We’re always hearing about the dangers of ultra-processed foods like white bread, salty snacks and chocolate. But while eating too many of these foods has been linked with heart disease and obesity, it’s OK to include some treats in an overall balanced diet. In fact, our favourite foods can have surprising health benefits.
It’s a well-worn mantra but still a true one," says registered dietitian Priya Tew. "Clean eating, keto and other restrictive diets that demonize food groups can contribute to a skewed relationship with food or even actual eating disorders." Here are 5 commonly blacklisted foods that can be good for you. We used official food composition tables for nutritional values.
The more cocoa that chocolate contains, the lower it is in sugar and the higher it is in polyphenol antioxidants that have been shown to reduce blood pressure. Very dark chocolate also has a surprising amount of fiber that helps to boost gut health – for example, 50g (five large or 10 small squares) of Green and Black’s 85% cocoa chocolate (available at Walmart) supplies 6g fiber, which is equivalent to 1½ small bowls of bran flakes.
Sure, milk chocolate has fewer antioxidants and a higher sugar content than the dark type. But it is not all bad: 50g milk chocolate has as much bone-building calcium as a 175ml glass of milk while still having more fiber than a small apple.
Square for square milk chocolate is also less likely to lead to weight gain than dark chocolate on account of having fewer calories overall. A 50g bar of Hershey's Milk Chocolate has 275 calories; a 50g bar of Green & Black’s 85% cocoa chocolate has 304 calories.
A healthy wholemeal loaf has 2.8g fiber per slice, but that doesn’t make white bread – with 1g of fiber per slice – bad for you. In fact, two slices of white supply around 17% of the daily requirement of calcium (about the same as in a couple of generous tablespoons of Greek yogurt). That’s because white flour is, by law, fortified with a range of vitamins and minerals.
White bread has the reputation of rapidly increasing blood sugar and insulin (in turn increasing Type 2 diabetes risk). Bread made with whole grain flour supposedly does not raise blood sugar as much, but it’s not as clear cut as that. A study found that in some people standard white bread actually caused less of a sugar rush than whole-grain sourdough. The way your blood glucose levels react could be down to the types of gut bacteria you have.