Five Diet Foods That are (Far) Worse
Than What They're Replacing
by www.SixWise.com
Millions of Americans resolved to lose weight and start eating
healthy in 2008, which for many involves purging their pantry
of fatty, sugar, salty snacks and replacing them with healthier
diet foods.
Now here's some news that may be hard to stomach: some of
your most beloved "bad" foods may not be nearly
as those you just replaced them with. It may sound incredulous,
but it's true.
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Keep reading to find out why even fat-free potato chips
are far from healthy.
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The following foods are wolves hiding in sheep's clothing,
and you may want to seriously reconsider
any diet plan that contains them.
1. Diet Soda
You know regular soda is bad because of all that sugar and
"empty" calories, but what's wrong with a diet soft
drink to quench your thirst?
Plenty, according to experts. Along with caffeine, like regular
soda, diet soda is high in phosphoric acid, a combination
that could be bad for your bones. While caffeine can interfere
with your body's ability to absorb calcium or increase the
amount it gets rid of, the acids in soda can cause the body
to become more acidic -- causing it to release even more calcium.
Then there's the problem with the artificial sweeteners,
which some say are harmful. Although Splenda is a newcomer
to the diet soft drink sweetener market -- and there are growing
concerns as to its actual safety -- aspartame is still the
most widely used sweetener in diet soda.
"Aspartame is the most complained about additive in
U.S. history," says Dr. Joseph Braco, author of Restoring
Your Digestive Health. "It's been blamed for everything
from headaches to rashes to seizure disorders. I have a physician
friend who clearly linked aspartame with his adult-onset seizures."
And as if that wasn't bad enough, a study by Sharon P. Fowler,
MPH, and colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science
Center, San Antonio found that for every diet soda you drink
in a day, you increase your risk of gaining weight -- by 41
percent!
2. Margarine
Butter is full of saturated fat so you're being sensible
and eating margarine instead. Healthy right? Not exactly.
Until recently, almost all margarine was loaded with trans
fats, an artery-clogging fat formed when hydrogen is added
to vegetable oil, a process called hydrogenation. Trans fat
poses various serious health risks. It raises your body's
level of bad cholesterol (LDL) while scrubbing away the good
cholesterol (HDL) that keeps your arteries clean. Your arteries
can become clogged, making them inflexible, which can lead
to strokes and heart attacks.
Trans fat can also increase triglycerides and inflammation,
a direct link to an increased risk of diabetes.
Nowadays you can find varieties of margarine that are trans-fat-free,
but margarine is still loaded with polyunsaturated fats, which
come from vegetable oil and are already eaten in overabundance
in the American diet.
When polyunsaturated fats are eaten in excess, they can lead
to the formation of excess prostanoids, which are chemicals
that increase inflammation
in your body.
"Prostanoids help control blood pressure, fight allergies,
and modulate inflammation, but too much of them -- especially
those made from vegetable oils -- can also lead to increased
pain, swelling, and redness in various tissues," said
William L. Smith, Professor and Chair of Biological Chemistry
at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
3. Sugar-Free Gum
Goodbye cavities, hello tasty, sugar-free bubble gum. While
it seems like the best of both worlds, sugar-free gum is not
a wise health choice.
Many of these products contain sorbitol, a sugar alcohol
that can have laxative effects if taken in large amounts.
So if you end up chewing numerous pieces of sugar-free gum
every day, you could very well end up experiencing stomach
cramps, bloating and gas, or, more seriously, malabsorption
of nutrients, diarrhea and weight loss.
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Don't ruin a healthy salad with a corn-syrup-laden
light salad dressing. Try olive oil, garlic, lemon juice,
balsamic vinegar and other natural spices instead.
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There have already been a couple of reports of people with
excessive diarrhea and weight loss that was linked to sugar-free
gum and other products.
4. Light Salad Dressings
Getting rid of full-fat dressings and replacing them with
light versions may seem like a no brainer, but have you ever
looked at the ingredients on a bottle of light salad dressing?
You can expect to find high
fructose corn syrup -- not something you should be eating
to lose weight -- numerous preservatives, and food
coloring like yellow 6, which has been found to cause
adrenal gland and kidney tumors, and contains small amounts
of many carcinogens.
Sound healthy? We think not. You're much better off dressing
your salad with a little olive oil, Dijon mustard and balsamic
vinegar any day.
5. Light Potato Chips
Fat-free potato chips and tortilla chips? If it sounds too
good to be true, be very wary. Many of these "light"
snack chips contain Olestra, a fat substitute marketed under
the brand name Olean. This synthetic fat is not absorbed by
your body (instead it goes right through it), so it can cause
diarrhea, loose stools, abdominal cramps and flatulence,
along with other effects. Further, olestra reduces your body's
ability to absorb beneficial fat-soluble nutrients, including
lycopene, lutein and beta-carotene.
While regular
potato chips have their own issues as well, light potato
chips are not an acceptable alternative. Try air popping some
organic popcorn and adding some sea salt and spices for flavor
instead.
Recommended Reading
The
World's 8 Most Deceptive Foods: We Think They're Healthy,
but Should Think Again
Those
Who Don't Diet are Better at Improving Health Than Those Who
Do Diet
Sources
New
Scientist January 11, 2008
Science
Blog July 27, 2007