Sham Health Foods
Paul Aitken considers if some of these healthy foods are as beneficial to us as they are promoted to be.
Every week, a new superfood seems to hit the market. It is hard to keep up, especially when many of the so-called "healthy" foods out there may be doing you more harm than good. We should eat something else to boost our health and well-being and prolong our lives.
Detox Teas and Slimming Teas
The word "detox" has been overused and incorrectly used. However, it is a broad term that could define many aspects of many drugs. "Slimming teas", however, are a different story altogether.
Slimming teas are often used interchangeably with detox teas. They are designed to help you lose weight and eliminate these "toxins". Some brands will use the same two buzzwords on their product packaging. But most of it is nonsense, and some may harm you more than reasonable.
There are slimming teas loaded with senna, a potent laxative that will do nothing but make you go to the toilet. Add some diuretics, as many do, and expel excess water. They do this because many of us are constipated, and if we take a natural laxative like this, we will have fuller bowel movements. That will make us feel lighter and may even shed a pound off the scales.
You are technically losing weight, so they are not lying, but it is a deceptive form of weight loss, and if you drink these teas regularly, as many customers do, you run the risk of developing bowel and bladder problems. It is not just dodgy slimming websites selling teas like this, as many Holland and Barrett slimming teas fall into the same category.
Agave Syrup
This supposedly natural sugar alternative was touted as a healthier sugar. It has been used as a replacement for sugar and sweeteners, and a couple of years ago, you would have to look long and hard to find a health site that did not claim it to be the best thing since sliced bread.
Thankfully, that is no longer the case, and many health sites are now waking up to the truth, something that a handful of experts have known for a long time: agave syrup is much worse than sugar.
Fructose is the root of all evil in sugar, and agave syrup is 100% fructose. It is highly processed and very high in fructose, much more than high-fructose corn syrup. It can increase fat storage, insulin sensitivity, and other serious issues, drastically reducing lifespan.
Low-Fat Foods
Fats are not the root of all evil. They might make you fat if you eat many of them because they are calorie-dense and have a lower thermic effect than other macronutrients. Still, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are good for you, and even saturated fats may be beneficial.
Not only do low-fat foods cut down on all of this, but they also contain other ingredients to compensate for the lack of them. They tend to have more sugar than full-fat versions, and they also add gelatine and other additives to create the "full-mouth feel" that is lost when you remove the fat.
Olive Oil
Let us get one thing out: olive oil is perfect for you. It has many health benefits and is an excellent addition to your diet.
However, olive oil is not the magical elixir that many seem to think it is. It is very calorie-dense. One cup of olive oil contains nearly 2,000 calories, while one tablespoon has 120. What is more, if you use olive oil for cooking, it is just as unhealthy as other oils. When heated past its smoke point, it produces carcinogenic compounds, and it begins to break down, losing health benefits.
Olive oil is a little better at resisting this than other oils but is still at its best when eaten in small amounts, completely raw.
Olive oil is added to hair care products and skincare products, even though there is little supporting data to say it is beneficial, and there are also many proponents who think that this "superfood" is so good it can be given to pets. Olive oil should not be given to cats or dogs because it can cause many health problems, short-term and long-term. It should go without saying (after all, they live on a diet rich in protein and low in fat), but unfortunately, some still have not grasped this and think olive oil will cure everything.
As good as it is, that is not the case.
Page Reference
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- ATKIN, P. (2018) Sham Health Foods [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article326.htm [Accessed
About the Author
Paul Aitken is a freelance writer and the author of The Online Writer's Companion. He writes under several pseudonyms, and his work has been featured on many of the web's most significant sites, including many major print publications in the UK and US.