How often have you heard that certain foods are bad for you? You know the type. All the food that people say is high in calories or high in fat, which secretly has the nutrition that your body needs. Yes, there are so many, and you may currently believe that your firm favourites at home are really bad for you, when they’re not.
Just what types of foods can you eat and gain some benefits from? Which types of foods will do your body some good, especially if you eat it as part of a healthy diet?
It’s time to explore 10 foods that you likely already have in your cupboard—or you buy on a regular basis—that is made to sound very bad. There will be food that the weight loss “experts” are telling you to avoid, but could actually help to boost your weight loss efforts.
Here’s a look at 10 foods that you should consider eating again because they’re not as bad as initially made out to be.
Everything in Moderation, Right?
There’s a common saying that you can have everything in moderation. That means you can have that little bit of chocolate and the odd bit of junk food isn’t going to do too much damage.
There is some truth to this. When the majority of your lifestyle is good, a few bad things aren’t going to be that bad for you. In fact, your body will likely quickly process the bad and think nothing of it. That’s because you’re getting the nutrients and benefits that you need from all the rest of the goods that you eat.
But you need to have that healthy lifestyle. It’s not all about the food you eat. You need to get the right amount of exercise and focus on drinking plenty of fluids.
This also works the opposite way. You can have too much of a bad thing!
So, now that you understand the importance of this, it’s time to focus on the foods that you can get in your diet. Here are 10 that aren’t as bad as they’re made out to be; those that are given a bad reputation.
Peanut Butter is Great for Protein
When it comes to protein and healthy fats, there is nothing better for you than peanut butter. Wait, but this is banned on the majority of diets, isn’t it? Well, peanut butter gets a seriously bad reputation on two counts: it includes peanut and butter! What can be good about something that contains both of those?
Well, despite some people being allergic to them, peanuts are very good for you. One peanut has so much protein that you don’t need many to get a decent serving of it. And protein is essential to our diets. The protein helps with the development of muscles, tendons, ligaments, and more in the body.
And let’s not forget about the other nutrients in peanuts. You will get plenty of folic acids, magnesium, vitamin E, and antioxidants in your diet from them.
Of course, the butter part does have fat, but it’s not the trans fat that is the worst type of fat for us. There’s also very little sodium and low levels of corn syrup. There is such a thing as healthy fats, which is what you’ll get from most commercial tubs of peanut butter. You could even make your own if you want to guarantee healthy options.
What about peanut-free alternatives? Seed butter does have many of the same health benefits, so it will be worth adding them to your diet.
To back all this up, research has found that those who eat peanut butter do have healthier overall diets. The only thing you need to decide is whether to have crunchy or smooth.
Put the Egg Yolks Back on Your Plate
So many people are currently opting for egg white dishes as much as possible. This includes when they scramble their eggs or make omelettes. The egg yolk has gained a bad reputation for being high in cholesterol and bad for the heart.
Well, it’s time to put the eggs back on your plate. The yolks aren’t as bad for you as previously been made out. Sure, they are the part with all the cholesterol, but that doesn’t mean bad cholesterol. Quite the contrary, as egg yolks are full of the artery protective good cholesterol.
The HDL cholesterol helps to support the body. It protects the arteries with a smooth layer, helping to ensure the blood flows fully. Your body gets all the oxygenated blood that it needs. It’s the LDL cholesterol that you want to look out for. This is the one that layers the arteries with a friction layer to cause clotting. If you get good levels of HDL cholesterol, it will naturally help to keep your LDL levels down.
On top of that, egg yolks are full of choline, which is an anti-inflammatory. You help to keep the swelling within the body to a minimum, whether it’s around specific organs or stuck in the digestive tract, causing discomfort and other problems. The choline is also important for the neurological functions, which helps to keep your mood positive.
And then you have zeaxanthin and lutein. Both of these antioxidants help to protect against cataracts and macular degeneration disease. You can prevent the diseases from developing, so you get to keep your vision.
You do need to make sure you keep your egg yolk countdown. There’s no need to have more than four yolks a week. The egg whites you can have in larger amounts.
Have a Glass of Wine at the End of the Day
We hear a lot about alcohol and how it’s bad for us. We’re told only to drink one to two units a day, and never binge drink. Alcohol damages our liver and brain, so why would we even want to consider drinking it?
Well, it turns out that alcohol may not be as bad as we’ve previously made it out to be. In small amounts, it could be good for us. That is if you get the right type of alcohol: mostly wine. Beer can be good in some instances too.
The benefit with the wine is that it is full of antioxidants from the grapes used to create it. It’s nowhere near as good for you as grapes on their own, but you can still benefit from having a glass at the end of your day. The antioxidants help to fight off cancers and boost the health of your heart.
