# What foods did you once think were healthy, when they actually aren't? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 7, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435 "2006-02-07T19:25:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/1 "2006-02-07T19:25:25Z")
I was looking at a can of 5-Alive the other day, and I was distressed to discover that not only does it have the same number of calories as a can of Coke, but it doesn’t have any extra nutrients! I was under the impression that as a citrus drink, it at least had some vitamin C, but I was wrong. Has anyone else had an experience like this? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/2 "2006-02-07T19:37:03Z")
> [@Speaker for the Dead](#): > > \*\*What foods did you once think were healthy, when they actually aren’t? \*\* Everything. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/3 "2006-02-07T19:40:19Z")
Margarine- worse than butter in many ways. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/4 "2006-02-07T19:42:35Z")
When apple chips first came out I thought they were somehow healthier than potato chips. They aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/5 "2006-02-07T19:45:08Z")
So very many: **Taco Chips** They are made with ground corn. What could be unhealthy about that? **Bagels** Anything that chewy must be healthy. Didn’t realize how many calories they packed, or that they are usually full of white flour. **Muffins** A great alternative to donuts. Didn’t realize they could top over 600 calories. **Fish** As in fish and chips. Hey, it’s fish right? I’ll leave room for others. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/6 "2006-02-07T19:47:36Z")
Cheese and crackers. Pretty much up until college I would eat cheese and crackers as oppossed to potato chips, because obviously they were healthier. Then one day I was randomly thinnkig about it, and realized it’s really about the same. I get some fiber and a few minerals from the crackers, and calcium from the cheese, but it’s still a shit ton of fat and calories. Sometimes it might even be more than chips, given the right circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/7 "2006-02-07T19:56:55Z")
Everyone agrees soda is bad for you. But when you play sports or exercise you should drink lots of Gatorade right?? Quench your thirst, replenish electrolytes, all that. Nah, it’s about as good for you as soda. Water and tons of sugar. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/8 "2006-02-07T19:57:01Z")
**Muffins** , for pretty much the same reasons **Mikemike2** said. I figured they had to be better for me than donuts. Yeah, right. When I was in college, there was a coffee place close by that sold the HUGE muffins (this was '84, start of the muffin craze), and we stopped in nearly every morning and afternoon for one. They were good for us! They had blueberries in them! **Margarine**. I was a kid during the late 60s and early 70s, when butter was pretty much vilified as a Giant Stick o’ Death, and everyone stopped eating it in favor of margarine. No one had even heard of transfats. Butter was just FAT, FAT, FAT, and margarine was sooooo healthy and good for you. Better living through chemistry. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/9 "2006-02-07T20:01:22Z")
Yeah, the whole margarine-is-God-to-butter’s-Satan thing has pretty much soured my mother on the idea of blindly trusting what you hear about food being healthy/unhealthy. She hates the low-carb diets, for example. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/10 "2006-02-07T20:01:48Z")
Sunny Delight. I decided it probably wasn’t as healthy as the ads wanted me to believe when I left a mug of it overnight and found sugar crystals in the bottom the next morning. Plus it tastes nothing like oranges. ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/11 "2006-02-07T20:14:41Z")
Granola. Wow, is it loaded with fat! Not the “good” kind, either. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/12 "2006-02-07T20:22:20Z")
Fruit juice. You might as well be drinking watered down maple syrup. ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/13 "2006-02-07T20:24:46Z")
Granola bars. Thought I was doing good by snacking on them instead of candy bars. Yeah right. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/14 "2006-02-07T20:37:00Z")
> [@YaWanna](#): > > Granola. Wow, is it loaded with fat! Not the “good” kind, either. Hey, you stole mine! S’Ok, I have another: salads. Yep, I said it. Salads. Specifically those yummy salads you buy premade at Six Proctologists In Need of A Tax Shelter (Bennigan’s, Applebees, etc.) or at the lunch counter in a large grocery store. Sure, they start out all innocent with lettuce and carrots, but then have enough cheese, meat and high fat dressings to clog the arteries of a cardiologist! ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/15 "2006-02-07T20:46:19Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Everyone agrees soda is bad for you. > But when you play sports or exercise you should drink lots of Gatorade right?? > Quench your thirst, replenish electrolytes, all that. > > Nah, it’s about as good for you as soda. Water and tons of sugar. Yeah, but after you exercise, water and a ton of sugar, are exactly what your body needs. So would drinking soda be jsut as good as gatorade after a work out? Maybe. Though I suspect soda has more sugar, on average, and a lot lighter on the electrlytes, which are a HUGE factor in what makes Gatorade actualyl godo for you under those circumstances. IIRC, there actually have been studies done on athletes who do extremely dehydrating and endurance heavy sports (marathon runner, bikers, triathetes) and they have shown that Gatorade is, in fact, better for you than water because of those reasons. On the other hand, drinking a half gallon of it after a thirty minute basketball session on your lunch break is probably a bit excessive. In that case water will do just fine, because you didn’t do nearly enough exercise to deplete your electrolyte and carb levels. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/16 "2006-02-07T20:51:25Z")
Nuts. Good low-calorie, high-protein fare, right? WRONG! Mostly fat, and at 170 calories a ounce, they have more calories than cheese. Worse are the roasted, salted, carob & yoghurt covered ones. Peanut butter. Loaded with fat. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/17 "2006-02-07T21:04:52Z")
Metra-Cal Diet drinks. They were a predecessor of Slim-Fast, except not as much vitamines and stuff. But x 10 on the yummy factor. My mom was always dieting, and before I started school, I ate what she ate, or got stuck with Spaghetti-O’s. I vaguely remember when Kraft Singles came out, everybody thought it was so much healtheir than real cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/18 "2006-02-07T21:15:00Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > IIRC, there actually have been studies done on athletes who do extremely dehydrating and endurance heavy sports (marathon runner, bikers, triathetes) and they have shown that Gatorade is, in fact, better for you than water because of those reasons. There have also been studies done which show that this is true ONLY for athletes who do marathon running, triathlon, etc., i.e., people who are in absolutely top physical shape. Weekend warriors, not so helpful. How about raw eggs? No added fat, salt, everybody who ever saw Rocky saw how people ate for training back in the 70’s and 80’s. Now we can’t even eat raw cookie dough any more. Not to say that I felt that raw cookie dough was good for me, you understand… ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/19 "2006-02-07T21:19:09Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Nuts. Good low-calorie, high-protein fare, right? WRONG! Mostly fat, and at 170 calories a ounce, they have more calories than cheese. Worse are the roasted, salted, carob & yoghurt covered ones. > > Peanut butter. Loaded with fat. Nuts may be high in fat, but the fat in them is healthy for you to consume, in moderation. (Anyone need a definition of that last word? 😃 ) Nuts have been found to have a great deal of nutritional benefit. The omega-3 fatty acids in them are protective against cardiac disease, if I’m not mistaken. Again, peanut butter (though peanuts are legumes, not nuts) is good for you, in moderation. A slice of toast with peanut butter is heathier for you than the same slice of toast with the same amount of butter or margarine or cream cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435/20 "2006-02-07T21:33:33Z")
They used to say eating Bacon everyday was a good idea in the morning, along with sausages, eggs, and other things. Then again, they actualy used to go out on a farm and work all day. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-foods-did-you-once-think-were-healthy-when-they-actually-arent/343435.md?page=2)