Supposed 'healthy' foods that are loaded with sugar/salt?

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Replies

  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    I fancied something chocolatey yesterday, so I went for a "Go-Ahead" chocolate thin.

    The large numbers on the front of teh pack said 70 calories.

    In smaller writing it adds "per slice"

    So those 2 little snack slices came to a rather hefty 140 calories, and even more shockingly 27 g carbs, just in one snack! I'd have been better off with a Flake.
  • Shadowknight137
    Shadowknight137 Posts: 1,243 Member
    I'd have been better off with a Flake.

    You're always better off with a Flake, Flake's are awesome. <3
  • trud72
    trud72 Posts: 1,912 Member
    ALOT of food labled HEALTHY are rubbish for instance weight watchers cakes,pittas,are the same as "normal" ones if you look at the calories! :sad: total waste of money.
    If YOU cook it from scratch you know whats in it is my motto! :wink:
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    Factory fruit juices. What a waste of calories. :tongue:
  • shaunap3
    shaunap3 Posts: 206 Member
    I'm guilty of having a freezer full (for emergency, on the run, lunch alternatives) but any of the Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice type meals are all horrifically loaded with sodium. I always drink LOTS of water when I have one. :/

    And anything SlimFast or similar in brand is loaded with sugar. I bought a chocolate powder mix on an impulse assuming it would be "good" for me. Then my boyfriend brings home a huge container of whey protein powder. Quadrupedal the protein, wayyy less sugar, less calories AND it tastes better. Who knew.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,221 Member
    I am always surprised by the amount of foods on supermarket shelves marketed as 'healthy' but contain masses of sugar and salt!? I'm not quite sure how they even get away with calling themselves 'light' or 'healthy'!

    Any foods in particular that you have been put off by properly studying the nutritional information?

    For me it is definitely certain cereal, pasta sauces and soups. I used to eat the soups and pasta sauces all the time when I was 'dieting'.. definitely not any more!

    Just to add, I am currently researching for my dissertation on this topic so any opinions you have I may reference to, if this is an issue please just say and I will not include your comment! I am very interested in what you all think though :-)
    Supermarkets are designed by food psychologists and marketing genius's. Packaging, positioning and pricing are paramount for separating you from your money. Light and healthy directly correlates with the increase in our waistlines and the need to fix it. Terms like healthy will be correlated to undesirable ingredients like fat, cholesterol, added sugar, refined grain etc and light with calories and sometimes color like olive oil. The basic dissection of nutrition into components like macro's and micronutirents has spawned a desire in people to fix their overweightness with all the new foods and nutritional awareness that will cover just about any concern they might have. Basically bull shyt baffles brains, is very much alive and well. An unfortunately and ironically, that information is based on a lot of very flawed data.
  • animemoon5
    animemoon5 Posts: 55 Member
    The thing that amazes me is how quickly you really can "un-train" yourself to expect those strong sweet/salty flavors. After giving up sugar and added salt, I'm amazed at how much flavor is in things I never noticed before. Fruits and veggies are more satisfying because I can actually taste their subtlety now. I wish manufactures would realize that they could save money and make healthier food by weaning us off sugar and salt en masse by gradually lowering how much they use in their products.

    Although I still have issues with salt, i must say that I certainly noticed this with things like butter and cheese! Take potatoes for example... I would eat baked potatoes "Loaded" with everything, bacon, cheese, butter etc.... Or whenever I would buy instant mashed potatoes, they would be the hydrogenated "Buttery" or "Four cheese" flavors..... When I finally got off of that stuff..... Well heck, potatoes for me right now don't need butter, or cheese or anything for that matter.... when I have mashed potatoes, that's exactly what they are ;p regular plain potatoes "Mashed" and I'm completely fine with it.... foods that I used to insist upon having grated cheese over them, are fine without.....

    Actually as I've been learning to stretch out my calories, I find when I offer some to my husband to taste, the first thing he tells me is "Needs more cheese! Needs butter... needs this and that!" =x I'm thinking "what? there is 1/4 a serving of cheese in there! you can't taste that? ;p " lol...

