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There are so many food options out there in the world that it's often very easy to get lost in all of them. Food trends, diets, and workout plans are usually debunked or just forgotten about. We have no idea what's healthy, what isn't, how to lose weight, how to gain weight — and often, searching the internet leads to all kinds of different results. So the hype of finally 'eating healthy' gets fizzled out from the confusion and overwhelming information.

That's why when this internet user asked the question ''What food do people mistakenly consider healthy?" many people chimed in to share their opinions, and they might help you out and shine some light on deceptive foods that we think are good for us, but are actually pretty bad.

#1

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread I spoke to a food scientist for work and he said (un)healthy foods don't exist, just (un)healthy diets.

Yes broccoli is good, but if you eat it for every meal, that's bad. Just as eating McDonald's for every meal is bad, but having McDonald's for dinner in itself is fine.

As long as you:

- Get all the nutrients you need
- Don't eat too much or too little of anything
- Have variety in your diet

You can basicly eat whatever you want.

biancastolemyname , Tyrrell Fitness And Nutrition Report

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Widdershins66
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Now that IS sensible for the long term! Most (reducing) "diets" are unsustainable. Moderation in all things 🤓

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We talked with Dr. Joan Salge Blake, a nutrition professor at Boston University and the host of the nutrition and health podcast, SpotOn! She answered some important questions about healthy food and the misconceptions about it. Firstly, we asked about the topic of this article — what foods are often labeled as healthy, but really aren't: "Fried, batter-dipped veggies." It seems that vegetables are not as healthy if you eat them the wrong way. The doctor also mentioned that the healthiest food is probably vegetable soup.

#2

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Fruit juice often has as much sugar as a soda

friendweiser , rawpixel Report

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Headless Roach
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

1 litre of apple juice is an equivalent of 2kg of apples. If you normally don't eat 20 apples in one seating, you should not drink 1l of juice 🙃 If you take more sugary fruit, the amount of sugar in one juice serving goes up.

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#3

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Meat substitutes. Just because it’s vegan, doesn’t mean it isn’t processed and full of unhealthy fats, etc

anon , Tony Webster Report

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Ace
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Or indeed better for the environment. the amount of processing needed to create vegan meat substitues is often equivalent to the energy and resource use of just raising the chicken and eating it.

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We also asked Dr. Joan about the foods we should try and avoid as much as possible: "You shouldn't avoid anything if you WANT it. Just eat it in small portions. Balance the meal. If you want a hearty, heavy chowder for the appetizer, order a leaner main meal and bring half of it home." So it seems that as long as you eat small portions, you can get away with pretty much anything, as long as it has the necessary nutrition.

#4

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread People have this idea that "the point" of eating vegetarian and vegan food is because it's healthy.
And I'm like, "Dude, french fries are vegan. Oreos are vegan."

Krail , Hanxiao Report

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Yali-girl with weird name
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It’s actually not healthy, because you need at least a little bit of meat in your diet (please don’t downvote this is what primary school taught me lol)

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#5

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread My coworker brags about how she quit drinking Soda because its so unhealthy and instead drinks 6 Gatorades a day. I don't have the heart to tell her.

Zanzaclese , SecretName101 Report

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Dr. Joan also shared some tips and tricks for healthy eating: "Order two veggies and sides and bring the leftovers home for the next day. If you don't like to make fish at home, order it at the restaurant and let someone else prepare it for you. Bring home leftovers for the next day's lunch."

#6

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread I mean a lot of the bread in the US has an unnecessary and unbelievable amount of sugar, even some of the “healthier” whole wheat breads.

pesky-pretzel , Baoothersks Report

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Charlie the Cat
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have read that bread in the US is very sweet. Almost like cake. Not like that in Europe at all.

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#7

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread 1200 calorie “Salads” from chili’s and other chains. Just get a burger

Edit: I also enjoy salads and will sometimes order them for reasons other than them being “healthy”. I’m mainly referring to situations where people deprive themselves of what they really want because they feel like the “should” be eating a salad instead. Eat what makes you happy; just be cognizant of the whole picture

trythis75615 , theimpulsivebuy Report

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Headless Roach
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you don't drown the salad in dressing, it can still be alright. They usually give you a separate dressing pack.

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All in all, every person is different and has certain needs. Just remember to not only focus on eating healthy but also to eat what makes you happy! After all, mental health is as important as your physical health, and who isn't happier after eating their favorite meal?

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#8

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Low-fat or fat-free products

rosaliasofia , JeepersMedia Report

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#9

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Almost everything. The sugar industry launched a smear campaign against fat in the 80’s and it still affects people’s understanding of healthy eating

Fullgrown_dirtbag , Rod Long Report

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Caro Caro
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are still ads out there selling the products as fat free thus healthy. Sugar does nothing good for your body but a little fat (I said a little..) is not bad for you.

