add up to the unhealthiness of food sometimes.

Fat-free items – Speaking of unhealthy food, items packaged with the words: ‘fat-free’ is something a lot of us buy, but we don’t really realize that while it is fat-free, in fact in some cases, it is reduced fat only, the calories inside of that particular pre-packaged food is full of calories. Calories and fat are not the same, so marketing experts use that confusion to their advantage. Read the label and know what you are getting to make sure your healthy food stays that way and doesn’t turn into an unhealthy habit.

Trans fat free – The idea of being trans frat free is to have less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving, which pretty much allows a lot of products to get away with murder. And yes I used the word murder because it pretty much is, just because the particular food item you are looking at says trans fat, you tend to go for it, but be weary that it could still be very unhealthy for you.

Whole wheat anything – While I completely agree that whole wheat is better than processed stuff, in the end though people end up eating more of these types of food, thinking this is healthy for us but with over consumption it ends up becoming rather unhealthy. Once more take the time to really read the packaging of each type of food you buy to make sure that you are not getting an unhealthy meal packaged in a healthy masquerade.

And there we have it, some of the most deceiving food options out there, they can really catch you off guard and because of that you can end up eating more than you should or consuming more than you originally need, thinking it is healthy and sadly learning how unhealthy that meal really was. Become a smart shopper and consumer, read the labels and know what you are putting into your body, your body deserves that much care. Stay healthy!