    Back on the subject.... I agree with anything pre-packaged or processed... those "Lean" TV dinners with a hundred ingredients, those low-fat foods that replace good fats, with sugar.... Or even some sugar free stuff that replace sugar with other chemical ridden artificial ingredients.....
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
    Cereal
    Canned Soup
    Stock cubes (I was especially shocked at stock cubes, the ones I used on a regular basis had virtually your whole days sodium allowance in one)
    Baked beans (I always thought were fairly good for you (for canned food) but they are also high in sodium)

    Tbh most processed food is high in salt and/or sugar. I don't eat 'clean', but I have cut down the amount of processed foods I eat by some way and I feel a lot better for it.

    What annoys me is why they have to load every meal in a restaurant with salt. There are plenty of other herbs and spices you can use!
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Smoothies.
  • baileysmom4
    baileysmom4 Posts: 242 Member
    natural cheese
    frozen bagged chicken breasts (OMG!) People think they are so tasty and tender but then look at the sodium they have injected into them. Ugh.....
  • jaybird90
    jaybird90 Posts: 18
    I would be really grateful to anyone who could fill out this questionnaire for me & help me with my dissertation! the questionnaire is about consumer use & opinions of nutrition labels, and health & nutrition claims made on food products.

    thank you!!

    http://edu.surveygizmo.com/s3/1162995/Consumer-Behaviour-br-Nutrition-Labels-and-Nutrition-amp-Health-Claims-on-Food-Products
  • KatjaO
    KatjaO Posts: 71
    Most things the manufacturer must label healthy is some horrendously unhealthy to begin with that making it lite will do nothing. Real unprocessed foods, for most part, do not need those labels.

    Things that have healthy reputation but are not at all are things like cranola and bran muffins. And like a pp suggested anything with a cartoon character on it! Or Have you ever looked at the sugar in organic Stonyfield products?? I now skip anything by them. Ridiculous! Or how about things that say made with whole grain or from real fruit? Usually sugar coated cereal or jam filled cookie or cracker. I guess I could take a spec of spinach and stick it to a sinckers bar before deepfrying it can call it healthy....

    Is the survey for folk in the UK only?
  • majope
    majope Posts: 1,325 Member
    Sugar and salt are not unhealthy as part of a balanced diet.
    This.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,221 Member
    Your just confusing processed diet food with whole food.
  • sisierra
    sisierra Posts: 659 Member
    slim fast and special k protein shakes. most yogurts, that damn granola lol
  • litatura
    litatura Posts: 569 Member
    Sugar and salt are not unhealthy as part of a balanced diet.
    This.

    Yup. Also, there's a difference between natural sugar (ie. fruit) and added sugar. That's why, as others mentioned, reading the ingredients is key.
  • YouAreTheShit
    YouAreTheShit Posts: 510 Member
    There is an entire Food Sciences Industry that exists for no other reason than to chemically engineer flavors and tastes and textures that are the most appealing to we humans. Their clients are big and small food manufacturers all over the world. These manufacturers buy these recipes and incorporate them into their products.

    And guess what? These recipes are incredibly tasty!!

    But, you know what else? These foods may end up killing us and our brothers and our sisters, etc. Food is big business. Manufacturers aren't concerned about our health and well being. That's what Big Pharma is for. Let them create and sell the drugs needed to survive the chemically engineered foods we are consuming. They are more than happy to help us with our processed and unhealthy food addictions.

    As a general rule, I try to eat only those foods that exist in nature in their raw form. That means no boxes or cans, and very few sealed bags.

    I am not perfect in eliminating it all from my diet. I am trying. It's just plain hard sometimes. But everyday I get a little closer to eliminating more and more unhealthy choices from my diet. So far there are quite a lot of things that will never touch my lips again. I don't know if I'll live any longer for getting rid of them. I sure hope so. But the peace of mind I have for trying is everything to me.
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
    Sugar and salt are not unhealthy as part of a balanced diet.

    ^ This...
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    Sugar and salt are not unhealthy as part of a balanced diet.

    ^ This...

    This x10000000!!
  • fkwilhelm
    fkwilhelm Posts: 42 Member
    it is easy for me to say this because I enjoy cooking, but as a rule of thumb: Do not buy anything with more than 5 ingredients (if you are in North America, this may be tough - I remember even cottage cheese having a substantial ingredient list).

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