4 Foods You May Not Have Realized Were Bad for Your Heart
With the way products are marketed, it’s sometimes confusing to know and understand what’s good for you and what may not be. When it comes to heart health, it’s all about the ingredients.
Centers Health Care has a look at five foods that aren’t good for heart health, and some of them may surprise you.
- Margarine
When it comes to most fat and sugar substitutes, you’re generally better off eating the natural stuff in moderation. Margarine falls into that category.
While not as unhealthy as it used to be due to the use of artificial trans fats, the spread now uses palm oil, which isn’t terribly good or bad for your heart. But using healthy fats like avocado and olive oil are great for heart health.
- Fat-Free Salad Dressing
While you want to avoid unhealthy fats, it is a necessary part of the diet to absorb fat-soluble vitamins like vitamins D and E, which have heart-healthy and antioxidant properties. So if you’re looking to cut back, a low-fat salad dressing or other product is okay, but otherwise, go for the full fat.
- Energy Drinks
Energy drinks are marketed for those who need an extra boost to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle, but the reality is that some ingredients used in many of these drinks aren’t heavily regulated and can overstimulate the body to the point that it can cause heart issues when taken before or during exercise or mixed with alcohol. And even drinking alcohol regularly can cause elevated blood pressure.
- Specialty Coffee Drinks
While black coffee has plenty of healthy properties, fancy coffee drinks—whether hot, frozen, or iced—are not good for you at all. In fact, many of these drinks include more than an entire day’s allowance of sugar with syrups, caramel, chocolate, and whipped cream being used in abundance.
