Some products may be cheap for your wallet, but very expensive for your health. Discover the worst foods in the supermarket.
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When you go shopping there are a number of products to eat with your eyes – displayed in pretty colors, looking great and promising a practical and quick meal, all to convince you to take them home with you. But, in fact, they could very well be worst foods in supermarket and can be enemies of your health.
In this article, we’re going to take a few examples, in no particular order, and we’re going to help you opt for slightly healthier versions.
10 worst foods in the supermarket
1.
Flavored yogurts and fruit smoothies
Generally, fruit and flavored yogurts come with an extra dose of sugar. The fruit itself already has sugar and sugars are added in the composition of the yogurt. When reading the label, in addition to “sugar”, this usually appears masked with other names such as “maltose”, “sucrose”, “dextrose”.
Alternatively, look for, for example, Greek yogurts with less than 12 grams of sugar to make sure you’re consuming more protein than sugar. This way, you will feel less hungry for longer.
According to biologist and nutritionist Juan Revenga, in an interview with El País, each package of tomato sauce has twice the calories compared to what is made at home. Supermarket-bought sauces can be handy, but they contain large amounts of sugar and fat.
Make your own sauces at home with fresh tomatoes or use alternatives such as olive oil or aromatic herbs.
These drinks are made up of large amounts of sugar and, therefore, are on the list of worst foods in the supermarket. Even if they contain natural fruit and do not contain preservatives or dyes, there is always added sugar to these juices.
Alternatively, make your own fruit juices at home or choose to drink water with meals.
A tip: if you really have to buy juice at the supermarket, pay attention to the labels. To help you, the Directorate-General for Health created a label decoder that you can have with you on your mobile phone whenever you go shopping.
4.
Snacks and processed foods
Sausages, ham, cheese, processed meats. All these foods have large amounts of sodium, ie salt, and saturated fats and practically no fiber.
Choose to take it in your lunch box to work snacks such as nuts or fruit. To put a healthier alternative on bread, you can use, for example, a little sugar-free jam or vegetable butter made at home.
5.
frozen french fries
It is another of the foods to cross off the list, according to nutritionist Juan Revenga. These potatoes, being pre-fried, are usually full of oil and will absorb even more when you put them in the fryer. It is better to make your own fries at home or make potatoes in the oven, even substituting sweet potatoes.
6.
Cakes with trans fats
Between 35% and 40% of the composition of cakes such as donuts are trans fats. This is the worst type of fat you can eat. In addition to this type of product – which can also include muffins like muffins with toppings – deserve to be featured on a list of the worst foods in the supermarket as they are full of sugar and food additives.
Alternatively, you can make your own cakes at home in a healthier version, replacing refined sugarfor example, by brown sugar or dates.
7.
Mayonnaise and salad dressings
It is capable of destroying a good salad. Supermarket mayonnaise is usually made up of sugar, salt and saturated fat. Alternatively, in a salad for example, you should avoid putting mayonnaise or other sauces suitable for salads, using aromatic herbs and a small amount of olive oil for seasoning.
Most peanut butter sold in supermarkets contains large amounts of sugar and preservatives. This fact causes a food that could be healthy to become one of the worst foods in the supermarket.
Alternatively, you can make your own peanut butter at home.
The price of supermarket popcorn is very attractive, especially when compared to cinema popcorn. However, despite being cheap for the wallet, they are expensive for health. According to Spanish nutritionist Juan Revenga, industrialized popcorn has large amounts of fat.
Make your own popcorn at home using coconut oil or olive oil. Another tip is to use cinnamon instead of sugar.
Do you love visiting the ice cream cabinets at the supermarket? Ice creams have sugar, dyes and preservatives that you should really avoid, even ice creams made mostly of water. Make your own ice cream at home using, for example, frozen ripe fruit (such as bananas and strawberries).
Do you usually buy some of the worst foods in the supermarket? Think twice before buying them and prioritize your health. Another important tip is not to go shopping hungry. If you haven’t eaten, you will tend to buy these foods on impulse or buy more than you should.
