Organic, All-Natural Is Not Necessarily Healthy

NATURAL and ORGANIC may not always be HEALTHY!

I was cruising through the aisles of a local health food supermarket about 2 weeks ago when a free standing display caught my attention. It was strategically placed at the end of the aisle and was eye-catching. You had to either walk right into it or notice it. I guess that was the point.

The product on display was a new brand of "granola." It had a few varieties with either added cried fruit or "natural" chocolate bits. I was curious as to the calories so I read the label. I almost passed out! 1/2 cup of this "organic," "natural" product had about 200 calories"! The bag, surprisingly small, had 8 servings. Half a cup is not much and many people will NOT use a measuring cup and will most likely let their eyes and their level of hunger determine the amount to be consumed. Add a cup of milk and you have the potential of eating a "healthy," "organic," "all-natural" product that will give you close to 500 calories. For many women, that's 1/3 of their total calories for the day. That would be fine if the two other meals of the day had the same amount of calories but experience has shown me that is often NOT the case.

It gets better! I go the the front, near the check out, and there are all of these (here we go again) NATURAL, ORGANIC chocolate bars. No significant amount of nutrients, almost 200 calories and barely the size of my 2 fingers! Next to them were a box of ORGANIC, LOW FAT, JELLY BEANS! Hello....No fat... No kidding! Guess what? A tablespoon of pure sugar has ZERO FAT!

So a few days later, I'm in the same supermarket and now my antennae is up! I'm like a shark, cruising around, looking for prey! I had decided that this was going to be the focus of this article but I wanted more ammo. Well, it didn't take long. In this wonderful ORGANIC, ALL-NATURAL PARADISE were products that were promoted as very "healthy," but also very CALORIE DENSE, not necessarily being NUTRIENT DENSE, which is how it should be to be classified as healthy.

Webster defines "healthy" as conducive to health. The end result of eating calorie dense foods, ALL-NATURAL, ORGANIC or not, has the same result, and negative impact as being sedentary. They both result in FAT GAIN! We are all aware of the negative health implications of excess body fat. It's definitely not "healthy!"

I'm all for natural, organic products. That's how we should be eating. But experience has shown me, both personally as a person with diabetes and through training hundreds of clients over the years, that we have to be aware of deceiving packaging, marketing campaigns and other unscrupulous approaches concerning "healthy food choices."

The bottom line is – BE SMART,. Read between the lines. Better yet... Read those nutrient labels. You'll be surprised!

Until next time, stay healthy and be well!