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#10

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Breakfast cereal. Grew up with the idea of it being "part of a nutritious breakfast". It's all lies. They might as well be donuts.

Much like donuts, doesn't prevent me from loving the stuff...

CirothUngol , Binyamin Mellish Report

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DrBronxx
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This depends on the cereal. I grew up on one of the following: Corn Flakes, Weetabix or Shredded Wheat. They're all pretty healthy, especially the latter two.

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#11

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread VitaminWater. This has to be the biggest food scam out there. One bottle of VitaminWater provides 50-100 precent of the daily adult recommendation for sugar. It also lacks any significant nutrients and vitamins other than traces of Vitamins B and C, which coincidentally are water soluble, and are plentiful in other daily food staples.

BeefPatty45 , Cyiomarsina Report

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#12

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Gluten free alternatives and gluten free diet in general. Obviously healthier if you have celiac/gluten intolerance as I do. Might also be healthier if you just cut gluten products out of your existing diet without adding replacements (essentially just becomes a low carb diet). But it’s amazing the number of people who think just switching all the junk in their diet to versions made with rice flour is going to magically make it way healthier

ben121frank , Okitterman Report

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Agfox
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not to brag but I always drink gluten-free water & insist on gluten-free haircuts...........(jk)

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#13

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread It’s not “unhealthy” in a universal sense but as someone currently on a diet I am in denial that peanut butter is about as calorically dense as actual butter

plum__hail , Tetiana Bykovets Report

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Something
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Peanut butter is actually great for emergency food supply for this reason.

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#14

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread “MADE WITH CLEAN INGREDIENTS “


This literally means nothing.

IKillZombies4Cash , Mark Stebnicki Report

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Yali-girl with weird name
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Everything should be made with clean ingredients- if it isn't then we have a problem

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#16

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Not to say that Poptarts are healthy for breakfast, but being curious one day I compared a two pack to a Snickers bar. The Snickers was a far healthier choice.

lurker2487 , jill Report

#17

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Granola bars and a lot of the protein bars.

LadyoftheHounds , The Organic Crave Company Report

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A Jones
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The majority of them feel just like glorified candy bars. I do like the No B.S. bars by RXBAR, they seem to be a good alt and don't taste too shabby.

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#18

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Yogurt, especially if it's marketed towards kids. Crammed with so much sugar.

DrWonderpants , Beatos Virtuvė Report

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Na Schi
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Especially light/low fat/no fat yogurts! Just think about it, somewhere the flavor/richness on taste has to be coming from. (Edit: after seeing all the replies with regard to natural yogurts - I'm totally on your side. I was more thinking into the direction of all those fruit-yoghurt-concoctions that are claiming "Only 0.3% fat!".

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#19

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread I read about a case where a guy was told to eat more fish, because of his heart health. But he only put on weight and his cholesterol, blood pressure and whatnot only got worse and worse. So the doctor asked a bit more carefully about his diet and the guy admitted to eating a lot of creamed fish soups, like chowder. So he was adding a little bit of seafood and a huge amount of cream to his diet.

Not a good way to lose weight or lower your cholesterol!

internet_commie , Leszek Leszczynski Report

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Mavis
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Its often not about what you eat but how its prepared and cooked. Example potatoes. Boiled good. Fried not so good.

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#20

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Air fried versions of foods that are normally fried in oil

“This was air fried, meaning no oil, so it’s healthier!”

They’re still dinosaur nuggets, Sandra.

TrinixDMorrison , Klaus-Dieter Keller Report

#21

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Most granola bars. My daughter-in-law freaks out if her 3 year old eats a bit of chocolate candy, but she regularly gives her chocolate chip granola bars and a chocolate "protein shake" for breakfast.

TXteachr2018 , JeepersMedia Report

#22

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread According to the food pyramid when I was a kid, grains/bread.

Six to ELEVEN servings a day?!

smugfruitplate , Fancy Dress For Kids Report

#23

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Canned soup. That s**t is ridiculously high in sodium.

GraveDancer40 , Calle Macarone Report

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#25

Most vegan alternatives. They are normally ultra processed c**p.

SnooSketches7308 Report

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Corvus
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because they are (ironically) trying to imitate the non-vegan product that they are a substitute for.

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#26

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Fruit Juice over eating the fruit

You are getting rid of a lot of the fruit's nutritional valiue, and with a lot of store-bought juice they are adding sugar and other junk

mkicon , Mateusz Feliksik Report

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Na Schi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've read once that fruit smoothies even can enhance the chances of developing diabetes. This is because all the sugar of the fruits is instantly available (whereas in whole fruits your digestive system has to work to get to/extract the sugars). This instant availability floods your body with a massiv sugar rush. Probably not harmful, if you enjoy a small smoothie every other day or once in a while. But drinking large amounts or even replacing whole meals with it can be contradicting to a healthy life style. (Sorry that I can't provide you with the link - if one of you Pandas have it or have newer information please comment).

