Various marketing ploys and clever advertising can mislead even the most well-intentioned folks down terribly detrimental paths. Just because a food with an eye-catching label presents itself to you as being the end-all, be-all to health concerns that might be following you around, doesn’t mean that it’s actually going to change much of anything. We’ll take a look at some of the things that are most commonly mistaken for being healthy, while they’re nothing of the sort.
1. Maintaining Productivity 24/7
Far too many of us can will ourselves into a vicious cycle of operating from a place of assuming we’re simply not good enough. This can rapidly translate to being excruciatingly hard on yourself, as well as constantly overworking yourself to the point of an alarming state of over-exhaustion. In fact, it’s reported that nearly half (48%) of 18-29 year-olds nowadays say that they feel drained as compared to the 40% of their peers that are aged 30-years-old and up.
2. Kellogg’s Slim Fit/Diet Cereal
You’re not alone if you’ve fallen prey to the deceptive labeling tactics adopted by various leading cereal brands. Just because you see a cereal from a company like Kellogg’s that claims it’s slim/diet-friendly, does not mean that it’s not packed to the brim with way too much sugar. You start making a routine out of eating sugary cereals all of the time, and you can quickly end up with a diet that’s terribly high in sugar. Diets that hare high in added sugars have been linked with an increased risk of heart disease and also heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure and triglyceride levels.
3. Granola Bars
Granola bars are sneaky culprits within the realm of a food product that can come across as being healthy. There are certain granola bars that are really just extremely sweetened, high carbohydrate candy bars. For example, consider a 2/3 cup serving of Nature Valley Oats and Dark Chocolate Protein Granola. It contains 7 grams of added sugar as well as 290 calories. Then, you also have Quaker Chewy Yogurt Granola Bars which contain 10 grams of additional sugar for each bar. It’s not hard to see how all of that extra sugar combined with the fact that granola bars are easy to wolf down, can translate to a ton of extra sugar in one’s diet.
4. Sweetened Yogurts
Sweetened yogurts are unfortunately a common staple in plenty of households that assume said sweetened yogurt is healthy based on the fact that it’s been deemed a “yogurt.” However, consider that a 5.3-ounce container of Dannon Strawberry Fruit on the Bottom yogurt has upwards of 15 grams of added sugar. That alone should be enough to encourage you to consider experimenting with the sugar-free yogurts. Sure, they have much less of a dessert flavor profile, but they’re also not going to put your body at risk for operating on a high-sugar diet.
5. Drinking Too Much Water
All things in moderation. Surprisingly enough, this also absolutely applies to water. You might feel like you’re truly seizing the day and out there conquering the world if you can’t be found without a full bottle of water in your hand. However, over-hydration can be an extremely risky business. Your kidneys can only remove between 0.8-1.0 liters of water per hour. A higher water intake can disrupt your body’s ability to maintain a healthy electrolyte balance. If you over-hydrate to such an extent you can end up with water intoxication which results in disrupting your brain’s functions. If your sodium levels also fall below 135 millimoles per liter the doctors then refer to this as hyponatremia. According to Medical News Today, common symptoms of hyponatremia include lethargy, confusion, and fatigue. So, don’t overdo it on the water.
