‘Healthy’ Swaps That Can Backfire
You may think you are being healthier, but not all swaps are good for you
Losing weight, boosting your energy, eating better: Whatever your health goals may be, dropping bad behaviors and replacing them with healthier ones is the first step to achieving them. Sometimes, though, your “better” choice has its own downsides—and may not actually be good for you at all. Here, experts reveal the truth about some of the most common health swaps to help you decide what’s best to help you reach your goals.
The swap: A normal diet for gluten-free
People with celiac disease have a reaction to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, or rye, and if they don’t eliminate it from their diets they can seriously damage their intestines. But other people jump on the gluten-free bandwagon as a way to lose weight. And it’s not an effective approach, says Kari Ikemoto, RD with HealthCare Partners in Los Angeles, Calif. “Many packaged, pre-made gluten-free foods are often higher in calories, sugar, salt, and fat and lower in valuable nutrients like fiber and iron.” If you do want to avoid gluten because you think you might have an intolerance, try to stick to naturally gluten-free foods such as fruit, corn, brown rice, legumes, nuts, seeds, dairy, oatmeal, and lean proteins.
The swap: Regular soda for diet soda
Gave up sugary drinks? Good for you! Thing is, switching to diet won’t necessarily help you drop pounds. A 2015 study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that people who drank diet soda daily nearly tripled their abdominal fat over nine years versus those who did not drink diet soda. Those who didn’t drink diet soda gained an average of 0.8 inches around their waists, while daily diet drinkers gained 3.16 inches. “Artificial sweeteners increase your addiction to sweets and are a much stronger stimulant of the brain’s pleasure center than sugar,” says Brian Quebbemann, MD, a weight loss specialist in Newport Beach, Calif. “As a result, artificial sweeteners may be more addictive than sugar, and in fact cause people to crave sweets even more.” Cut out soda sweetened beverages altogether or substitute fizzy water with lemon or other fruit slices.
The swap: Soap and water for hand sanitizer
You have hand sanitizer stashed in your bag, so why take the extra effort to find a bathroom and wash your hands the old-fashioned way? The problem, says Michael Schmidt, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina, is that alcohol kills microbes by drying them out and killing them. With long-term use, you will begin to deplete your skin of the protective oils and damage the elasticity of your skin, Schmidt says. Plus, alcohol-based hand sanitizer is not considered as effective at killing all types of germs. It’s fine to use hand sanitizer (choose an alcohol-based one that’s 60-95% alcohol) when soap and water is not available, he says, just not as a regular substitute for real soap and water.
The swap: Regular soap for antibacterial
Using antibacterial soap as a way to amp up the effectiveness of the regular variety isn’t necessary, says Schmidt. “Drug-resistant bacteria came about from the overuse of antimicrobials,” he says. “So why add an antibiotic to something that is perfectly functional without the addition of the drug?” In addition, animal studies link a chemical in antimicrobial soaps called triclosan to cancer and liver fibrosis, and researchers say the mechanisms are also relevant in humans. Triclosan may do its damage by interfering with a protein responsible for clearing foreign chemicals in the body. (Check the label since some manufacturers are removing this ingredient.)
For more “healthy” swaps that might backfire, click here.
