What To Watch For In Health Food Stores

Image credit: Reykjavík Health Food Store 5

You may think that because you are in a health food store that you can shop without fear of going off of your diet. But you would be surprised at what can be found on some store shelves. Just because you are in a health food store is no reason to let your guard down and stop watching those nutrition labels. Here are a few things to watch for when shopping for foodstuff.

Fancy Water

People used to drinking flavored drinks like soda pop and teas find it difficult to switch to water when going on a low carb diet. For these people, fancy water with flavors or vitamins are very attractive, and are abundant on the shelves of health food stores. But in reality, many of these waters are high in sugars and carbs, making them a no-no for a low carb diet (available here).

Whole Grain Foods

You hear over and over again when on a low carb diet that if you are to eat grains they have to be whole grains. But just because something says it is whole grain does not mean that it has a low carb content. Some health food advertised as whole grain is actually a mixture of whole grains and processed grains. Other whole grain foods are high in fat content as the manufactures attempt to make a heavy whole grain product into bread with a lighter taste.

Fruit and Vegetable Snack Chips

Many snack chips found in health food aisles boast vitamins and nutrition. However, many of these snack chips are not as healthy as they appear. Things like banana chips may be loaded with saturated fat and cholesterol due to the oil they are fried in. Other snack chips like vegetable chips rarely contain that many vegetables, and are often high in carbs.

These are just a few examples of the deceit that occurs in health food stores. There are a few tips that will help you avoid making these mistakes. First, just because the health food has something that may be good for you, doesn't mean that the food follows the rules of your low carb, low fat, or low cholesterol diet. Even when only following a low carb diet, not watching fat and cholesterol intake will eventually lead to bigger health problems like heart attacks and strokes.

The best advice for foodstuff shopping is to watch your nutrition and ingredients labels-no slacking! Remember that just because it is in a health food store or grocery aisle, that does not mean that the food you picked up follows your diet or is actually healthy. By checking all nutrition and ingredients labels, you will catch these unhealthy health foods and make better use of your health food shopping experience.