These common foods that are considered “healthy” may not actually be serving your goals.
In some cases, you might be missing out on important nutrients.
At worst, the products may have some potential health consequences.
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Other consideration that should be a priority when it comes to food: taste and enjoyment.
Read on to hear which healthy foods registered dietitians recommend you skip and what to choose instead.
If youre avoiding fat in dairy with heart health in mind, rest easy.
The flavor and mouthfeel will also be a bit different.
Margarine
Contrary to popular belief, margarine is not always better than butter.
As a spread, olive oil is delicious on toast or stirred into vegetable or grain dishes.
Olive oil and avocado oil are both low in saturated fat and high in heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acids.
Plant-Based Energy Drinks
Just because something is ‘plant-based’ doesnt mean its automatically a healthy choice.
She explains, “Theres no magic to their energy-boosting effectsthey contain caffeine just like coffee and tea.
Her recommendation: Id skip these drinks and pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea instead.
If coffee is too much of a jolt, have tea or matcha.
Plus, the combo of substances ingreen teaand matchaincluding caffeine and l-theanineproduces a calming effect while enhancing thinking skills.
There are tons of benefits to incorporating more plants into your diet.
However, from a health perspective, you want to choose your plant proteins mindfully.
Many of the fake meat products on the market come with high sodium content.
Within the category there are varying degrees of processing with some of the imitation meats containing lab-made ingredients.
My favorite burger alternative isDr.
Praegers Perfect Burger, which is made with a pea protein derivative and 4 types of veggies.
It has 20 grams of protein and just 1 gram of saturated fat.
Sometimes sugar is replaced with lower-calorie sugar alcohols that can cause digestive distress.
There isnt goodevidencethat these sugar substitutes help you manage weight or blood sugar over time.
This is why theWHOadvises against these sweeteners for long-term weight control and disease prevention.
Instead of relying on these sweeteners, she suggests, Try making a lower-sugar treat using naturally sweet fruit.
For example, sliced, frozen bananas and dates are delicious with nut butter and chocolate chips on top.
Unlike sugar-free desserts, these foods supply valuable nutrients like fiber, potassium, and magnesium.
Theres also a behavioral component to consider with the sugar-free, lower-calorie desserts.
Ever found your spoon scraping the bottom of a pint of Halo Top, again?
Plus, fat-free dressings may have other additives, such as gums and starches, to improve the texture.
This means adding herbs and spices, as well as salt and pepper, or various dips and dressings.
Itssuper-easy to make your own dressing.
If creamy dressing is your thing, use plain yogurt as a base and add spices for flavor.
This is bad news for blood sugar management.
Granola bars are among theleading sources of added sugarin our diets, but the sugar content varies widely.
Ive seen granolabarswith more added sugar than a fun-size candy bar.
The goal is to choose a bar with whole food ingredients and a tame amount of added sugar.
The bottom line is: No food ever needs to be truly off-limits (unless youre allergic).
