5 Popular Foods You THINK Are Healthy

It's not easy to make healthy food choices to begin with... but what makes it even more difficult is when food companies use marketing techniques and tactics to make you think their foods are healthy, when in fact they are quite the opposite.

In this edition of "Healthy Steps with Dr. Ginger," Dr. Ginger goes over some popular foods that people generally think are healthy, but actually can be detrimental to your health.

Processed Soy Products

Fermented soy products like miso and tempeh are the healthy soy products, unlike the chemically processed soy products that line the shelves of many grocery stores. Many of these highly processed soy products contain soy that is genetically modified.


Store-bought or Sugary Smoothies

Many of these smoothies are high in sugar (especially artificial sugars) and use concentrated fruit juices. You should also be very aware when trusting the word "natural" or "all-natural." These words mean absolutely nothing, as there are no regulations surrounding those terms.


Sports Drinks

These drinks are often filled with artificial colors, preservatives, sugar and other chemicals. Again, marketing techniques (specifically endorsements by popular sports celebrities) have promoted these sports drinks as "healthy." You can actually make your own sports drinks, or rely on more natural options like water, coconut water and bananas.


Watermelon Oreos &  Celery Jello

These products use a healthy food "concept" to market to consumers. Obviously these foods are NOT even close to being healthy.


These are just a few of the many foods out there pretending to be healthy and good. You need to become an educated, savvy consumer because the marketing techniques can often steer you in the wrong direction. We'll help guide you back.