If you’re looking to improve your diet, either just to obtain better overall health status or to reach your weight loss goals, one thing that you may be thinking about is adding a wide variety of ‘health foods’ to your diet.
These are foods that are marketed to be extra healthy as they have been created with added vitamins, minerals, or some other ‘health benefit’ added in. But are they really?
Before you go rushing off to fill your diet with as many of these ‘health’ foods as possible, there are a few things that you must make sure you keep in mind and remember at all times.
Remember that many marketing companies are out to make a quick buck and if you aren’t aware of their intentions, it could get the best of you.
Let’s go over what you need to know.
Over-Fortification
First, while it’s great that these foods are going to offer so many benefits in terms of the nutrients they provide, if they have been fortified to be that way, you run the risk of over-fortification.
Remember, getting adequate nutrients in your diet is important. Getting an overabundance of nutrients is not something that you should be doing.
While the water soluble vitamins will just be flushed out of your system in your urine, if you’re taking in high dosages of fat soluble vitamins, this can actually cause toxic build-up in the body over time and could lead to serious health consequences.
If you’re eating too many ‘health foods’, you run the risk of this happening.
Over Processing
The second big problem with eating too many health foods is the fact that many of these foods are still processed.
No food, no matter how fortified or enriched it is, is going to be as healthy in a processed state as an unprocessed state.
If you want to eat true ‘health’ foods, focus on filling your diet full of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, nuts, oils, seeds, and grains that come straight from the ground. These are the foods that will be most loaded with nutrients, fiber, along with antioxidants in their most optimal state.
These are the foods that will provide the greatest overall health benefits since they haven’t undergone any of the processing that you’re aiming to avoid.
Any time you’re opening a wrapper to get to a food, that’s your first sign this food is not the most ideal one to be putting into your body.
Over Consumption
Moving along, the next big problem that often occurs in today’s ‘health food’ industry is the simple overconsumption of these foods.
Because they are so healthy, you think you can virtually eat an endless amount without worry.
That isn’t the case at all however. If you consume too many health foods, the calories will still add up and you could gain weight because of it.
Some people get the impression that since these are so healthy, they can virtually eat however much of them as they want and they’ll only enhance their health further. This isn’t the case at all and if you don’t understand this, you could end up moving away from your goals.
So there you have a few of the main problems with ‘health’ foods. Often these foods are not truly healthy foods, they’re just processed foods in disguise with clever marketing tactics to make you think that they are going to enrich your health and enhance weight loss success.
If you really want to eat health foods, go back to eating how mother-nature intended. That is where you will really see the health benefits coming on strong.
by extremebodyfit
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