5 Fake Health Foods You Need To Avoid

Getting frustrated that you’ve plateaued with your weight loss? You might feel like you’re training extra hard and eating all the right things but you could be being deceived. Brands often market food as ‘healthy’ and for ‘promoting weight loss’, but does the nutritional content reflect the marketing? Check out these fake health foods to educate yourself on what you’re really putting into your body.

1. Meal replacement shakes

In the modern world of influencers and social media marketing, it can be easy to fall into the trap of ordering whatever the Kardashians are posting about because, well, they have abs, so it must work, right? Wrong. The Kardashians have abs because they have personal trainers that come to their home every day and personal chefs who follow a strict professional dieticians meal plan for them. Also, it’s their job to look good and your 9-5 desk job doesn’t exactly give you the same opportunity to whip yourself into shape. I can assure you the Kardashians are promoting these shakes for the massive payout and really can’t imagine they’re actually drinking them. Whilst meal replacements can help you cut the calories, you’re missing out on a ton of important nutrients that real food gives you. Eat human food, just eat the good stuff and eat it in moderation.

2. Flat tummy teas

My girl @jameelajamilofficial can tell you all about the problem with these, the absolute queen of calling out fake health foods. Firstly, the idea that a few sips of this ‘magical’ tea will help you drop those extra pounds is, quite frankly, a fairytale. We all know that getting into shape requires hard work and dedication, there are no cheats or quick fixes when it comes to our body. Secondly, most of these teas contain an ingredient called Senna, this contains compounds called Anthraquinones, which are extremely powerful laxatives.

Essentially, these teas make you poop… a lot. Whilst it’s temping to imagine you can eat and excrete the food quickly to avoid weight gain, it actually means your body doesn’t absorb any nutrients from the food either. It also causes havoc on your digestive system and will require you to spend 80% of the day sitting on the toilet: not really worth it in my eyes.

3. Fat-free food

Fat has been dragged through the mud over the years and given such a bad rap based on poor and inconclusive studies. Here in 2019, we now know that FAT IS NOT BAD FOR YOU and needs to be decriminalised. Like anything, consuming a diet that is 100% fat is not healthy but consuming a regular amount is something that should be actively encouraged and is beneficial for your health. The issue with fat-free foods is that when all that tasty fat is removed, the stuff that’s left doesn’t tend to taste so good which is why a ton of sugar is added. Whilst fat is beneficial, a large amount of sugar is not, hence why opting for a fat-free option may end up being worse for you that the regular version. Fat-free foods are probably one of the most popular fake health foods that deserve to be called out.

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4. Fruit juice

I know right, how can the humble fruit juice not be healthy, this is probably one of the less obvious fake health foods. Disclaimer for this one, the fruit is healthy, of course it is, but as we know, too much of anything isn’t a good idea. One portion of fruit juice can contain nearly as much sugar as a can of Cola and whilst it doesn’t contain more vitamins than coke, it doesn’t compare to the amount in a whole piece of fruit. Especially watch out for the processed juices too, they’re full of all sorts of nonsense.

5. Protein bars

Protein bars are often the worst for the old packaging scam: they slap words like ‘high-protein’ and ‘build muscle’ on there and you’re sold. However, if you take a look at the labels they aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be. Whilst a protein bar obviously contains protein, they can also contain a load of carbs and sugar which, if weight gain is your goal, isn’t ideal. Another thing to be wary of is the amount of protein in the bar, for example, a ‘Luna bar’ contains 8 grams of protein which is less than in a single egg… not really worth is.