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#27

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Frozen Yogurt.

It might be better for you than ice cream but you still need to have it in moderation.

GrimmRetails , Dan Gold Report

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Ashley Schriber
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's from the "fat is the cause of all evils" days. Given that sugar is likely more overconsumed than fat and it doesn't really solve that problem, it's just inferior ice cream as far as I'm concerned.

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#28

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Completely excluding (natural) fats, sugars, etc. from their diets. You want a balanced diet, and excluding these often lead to eating more processed foods or a lack of protein or vitamins.

3ternaldumpsterfire , Mathilde Langevin Report

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Lola Atkinson
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That may be true, but Agave syrup, coconut oil and many more 'natural/ unprocessed' foods are not much better. There's a misunderstanding in the hype - too much 'natural' fat and sugar can still make you fat and diabetic, but may contain small amounts of vitamins and minerals that are 'healthy'. People just think in black and white - healthy/ unhealthy.

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#29

Every"light" alternative. Sometimes they fill food with chemicals and s**t to replicate the flavor of the original one

MrWhiteWeNeedToTalk Report

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#30

Those butter substitutes

the_purple_goat Report

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JoJo Anisko
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I confess that, while I buy/use butter almost exclusively, once in a blue moon I get a craving for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. I can't explain why, because it's true it Does. Not. Taste. Like. Butter.

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#31

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread I know someone who thought eating Subway would make her lose weight. The problem was she would only get meatball subs.

Boriqua27 , anon Report

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Mavis
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well they had that campaign about the Subway diet, so probably fooled a lot of people.

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#32

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread I grew up thinking all soup was healthy. I guess because there were usually vegetables inside? I didn't question that thought until later in life when I went to a real ramen restaurant and they asked how much lard I wanted in my broth. My face that day ...

Constant_Ad_7423 , Diego Lozano Report

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Lakota Wolf
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We are given soup when we are sick. Our grannies cook giant soups for the whole family. Soup cans always have fabulous-looking veggies on the labels (not if they're like Chicken and Stars soup, but you know what I mean XD ). It's no wonder we tend to automatically think of soups as "healthy". And they CAN be, but canned versions (and even the ones that you're deceived into thinking are "freshly made" because they're in a transparent plastic tub in the deli section) are usually loaded up with salt and probably sugar. But soup CAN be healthy - my ex makes a beef-neckbone vegetable soup from scratch. Ingredients: only the beef neckbones and vegetables (fresh spinach, broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts, opo melon, cucumber, Brussels sprouts, peas, enoki mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms - and whatever else was in the fridge). SO delicious.

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#33

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Muffins have more calories in them then a small fry at McDonald’s

Mr_Gam , Nicola since 1972 Report

#34

Grains and bread. In moderation most things are fine, but the terrible food pyramid that the US government has peddled for decades is partially responsible for the high obesity rates in the nation today

Responsible-Leg-6558 Report

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Haute Momma
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Agreed, except the US government actually replaced the pyramid years ago with my Plate

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#35

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Salad. Not the vegetables, but when people load on the salad dressing, they are basically eating 80% of their calories in sugar and fat.

Ancient_Wisdom_Yall , Nadine Primeau Report

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Na Schi
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Agree (and also guilty). However, I still have the (maybe wrong) feeling that the fibres are much better for my bowel health than eating the same calories as a burger. Probably also vitamins are more plenty. But please correct me.

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#36

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Veggie chips

Xirkil , Famartin Report

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Yali-girl with weird name
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Honestly the baby veggie chips taste sooooooooo good. Like im not weird don’t judge till uve tried them. Like when did baby food get so good?

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#37

red wine and alcoholic kombucha. Those same "heart healthy" benefits can be found in a serving of red grapes without your liver having to prepare for battle and it doesn't count if you're drinking 4 servings of wine in one setting. Same with alcoholic kombucha; you can't get any nutrients or benefits when your body is prioritizing processing alcohol.

Commercial-Sundae663 Report

#38

sugary cereals

"brings out the tiger in you"

Breakfast habits in general.

Maybe all the processed food....

chacaprr Report

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#39

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread The shocking one for me was the peanut butter. I’m one of those people who will just grab myself a heaping spoonful as a “snack”. And I’ll think “Welp, a bit of protein would be great!” I’m probably downing fucking 500 calories with one mouthful.

CanWeAllJustCalmDown , Corleto Peanut butter Report

#40

40 Commonly Misunderstood 'Healthy' Foods That Are Actually The Opposite, According To People In This Online Thread Tic tacs. They’re considered zero sugar not because they contain zero sugar, but because the serving size(1 mint) contains less than 0.5g. It is allowed under FDA labeling requirements to then label as having no sugar.

DevoidHT , Jonathan Lin Report

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Fat Harry
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not sure the same rules apply in the EU and UK (so sad that I have to list those separately :( )

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Note: this post originally had 55 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.