by Dr. Victor Marchione
(NaturalBlaze.com) There was a time when I found eating healthy was trickier than it seemed. Sometimes, a person can think they’re eating right, but they aren’t.
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Seemingly healthy (or healthier) foods can have hidden health consequences. Picking healthy foods certainly is tricky and making choices that benefit your health can be more difficult than it might seem, but it’s possible—especially if you know a few of the facts first.
A food’s value and overall healthfulness should be judged by where it sits on the glycemic index (GI). This scale is used to measure the effect of food on a person’s blood sugar level and insulin response. The more sugar a food contains and the more refined it is, the higher it tends to sit on the scale because it causes spikes in blood sugar.
But sometimes foods you don’t expect to have high sugar content can get you. For example, your breakfast might not be as healthy as you think. Surprisingly, the classic greasy bacon or sausage and eggs, an English muffin, or even a donut might be healthier than some popular alternatives.
A bagel with a 4.4-inch diameter, for example, has more than twice the calories and carbohydrate content than a plain English muffin. In fact, it has as many calories and even more carbs than a glazed donut! A bagel of this size clocks in at 240 calories and 58 grams of carbohydrates.
Another example of tricky healthy-eating choices may be fruit. Fruit is almost always viewed as a healthy snack, but not all forms of fruit offer the same nutritional benefits. If you choose to eat dried fruit or drink fruit juice, you’re likely going to add all kinds of unwanted sugar to your diet.
Dried fruits are extremely sugary because all the water has been sucked out of them, making them far more dense and sweet. For example, 10 grapes weighing roughly 1.75 ounces contain 34 calories and eight grams of sugar. On the other hand, a single-serve package of raisins (dried grapes) weighs 1.5 ounces and contains 129 calories and 15 grams of sugar. Also, you’re likely to eat more dried fruit because there is no water to fill you up