As for beer, you benefit from the lack of fat and cholesterol in the drink. This is something that many other drinks can’t guarantee. You’ll also get some iron, folic acid, calcium, B-vitamins, and so much more. Your brain, organs, and heart are all supported completely just by getting a little bit of beer in your life. Ales are much better for you any lagers, but either way, you’re getting some antioxidants and health benefits.
Drinking some alcohol can also help to reduce the risk of stroke and death. But you should make sure you keep the amount you drink to a minimum: you don’t need more than two units a day and avoid saving them up for one night at the end of the night.
Don’t Cut Out All Bread Right Now
Bread is commonly made the devil when it comes to weight loss. People assume that it offers no nutritional benefit, and just leads to weight gain. And then there are others who claim that bread causes people to suffer from various digestive problems, including IBS and sluggish systems.
It’s time to stop thinking of bread as the bad food. In small amounts, this could be a great ingredient to add to your diet. If you are gluten intolerant or suffer from celiac disease, you’ll want to avoid any bread made with gluten, but there are other options out there.
Whole grain bread is much better for you than white bread. It’s lower on the glycemic index and offers various nutritional benefits. Whole grain bread have more fibre in them, which helps to get digestive system working properly. You will also feel fuller so you won’t have the urge to eat more calories than your body needs.
Let’s not also forget about the protein that is on some whole grain bread, which helps with the support of your muscles and ligaments. There are some carbohydrates too—the healthier ones that won’t cause the instant sugar rush, so you end up with energy throughout the day.
So, before you opt for cutting bread out of your diet completely, make sure you’re doing it for the right reason. It’s not as bad as many “experts” make it out to be unless you have a reason not to eat gluten-filled bread.
Stop Substituting Your Regular Cow’s Milk
There are a lot of beliefs that cow’s milk is bad for you. After all, there must be a reason for all the alternatives like soy, coconut, and almond milk. The truth is that the alternatives aren’t true substitutes. You still want to get some cow’s milk in your diet when possible. The only time that you really need to keep it out is if you have a lactose intolerance or allergy.
Calcium is the main benefit of cow’s milk. Sure, you can get calcium from other foods, but you’re mixing calcium and protein together in one when it comes to the milk. Our teeth and bones need plenty of calcium to build in strength. And if you get the beer on a daily basis for your magnesium, you will get the balance between magnesium and calcium to full support the body.
There is so much more protein in cow’s milk compared to the alternative milk. One cup of cows will give you 8g of protein compared to the 1g from the various alternatives.
Oh, and we can’t forget about the vitamin D. This is commonly neglected by the diet but is essential. With the right levels of vitamin D, our bodies find it easier to absorb the likes of calcium and magnesium, which supports our bones so much more.
This doesn’t mean you have to make your whole diet about cow’s milk. There are high amounts of natural sugars in one cup, and some have high amounts of fats. You can opt for almond or coconut milk for most of your day but make sure you get a cup or so of cow’s milk on a daily basis for the other health benefits.
A Little Bit of Coffee isn’t Going to be that Bad
Coffee has an unfair reputation. It’s the drink that causes people to stay up all night and can lead to miscarriages in early pregnancy. Coffee has also been linked to birth defects and cancers.
Well, the truth is that too much coffee can be bad. But then too much of anything can be bad. In small amounts, coffee is actually good for you. Let’s just start with the mental health benefits.
Coffee is full of caffeine, which is the part of coffee that is supposed to be totally bad for us—and in some ways, it’s made out to be worse than alcohol! The caffeine can actually be good for our mental health in small amounts. It is a stimulant after all. We can get a mood boost, especially if we’re feeling tired or drained.
Flavonoids are also elements that you can thank for some of the benefits. There are also studies that show is helps to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, along with Parkinson’s disease and Type II diabetes. Some studies have even shown that it helps to improve our performance in sports and tests. During these studies, there haven’t been any negative side effects noticed.
The flavonoids also help with boosting the heart health. Let’s also remember that being a stimulant means that our blood pumps around our system much faster. The organs get more oxygenated blood, giving them the support they all need. We feel like we’re more awake and our heart is working harder than it has before.Remember the heart is a muscle, so it needs to work to remain healthy.
Pop the Cheese on Your Turkey Burger
Have you ever thought that you’d like a slice of cheese with your burger or wanted to snack on a small block? Maybe you’ve then thought about the fattening side effects of eating cheese. This is another food with an unfairly bad reputation.
The truth is that cheese is full of fats, but some fat is good for us. It’s also worth remember that there are many more nutritious benefits compared to a few negatives.
