Five stigmatized foods that really are good for your health

Throughout the years when certain foods have been mentioned, we have always taken our hands to the head or they have always been seen as foods to avoid in our diet. The truth is that in the collective feeling these foods occupy a lower position and therefore it is important that we take into account that they are not as bad as they think . Our mission with this post is to end with the stigma of these foods.

Excess calories, excess cholesterol, too much sugar, you should not eat at certain times … These have been some of the statements that we have tired of listening to over time about certain foods. Many of them are totally unfounded or the result of studies that have become obsolete in many cases.

To put an end to these speculations, we want to focus on five of these most famous foods that we should not banish at all from our diet . In order to achieve this, we are going to base ourselves on some of the studies that exist on the subject and that belie part of the fears about foods that have been spread for many years.

The egg and the phobia for cholesterol

First of all we are going to stop at the egg . It is a food present in all diets of the world due to its high nutritional content , since it is a protein rich food. In fact, the proteins that the egg contains are some of the best quality that exists, because they are easy to assimilate by the organism.

In spite of everything, for years the egg has been in the spotlight because it has been accused of providing the body with high doses of cholesterol. That is why the egg has been banished from the diet of many people and this is what makes it a loved and hated food in equal parts. We want to deny this point based on a study conducted for more than 10 years by Harvard University and which is echoed on the website of the Nutrition Information Center .

According to this study, the egg is not dangerous for human health at all. On the contrary, since it contains high doses of necessary nutrients and as far as cholesterol is concerned. The daily consumption of egg causes the serum lutein of the organism to increase, in addition to this, zeaxanthin also increases. This process does so without altering the levels of blood lipids or cholesterol. For that reason it is a food that has been badly treated without reason for years and that must change.

Bread and the fear of gaining weight by consuming many carbohydrates

Another food that has always remained in the background as far as food is concerned is bread . Specifically, carbohydrates , since they are almost always seen as the cause of all the ills in terms of overweight. For this reason many people have severely restricted the intake of these nutrients, so that bread, pasta, and all derivatives have barely stopped consuming.

We want to make a clarification before anything else, and that is that carbohydrates are the main source of energy in the body , so they are totally necessary. Moreover, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal , hydrates are necessary and can help us maintain weight and even lose weight. The secret lies in knowing which types of hydrates to take to the mouth, since not all are equally nutritious and do not have the same effect on the organism. The secret lies in choosing complex hydrates that we will obtain from whole wheat bread made with unrefined whole grains .

Starting with the example of the bread that we mentioned before, it is always better that we opt for varieties made from whole- grain flours , since the hydrates from this type of flour are much more beneficial for the organism. The reason, its slow assimilation , which allows us to have a constant energy and not run the risk of converting excess glucose into fat.

Cocoa and confusion with chocolate

Cocoa is another food that has been banished from many diets because it is considered to be of little benefit to the organism. It is true that most of the foods that contain it usually have high amounts of refined sugars and saturated fats. For this reason, cocoa has been subjected to a brutal discredit.

Nothing is further from reality. A few months ago, a study was published in Frontiers in Nutritionmagazine highlighting the benefits of cocoa, which have nothing to do with what we believe. It is important that we know that cocoa is not the same as chocolate . When we refer to cocoa , we are talking about the dry and fermented fruit of this plant, without later additions such as cocoa butter or sugars, which is what chocolate is in most cases.

The pure cocoa has a series of important antioxidant properties that we can not ignore, and that will help us to improve in general features the state of our body, protecting it from free radicals. It is also a food that acts directly on neuronal improvement and vision. Therefore it is important that we contribute some amounts of this food to our daily diet.

The potato or how to waste a good source of energy

Another food that has been completely stigmatized is the potato . It is true that it is an important source of high quality carbohydrates . In spite of everything, and precisely because of this characteristic, the potato has always been associated with being a food loaded with calories and that little or nothing can be used to help us maintain the line.

Nothing is further from reality, since a recent studyshows that consuming potatoes is not so bad for health , since it is a good source of energy. In this study cited above, the individuals studied who were allowed to eat potatoes at will, not only did not gain weight compared to those who had more controlled the intake of potatoes, but also managed to lose weight.

The result of this research is the conclusion that not only is the potato a good source of carbohydrates, but it is also a food that will help us sate before and for longer . Hence, in the long run we keep the weight better. Of course, it is necessary to consume them roasted or cooked, since fried things change, because we add fats that will not be as good for the body.

Cheese and the demonization of dairy products

To finish we will stop at another demonized food, it is cheese . For a long time dairy products, and especially cheese, is considered a type of food that contains many fats for the body and therefore was banished from many diets. In this aspect we will stop in a study published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism,according to which the importance of not ending with the consumption of dairy products, and especially cheese is highlighted.

It is true that many people do not like dairy products and are not well assimilated by their bodies. These people are known as lactose intolerant and in these cases it is advisable to remove this food from the diet. But there are many other people who decide to withdraw milk from the diet. In these cases the reasons are usually fats or consider it a problematic food and not recommended.

According to the study cited above, dairy products, and especially cheeses, help our metabolism work better due to the calcium they give us and a fat particle called CLA that helps directly in the absorption, assimilation and use of fats by Our organism. For this reason it is necessary that we keep this in mind and that we opt for ingesting cheeses of good origin and especially the milk of sheep and goat, which is one of the most nutritious and contains more CLA.