4 “Natural” Foods That Aren’t Really Natural
When it comes to the term “natural,” labels can be misleading. For example, these 4 popular “natural” foods aren’t really natural at all!
Since there’s not a whole lot of regulation on the term “natural,” this is a word that gets misused all time on product labels. Food producers know that customers have favorable impression of the word natural, so they use it whenever they can, to imply that a food is more healthy for you than the other (presumably unnatural?) versions.
This makes sense, as you would think that a “natural” product would have fewer chemicals, and be closer to a whole food, right?
Unfortunately, this is not always the case. These 4 popular so-called “natural” foods are great examples of the deception that can be contained in the word “natural.”
1. Almond Milk
It seems like a win-win: a low-calorie dairy substitute made from one of nature’s nutritional powerhouses. Except there are actually very few almonds in this mostly water beverage, and pretty much none of their natural goodness—including protein, fiber, healthy fat, and antioxidants—survives the processing into “milk.” Instead, what’s added is a whole bunch of sugars and fortified nutrients, thickeners and stabilizers like carageenan…. The same goes for rice milk.
Better choice: Real coconut milk or real dairy.
2. Veggie Chips
It’s easy to be tempted by the idea of a crunchy, salty snack food made from real vegetables. But the truth is, most veggie chips (also veggie straws) have very little in common with a real vegetable….
…………………………………………..3. Cold Cuts
Oh, how we’d like to believe those convenient packages of sliced “lunch meat” were truly just super thin slices straight off the roast. But the reality is most packaged lunch or deli meats are made from a mash up of different sections of meat bound together with additives, fillers, emulsions, a whole lot of sodium, and nitrates, which help prevent bacterial growth but have been linked to cancer.
Better choice:…………….
4. Granola Bars
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
For more information on the deception in these “natural foods,” check out the full article on MSN.com.
