Can you really say snacks are healthy? Is there really such a thing as eating without overdoing?
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Even with healthy snacks like nuts and dried fruits moderation is still required. You’re only supposed to eat so much of a mix per day: nuts about 4 to 7 pieces and dried fruits 1 to 2 pieces. That’s about a handful.
If you overdo it, it’s hardly healthy eating anymore considering the sugar content in dried fruit, which is double compared to the amount in fresh fruits and considering the fat content in nuts that can make us fat rather quickly.
Not to mention nuts have some compounds that can cause digestive issues and dried fruits are not always dried the healthy way. Take dried apricots for example not all of them, but some or most are sulfured.
So perhaps it’s safer to say that all foods should be eaten moderately, even them healthy snacks.
Three foods presumably ok to overdo
Nevertheless, some people say it’s ok to go nuts with some foods, even people specializing in healthy eating. Here are some of these foods:
Popcorn – yes, healthy unless we’re talking about caramel popcorn or popcorn drizzled in butter.
Air-popped popcorn is a healthy substitute for chips, no doubt about it. Even if you ate a lot of popcorn at once, you’d get few calories, and you would actually benefit from some fiber too. If you add spices like pepper or paprika, you double the benefit, both the healthy and the flavor.
But oil-cooked popcorn and popcorn flavored with caramel, cheese sauce and anything in this range adds extra calories to it.
Popcorn can also come with pesticide residues, or it can come from crops genetically modified. Consumed sparingly, conventional popcorn may not provoke any side effects, but any food that has been genetically modified and is consumed regularly is bad for the body and the health.
Cucumbers – and vegetables, in general, are said to be ok to eat with abandon.
Cucumbers are mostly water containing 95% to 98% water. Unfortunately, a large proportion of cucumbers also contain pesticide residues following the treatment process for pests and disease-control during growth.
Among the many chemicals used to treat cucumber crops, a large proportion is extremely toxic. Over 85 pesticide residues were found by the USDA in conventionally grown cucumbers. In addition, conventional cucumbers are sometimes coated with synthetic wax that may contain other harmful chemicals.
When eating cucumbers, if not organic, the skin should be peeled off the vegetable and whenever possible organic cucumbers should be consumed.
But whether conventional or organic, cucumbers should not be consumed in excess because they can provoke allergies and other side effects.
Smoothies – specifically premade smoothies that may be loaded with syrups and sugars.
Smoothies are often considered some of the most nutritious foods. Made of fruits and vegetables, they are indeed a powerhouse of nutrients and health. But store-bought smoothies can be the opposite of that when packed with unhealthy ingredients.
The extra ingredients added to smoothies vary from honey and agave nectar to various powders and fats that do nothing but make a healthy drink unhealthy.
Additionally, the liquid version of fruits and veggies can be less satisfying than fruits in their natural form, making us eat more during the day, so smoothies are not always recommended as a meal substitute. They should be consumed as treats rather as meals.