Nutrition is full of nonsense.


Here are the top 11 "health foods" that can actually be pretty harmful.

The fruit juices you find at the supermarket aren't always what they seem.


But even if you're drinking real fruit juice, it is still a bad idea.




Eating too much sugar is associated with all sorts of diseases. These include obesity, type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease and many others (1, 2, 3).



It is true that whole wheat is healthier than refined wheat.

But this does NOT mean that whole wheat is healthy.

It's kind of like saying that because filtered cigarettes are healthier than unfiltered cigarettes, everyone should be smoking filtered cigarettes. It's flawed logic.

There are plenty of good reasons to avoid wheat... both the refined and the whole variety.

For example, wheat is the main source of gluten in the diet and a large part of the population may be gluten sensitive (4, 5, 6).

The immune system of susceptible individuals attacks the gluten proteins in the digestive tract. This can cause damage to the lining of the digestive tract, pain, bloating, tiredness, stool inconsistency and other nasty symptoms (7, 8, 9).


Another study shows that whole wheat raises small, dense LDL (the truly "bad" cholesterol) by a whopping 60% (11).


In the health food isle at the supermarket, you will definitely find some "sugar-free" products that are sweetened with Agave.



Too much fructose in the diet can cause all sorts of problems, especially in people who don't exercise much.

All fructose is metabolized by the liver. If the liver is full of glycogen the fructose will be turned into fat (11, 12).

This can cause non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and all kinds of metabolic problems like resistance to the hormones insulin and leptin, which will ultimately lead to obesity and diabetes (13, 14, 15, 16).


Bottom Line: Agave nectar is loaded with fructose and therefore causes all the same problems as regular sugar and high fructose corn syrup.


For this reason, sports drinks contain:

  • Water - to replenish lost fluid.
  • Electrolytes - to replenish electrolytes like sodium that were lost via sweat.
  • Sugar - because athletes need energy after an intense workout.

You don't need any additional electrolytes unless you've been doing a very intense workout and most people are already eating too much sugar.

One bottle of Gatorade contains over 30 grams of sugar.


Bottom Line: If you're not doing super intense workouts, then you should avoid sports drinks. They are not needed and contain sugar.











It ain't the fat, people!

Despite the last decades of propaganda against saturated fats, they have now been proven to be harmless (20, 21).

When the anti-fat message first came out, food manufacturers started producing "healthy" products that were low-fat or fat-free.





Bottom Line: Avoid everything labelled "low-fat" or "fat-free." These are highly processed products loaded with sugar and other harmful substances.

Many people have started to avoid gluten... a protein found in wheat, spelt, rye and barley (and a few other grains).


Food manufacturers have caught up on the trend and have started offering all sorts of gluten-free "health foods."

The problem with these foods is that they're usually not healthy at all.

Instead of a gluten grain, they're made with other starches like potato starch, tapioca starch or some others. These starches are usually highly refined, void of nutrients and spike blood sugar fast, just like wheat.


This does NOT apply to foods that are naturally gluten free, like meats or vegetables. If a product says "gluten-free" on the package, then it's probably bad for you.

Bottom Line: Gluten-free foods are highly processed foods that are not much healthier than their gluten-containing counterparts. It's best to avoid them.

"I wish butter tasted more like margarine, said nobody ever." - Danny J. Albers

Another side effect of the anti-fat histeria is a plethora of so-called "healthy" butter alternatives.


Butter consumption went down, margarine consumption went up.


Grass-fed butter, in particular, is an excellent source of the fatty acid butyrate and Vitamin K2, both of which can have powerful positive effects on health (22, 23).


In one large study, replacing butter with margarine led to a drastically increased risk of death from heart attacks (24).



Energy bars are in the same boat as sports drinks - most people don't need them.


However, most people don't need to eat that often and these bars don't contain anything that you can't get from real foods.


Sugar, white flour, artificial flavor... you name it, they've got it.



Bottom Line: Energy and protein bars are often highly processed products. Most people don't need them and they tend to contain sugar and other nasty ingredients.



Even though something is low in carbs and can help you lose weight, it may still be very unhealthy.


If you're going to do a low-carb diet, stick to real, unprocessed foods.


Most highly processed breakfast cereals are not healthy.


They're often loaded with sugar and refined carbohydrates.


Don't be fooled by the labels... low-fat, fat-free, whole grain, etc. Just check the ingredients list on these products, they're usually loaded with sugar.

Starting the day with a high-sugar cereal will set you up for a blood sugar crash later in the day, followed by hunger, cravings and another high-carb meal.

If the packaging of a food tells you that it is healthy, then it probably isn't.