Redditor Xirkil wanted everyone to discuss the menu and all of its pitfalls, so they asked:
"What food do people mistakenly consider healthy?"
The list is long.
Let's start compiling.
Bad Water
50 cent drinks GIF by MTV CribsGiphy"Vitamin Water. My dentist calls it 'sugar water.'"
suhurley
"It’s part of my hangover cure, has been since college. I believe the unhealthiness goes well with a McDonalds McDouble lol."
namasteanddietcoke
I Can't Say
"My coworker brags about how she quit drinking soda because its so unhealthy and instead drinks 6 Gatorades a day. I don't have the heart to tell her."
Zanzaclese
"I legit gave myself Edema from drinking a bunch of Gatorade regularly--it wasn't as caloric because it was the low or no sugar varieties--without enough physical activity or another method to sweat the electrolytes out or enough water to flush them out."
"It was crazy when my doctor asked about my beverage consumption habits and that's the diagnosis I walked out with. A treatment of diuretic and avoiding the sports drinks unless I've been sweating a lot or at least sparingly and my hands, arms, and feet returned to their normal size lol."
blackenedEDGE
So Many Calories
"Based on a lot of the comments it seems it needs to be stated that if something is high in calories or fats doesn’t mean it’s inherently unhealthy. Eating 400 calories of almonds is a lot more filling and nutritious than 400 calories of Cheetos."
Halonos
"The shocking one for me was the peanut butter. I’m one of those people who will just grab myself a heaping spoonful as a 'snack.' And I’ll think 'Welp, a bit of protein would be great!' I’m probably downing f**king 500 calories with one mouthful."
CanWeAllJustCalmDown
From the Sea
"I read about a case where a guy was told to eat more fish, because of his heart health. But he only put on weight and his cholesterol, blood pressure and whatnot only got worse and worse. So the doctor asked a bit more carefully about his diet and the guy admitted to eating a lot of creamed fish soups, like chowder. So he was adding a little bit of seafood and a huge amount of cream to his diet. Not a good way to lose weight or lower your cholesterol!"
internet_commie
Low Quality
Sipping Lights Out GIF by Lights Out with David SpadeGiphy"Fruit juice often has as much sugar as a soda."
friendweiser
"It's only redeeming quality is that it has a few vitamins. Cutting out fruit juice helped me lose a lot of weight."
edlee98765
The fruit juice truth kills me.
Moderation
Ice Cream GIF by CallMeKatFOXGiphy"Frozen Yogurt. It might be better for you than ice cream but you still need to have it in moderation."
GrimmRetails
Alternatives
"Gluten free alternatives and gluten free diet in general. Obviously healthier if you have celiac/gluten intolerance as I do. Might also be healthier if you just cut gluten products out of your existing diet without adding replacements (essentially just becomes a low carb diet). But it’s amazing the number of people who think just switching all the junk in their diet to versions made with rice flour is going to magically make it way healthier."
ben121frank
All Lies
"Breakfast cereal. Grew up with the idea of it being 'part of a nutritious breakfast.' It's all lies. They might as well be donuts. Much like donuts, doesn't prevent me from loving the stuff."
CirothUngol
"I eat cereal for dessert. Never in the morning, but I will have a bowl after dinner when I have a sweet tooth."
Pamplemousse96
Bad Wisdom
"Completely excluding (natural) fats, sugars, etc. from their diets. You want a balanced diet, and excluding these often lead to eating more processed foods or a lack of protein or vitamins."
3ternaldumpsterfire
"It's outdated nutrition wisdom. back when they were trying to figure out why obesity was on the rise the processed sugar lobby tried to blame fat and that's why there's a market for low fat and fat free food."
"Now we know that sugar is the main culprit for obesity. it doesn't mean you should drink a cup of bacon grease every day, but nobody really does that (well some people do but they're weirdos and it's not common), but people do the equivalent of that with sugar all the time."
veenell
Six to ELEVEN
snacks offer GIF by safefoodGiphy"According to the food pyramid when I was a kid, grains/bread. Six to ELEVEN servings a day?!"
smugfruitplate
Time to be smarter about our diets and learn more about the food we get our fuel from.
Get Undressed.
GiphyThose salads at fast food restaurants. It's mainly the dressing. CalcifersMyHero
Between dressing, deep fried 'crispy' chicken, croutons and cheese that salad is a seriously dense calorie bomb
Think of it this way. If you took that handful of lettuce out what have you got on your plate? Hugh_Jampton
Drink No.
Bottled fruit juices. Tartokwetsh
Really depends on what you put in them. Yogurt and berries don't magically change how healthy they are just because you put them in a blender, but if you start adding juice, higher sugar fruits, etc, that can changed pretty quickly. neobeguine
Low is High.
"Low Fat" or "Fat Free" foods would taste terrible if left as is, so manufacturers add a lot more sugar. awesome_opossum1212
If a food is labeled as "Low" in one of these, it most likely has extra of the other two. remberzz
Iced.
Don't know if anyone thinks Nutella is healthy any more but they were advertising as such for a while before getting in trouble. It's literally chocolate icing. GenerallySalty
Fun fact! Chocolate icing has less fat, calories, and sugar then Nutella. nagol93
General Mills.
Cereal. They tell you it's part of a complete breakfast, but this lady i used to work with worked at General Mills. They had to monitor the sugar content in the cereals to ensure it did not go past 49% I think, or else it legally became candy. Not a perfect answer, but with so many cereals trying to promote health, you need to remember this. Commander_Shepard_
Not so Zero.
VitaminWater has over 32g of sugar per bottle. It's essentially sugar water. So not only is it gross tasting but it's not even good for you. JeromesNiece
"The zero on the label refers to how much water is in it, which is zero. If you want zero calorie water, try Diet Water Zero Light, it has only 60 calories." -Paunch Burger Quintex78
Just Candy....
GiphyI have a friend with an insatiable sweet tooth and she started eating fruit snacks to replace candy and I had to tell her "these are literally just candy..." I'm honestly shocked she doesn't have (pre)diabetes yet, her sugar intake is insane and she's 37. Walknasty
Bad Crunch.
Granola bars- I have no idea where the healthiness perception of these things come from, but they're basically just empty carbs and sugar.
If you're on a hike, yeah they're a great option to keep you going, but when I see people snacking on them at the office, I'm just like "why." Shuckles116
I think the healthiest part of a Nature Valley bar is the crumbles that fall to the floor, preventing you from consuming them. bacon-is-sexy
Bacteria.
I brought in a bottle of Kombucha to my micro lab and took a sample under the microscope. It was like house of a thousand corpses. There were 5 maybe 6 alive bacteria but they weren't living their best life. They were hardly moving. Many bacteria corpses though. (and yes I made sure to check the expiration date, keep the bottle chilled in the correct temperature, i didn't shake or agitate it, I wanted this to work). We also took some Activia yogurt under the microscope and saw lots of happy little bacteria being helpful little probiobros. theWildBore
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