Not so healthy after all?

Cooking Light has posted an article about 10 foods that sound healthy but aren't.

I think it's a good thing to chat about - often we think that because something is organic, or because it's got nuts and seeds in it, or is fruity, that it's good for you. Bottom line is that organic sugar is still sugar, organic oil has just as many calories and fat in it as its counterparts. Now, that's not to say that there isn't a different value in purchasing organic, but it's a moot point for what I'm talking about.


So what things are deceptive? Well, here are a few from the article that I think are particularly relevant:

Multi-grain/wholemeal bread
Essentially a marketing con. Sounds soooo virtuous, but has some of the same white flour that white bread does. Now, eating white bread doesn't make you evil (maybe just a bit bloated). But unless you're doing buying the 100% whole grain option, you're not really getting any benefits beyond the simple white bread.

Reduced-fat stuff

One of the sneakiest tricks around. Unless you look closely at the label, you're likely to think you're being a savvy shopper by reducing the fat content of your meal. But that doesn't mean that you've reduced the number of calories you've eaten - sometimes quite the contrary. Take reduced-fat cheese, for example. To reduce the fat, they've bulked up the starch content - which isn't really of any additional nutritional value. Ditto fat free stuff.

Prepared salads
You know the drill. You stop into the supermarket or a Pret/EAT/one of those to pick up a quick lunch. "Sandwich? Ugh, no, too much bread.  I'll have a salad!" Cue halo.
But have you compared these? These salads are often very sneaky and will have at least 600 calories to their name - sometimes disguised by the fact that there are two "servings" in your individual bowl. Whereas even an all-day breakfast sandwich might only cost you 450.


Olive oil
Okay, this one wasn't on Cooking Light's list, but it's a personal pet peeve. It's lauded as the cornerstone of a heart-healthy Mediterranean diet (see this website, which rather amusingly refers to it as 'liquid gold'). It's STILL OIL though - sure, it's lower in saturated fat than butter, and cleaner than some other oils, but lest we forget that it's not to be doused liberally all over a salad or a sauce. A single tablespoon (15ml) is still 120 calories, so it adds up. The sight of TV chefs finishing off a dish with a swig of olive oil really gets my goat. (Check out some amusing comments on one TV chef's forums to that effect - the idea of an olive oil drinking game is particularly apt.) Less is more!

Bottom line: read the labels. LOOK at calories, not marketing. I'm not saying calories mean everything (here's a good article on why they don't, actually) - but they are a useful guide when you want to choose a healthy option. Nothing wrong with a little information...