Ever since the world of fitness remains surrounded by popular trends. Recently, the dialogue is on superfoods and everyone has got a word to say on it. Every other food is labelled as a superfood but have you ever wondered what superfoods are?
One day you hear about chia seeds and next day nutrition experts label kale as the superfood. Thus, even before people decide on one, a new superfood is ruling the market. But with this never ending superfoods list and digital nutritionist advocating super food for weight loss or best superfood supplements, how can we find the truth?
Let me make it simple for you.
Such foods are nothing but one word telling more lies.
Table of Contents
Super Hype of Super Foods!
Just like any other field, the world of nutrition has its mysteries and superfoods are no exception to it. Now, the world of fitness is entering the era of superfoods, let’s make a real talk on it.
We all can relate to the fact that as a fitness freak or a weight struggler, the word superfood seems tempting to us. Someone might label kalonji as superfood, while for other person grape fruits fits the idea of weight loss superfood. However, unlike the appealing idea of superfoods, the truth is quite unappealing.
Let me put it simply!
Nutritionally speaking, there is no single food that can be labelled as a superfood. However, your balanced diet is the only superfood you can take advantage of and if you are missing the important food macros and micros, no superfood is going to save you!
Super Foods VS Super Nutrients
If superfoods don’t exist, then accounts for the categorization of foods into unhealthy, moderately healthy and super healthy? What creates the difference then? Well, it’s not the food but nutrients. And yes, you can call them super nutrients.
As already said, no single food can do the magic, it’s only the ingredients that sort these foods based on their nutritional profile. The important food nutrients can be broken down into food macros and micros.
Our food macros include carbohydrates, protein and fats that form the major proportion of our diet. Other than these macros, certain micronutrients should be part of our diet. Despite being required in smaller quantities, these micronutrients are essential for our overall health. Some of these micronutrients include vitamins and minerals.
Downside of Superfoods
If you read on nutrition and fitness, blogs talking about “7 hormones balancing superfoods” or “top 10 superfoods” must have caught your attention. However, despite very little information on how these superfoods are affecting your health, the side effects of these superfoods are more than we expect.
Here is all that you need to know about the downside of these superfoods.
1- Excess isn’t excessively better!
Most people think that if a thing is good, the excess will be excessively better. But that’s not always the case particularly when it comes to the foods we are eating. The labelled superfoods might contain food ingredients that could be damaging to your health. For instance, the excess intake of spinach can cause kidney stones and the over-consumption of kale might be causing heavy-metal poisoning.
2- Nutrient deficiency
No matter which way you slice it, your super healthy superfoods can result in severe nutrient deficiency. Known for their exceptional nutrient profile, the consumption of these superfoods can make the body deprive of other essential nutrients that are present in less popular foods.
3- Claimed superfoods might imbalance your calorie intake!
Your overall health not only depends upon what you are eating but also on how much you are eating. For this very reason, your calorie intake plays a key role. Consumption of superfoods can affect your calorie intake affecting your health in the short and long term. The trap of superfoods let people live in the delusion that if they are into taking superfoods, they shouldn’t worry about the calories which ultimately affects their health goals.
4- Trending “Mock Health Foods”
The fast and progressing world of nutrition has many loopholes in it. One among these is the health mock foods which made people fall for the fad nutrition trends. Whether we talk about the low-fat or low-carb food era, the food manufacturers always take advantage of it.
The manufacturing of ‘claimed’ health foods by the recreation of existing foods with a healthier twist is one of the biggest nutrition fads and superfoods are no exception to this. You might be enjoying your kale smoothie with hefty doses of fruit-derived sugar syrups or your healthy whole-grain cereal is nothing more than processed sugary cereal.
Bottom Line!
No matter if you call them organic superfoods or natural superfoods, these are nothing more than a growing nutrition trend without any magic in them. Owing to their strong nutritional profile some of these foods have secured the title of super foods but they are negatively affecting your physical health in many ways. Therefore, rather than falling prey to these super fads, enjoy a balanced diet that is the only superfood you can have!