Protein is in an abundance when it comes to cheese. I don’t need to remind you of all those health benefits when we’ve already discussed why you need to get protein, do I? Of course, not. Let’s concentrate on the other health benefits.
Many of the benefits of cheese are to your oral health. Cheese can help to remove the sugars from your mouth. This is often why it’s eaten with fruit as a dessert. Fruit is full of natural sugars and acid, but the cheese helps to pull all the sugars from your mouth to get them away from the tooth enamel. You’ll find that your risk of tooth decay is lowered.
Food also leads to a lot of acid in the mouth. Cheese helps to balance the pH levels because it is more alkaline. Your mouth becomes neutralised quickly, meaning your gums and teeth aren’t affected as much from erosion.
It is possible to get some low-fat options. You’ll want to check on the extras that are added to low-fat options, as some can add extra sugars to them. This just defeats the purpose of having cheese on a regular basis.
Switch Back to that White Pasta if You Want
Put your hand up if you gave up white pasta because the weight loss experts said that it was bad for you. There’s this common misconception that white pasta is high on the glycaemic index. The truth is that it sits at around 45-50 for most white pasta types, which is a low amount.
Wait, what does the glycaemic index must do with all this? Well, foods with a high GI are considered bad for us because of the amount of sugar. These foods cause the blood sugar levels to rise, and you end up with more insulin in your body. There is a high risk of developing Type II diabetes.
So, pasta being low on the GI diet is a good thing! It doesn’t cause the insulin release at the level once believed, and you’re not suddenly at a risk of developing Type II diabetes.
However, you will want to keep the amount of pasta to a minimum. You don’t need to eat more than a cup of cooked pasta for one portion. This is about a handful of dried pasta. We tend to eat far too much of it—usually around 2 cups of cooked pasta with each meal.
If you feel like you don’t have enough pasta, add more vegetables to your meal. You’ll soon feel like you have too much.
Brown pasta is still good for you and does tend to be better than white pasta. The brown variety is a high fibre option for the diet, which means your digestive system is fully supported. You’ll eat less of this because you’ll feel fuller much sooner.
You Can Enjoy Oily Fish as Part of Your Diet
This is a tricky one. If you’ve read the diet books, you’ve likely read that salmon is good for you. But what about the likes of tuna, mackerel and other oily fishes? Too many of them get a bad reputation for some fatty acids in them. Surely eating fat means you’re going to get fat?
This common misconception is being clarified more and more in recent years. The experts have found that not all fats are made up the same. In fact, some fats are good for you and that is especially the case with the fatty acids that come from oily fishes.
Salmon, tuna, mackerel, and similar fishes all have one thing in common: omega 3. Omega 3 fatty acids are great for the brain health. They support the cells, so you are at a lower risk of developing the likes of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Eating more omega 3 can also help to support the short-term memory and offer cognitive benefits.
There are worries about the amount of mercury in some of the oily fishes. You shouldn’t eat more than two or three portions of fish a week due to the levels of mercury. Mercury poisoning is a serious problem, especially in pregnant women.
Avocados aren’t the Demons of Vegetables
When you’re working your way around a grocery store, how often have you come across avocados? They have become favourites for many dieters, which is surprising considering the bad reputation they have. Avocadoes were once considered the demon vegetables because of the high-fat contents.
While there are high levels of fat—and some of them are saturated fats—there are also plenty of healthy benefits. Think of this in the same way as cheese. We focus so much on the one negative that we forget all about the great health benefits from the ingredient.
First of all, some of the fats are healthy. There are good amounts of healthy cholesterol, which will support your heart and artery health, which we’ve already discussed with the eggs.
On top of this fat, you’ve got the high amounts of vitamins including A, C, D, and K. All of these have their own benefits to the overall health. Vitamin A helps with the muscle development; vitamin D aids with the calcium absorption; vitamin C supports your immune system; and vitamin K is great for the clotting.
You also get plenty of fibre and potassium to help with digestive support and energy. Let’s not also forget about antioxidants like lutein to help to support the vision.
If you really don’t want to add avocados to the diet—not everyone likes them—you can always use the oil in your cooking. Avocado oil is also highly beneficial for the skin because of levels of vitamin E. It can help to soothe skin conditions and reduce the flare-ups of the likes of psoriasis and eczema.
It’s Time to Add the Bad Back into Your Diet
The next time someone tells you that the foods are bad for you, make sure you do your own research. A lot of food gets a bad reputation because of statements made in the past. It’s definitely the case that not all food is good for you in large amounts, but in small amounts they can offer excellent health benefits.
It’s time to add some of the bad back into your diet. You can change back to eating white pasta, enjoy your cheese, and also opt for a little bit of alcohol. In moderation, the bad really isn’t as bad as it once seemed after all.
