Danger Foods to Avoid for Healthy Living

 Even if you're not overly concerned with maintaining a healthy weight or improving your health, there are certain foods you should avoid due to their high fat, sugar, sodium, and calorie content. As our country is obsessed with being thin and looking great, advertising and marketing companies have come up with endless ways to make food seem like a good idea by stuffing it with unhealthy ingredients. So food companies can benefit from using the words "healthy", "low calorie" and "all natural" to describe products that are actually none of those things. If you really want to maintain good health and a slim figure, your best bet is to eat natural and whole foods like fresh vegetables and fruits. Even if the package has words like "low sugar" on it, it just means they've filled it with other additives and artificial ingredients to keep it's color, shape, and good taste. Find out which foods to avoid so you don't add extra calories and unhealthy ingredients to your diet. Here are 7 dangerous foods to stay away from in order to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Low fat salad dressing. A prime example of a product to avoid if you want to stay healthy is salad dressing that is advertised as fat-free. If you are monitoring your blood pressure or cholesterol levels, avoid this food at all costs because it can cause a number of health problems. The sodium levels in these dressings are incredibly high, around 500 mg in just two tablespoons. Instead of buying fat-free bottled salad dressing, make your own without salt and fresh seasonings like lemon juice, turmeric, and mustard seeds. Choosing healthy olive oil for your homemade dressing base is the best choice for a healthy lifestyle.

Protein bars. This product is one of the best selling "healthy" products. The companies that make these protein bars are trying to convince consumers that they can lose weight and become healthy by including them in their daily diet. The truth is that most protein bars are basically vitamin-packed chocolate bars that are rich in sugar, fat, and calories. Avoid this food because you will be consuming a lot of unnecessary calories with tons of fat and sugar.

Margarine. Considered a healthy relative of butter, margarine is far from the best choice for use in cooking and baking. Margarine is essentially a man-made version of this main ingredient and should not be used to improve health. Although margarine contains fewer calories, it is higher in trans fats, which raise cholesterol levels and can cause a number of health problems.  dangerous foods to eat Using real oil will actually be better for you in the long run as it will lower your risk of heart disease.

Dried fruits. Most people don't know how unhealthy dried fruits are. Everything from raisins to dried mangoes are incredibly high in sugar and calories in a small serving. Eating dried fruits will cause a spike in blood sugar, which will lead to weight gain and slow metabolism. Instead of eating dried, packaged fruits, opt for fresh and natural fruits, or even frozen varieties.

Sushi. Yes, it is true that fish is an important part of a healthy diet because it is a source of protein that is low in calories and high in essential fatty acids. However, sushi is not the best or healthiest way to include fish in your diet. Sushi rolls are incredibly misleading when it comes to how many calories they contain. The additions to many sushi rolls, including cream cheese, fried fish pieces, and white rice, make sushi grow your waistline and can contain over 500 calories per roll. Avoid these foods, which may be unknowingly dangerous to your health.