It is not only alternative food and food bloggers, but also farmers' markets and health food stores that play a huge role in spreading awareness, information and up-to-date knowledge about healthy food. Many of the enthusiasts are ahead of many nutrition and medical experts. While experts fed the anti-fat hysteria, practitioners in the field recommended eating the highest quality foods and avoiding highly industrialized products, unnecessary additives and agrochemical residues. And they were right.
Today, even most experts recommend giving preference to real food. In Brazil, for example, they even have national dietary recommendations based on food quality. Thanks are due to the pioneers who promoted real food in our country years before today's fashionable wave. But be warned, that doesn't mean that everything that is labeled as healthy and that you find on the shelves of a health food store is actually beneficial. I also find products in many stores that I would never buy - and I don't recommend you do either.
Masked junk food
Which "healthy products" should we avoid? I welcome you to add to my list the unhealthy foods you have found in health food stores.
- Extrudates are a variety of cereals processed using high temperatures and pressures, for example, they can be in the form of crisp slices. They are preferred by people losing weight and recommended as diet products by nutritionists. They are lightweight. The fact that they have a high glycaemic index, are usually totally unpalatable and have virtually no nutritional value is not addressed by many advisers. In the form of various crisps and instant porridges, extrudates are also popular with some mothers. They only supply the body with sugars. Especially for people with diabetes or who are overweight, they should be completely taboo.
- Soya products can be yoghurt, various desserts, flour and protein isolates. The latter are usually found in products for vegetarians and vegans, from ice creams to salami. Soya products are, with rare exceptions, difficult to digest and carry risks rather than health benefits. This is not the case with fermented soya, which is good for our health and can take the form of high-quality miso paste, traditional soya sauce or tempeh and natto cheeses.
- Dried milks may contain record levels of trans fats, according to analysis by the University of Chemical Technology. The conclusions of the CHT monitoring are.This is the third time we have analysed dried soy beverages this year. Hare was always the worst in terms of trans acid content of total fatty acids. This year we analyzed Rabbit natura (42.7 % TFA), Rabbit plus (33.75 % TFA), Rabbit cream 36.95 % TFA and Rabbit fiber (35.27 % TFA), which are very high levels that are no longer found in other foods."The product is not even free of trans fats, it is just a mixture of starch and fat with a very small amount of soybean extract. I would add that the trans fat content is not listed on the packaging today, so the customer has no way of knowing. However, when buying real staple foods, trans fats are comfortably avoided.
- Vegetable milksare drinks made from water, cereals, nuts and seeds. In theory, foods that can only be recommended. The problem with industrially prepared plant milks is that they actually contain almost none of the good stuff, and are unnecessarily enriched with sugars and additives that I certainly won't recommend anymore. There are also milks on the market with a "homeopathic" presence of the main ingredient, such as Alpro's almond milk, in which you will find a mere 2% of almonds.
- Agave syrup is usually a highly industrialised product obtained from succulents that grow in South America. Because of its low glucose content, it has a low glycaemic index of only 15. But the syrup, when processed, contains over 75 per cent of the harmful fructose.
- Sweets sweetened with agave syrup or fructose, such as some sea buckthorn candies, are not healthy. Fructose promotes the development of insulin resistance and significantly increases triglyceride levels, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. It promotes the deposition of abdominal fat, which increases the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and metabolic syndrome.
- Highly industrialised products, like many gluten-free baking mixes and gluten-free products, are often a cocktail of starches with tons of additives and carbohydrates. Yet gluten-free mixes can also be made healthily, from basic foods without baking agents, phosphates, etc., as PROBIO can and offers.
- Muesli bars are usually different sources of sugars glued together by other sugars. The result is a high glycaemic index product with all its health risks.
Why are junk foods in health food stores?
Crispbreads and other extrudates were invented by the industry as an offer for people who are dieting or fat-phobic. Stores have taken them over because diet products are wrongly promoted as healthy by some experts. In fact, they benefit no one at all and I clearly do not recommend them.
Soy milk powder and in general ultra-processed soy products are recommended and consumed by many strict vegetarians who want to eat like everyone else and still adhere to their dietary restrictions. A vegetarian diet can comfortably ensure health, but even that should be based on basic real foods. Consuming highly processed imitations based on soy isolates is not beneficial.
The glory of fructose and agave syrup was kicked off by doctors recommending diabetics sweeten with fructose. This mistake was taken up by ignorant promoters of healthy eating, some of whom still do not understand the problem or do not like to admit their own mistake. Highly processed foods in a healthy diet are nonsense.
Where to shop?
You can still find plenty of beneficial foods in health food. If you want the freshest, try going straight to the source. Buy real food from its growers and breeders. Buy basic minimally processed foods (like sourdough bread or yogurt and cheese) from their local producers.
PharmDr. Margit Slimáková
www.margit.cz
This article was published with the kind permission of of the magazine Sphere
casopis-sfera.cz / gnews.cz-HeK
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