10 “Vegetables” You Shouldn’t Be Eating
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Although here at Mark’s Daily Apple we exhaustively advocate vegetables as a dietary staple, it turns out there are some instances when vegetables aren’t really all that healthy.
Ok, ok, that’s really not true. Just about every vegetable has a redeeming quality or two, but sometimes some vegetables are forced - usually by the masterminds behind food marketing - to masquerade as something healthy when really they’re nothing more than an unhealthy food with “vegetable” tacked on in the title.
Confused? Read on to learn which “vegetables” you should be avoiding:
Veggie Chips:
Love potato chips but know they aren’t good for you? Common sense dictates that vegetable chips - which the labels claim are made from real vegetables - would be a sensible alternative, right? Wrong. The first ingredients on most “veggie” chip labels are potatoes and corn, which, to be honest, aren’t that much different from regular run-of-the-mill chips. But those pretty colors, the ones that show that the chip is from a tomato, a bell pepper, heck, even a carrot!? Sadly they’re nothing more than a vegetable extract, or worse, a chemically-manufactured colorant. Need further proof these aren’t the chips for you? Most veggie chip varieties are cooked in canola oil, a rapeseed derivative that is thought to be toxic to humans and animals (appetizing, huh?)
Vegetable Tempura:
Realistically, any vegetable that’s taken a dip in a deep fat fryer really shouldn’t be considered healthy fare, but for tempura, the odds are stacked even less in the veggies favor. Although touted as one of the lighter types of batter, most “authentic” tempura recipes call for liberal use of cornstarch and heaps of sugar. Our tip? Stick to the stir fry!
Vegetable Sushi:
In recent years, sushi has risen to fame as the healthy meal of the celebrity set, and while we know to stay away from some lower grade sushi (like the supermarket sushi that boasts sugar-laden imitation fish), the reality is even simple vegetable sushi can be unhealthy. The culprit? The rice, which in sushi is mixed with rice vinegar and plenty of sugar. If you must do the sushi samba, ask for brown rice or balance out the meal with plenty of steamed veggies, such as hijiki (cooked seaweed) or oshitashi (boiled spinach with soy sauce).
Tomato Ketchup:
Tomatoes? Check. Vinegar? Check. High fructose corn syrup? Definitely! In fact, ketchup contains so much sugar (typically holding the second or third spot on the ingredients list) it might as well be re-branded tomato syrup (yum!) Instead, opt for salsa, malt vinegar, spices or learn to go without!
Spinach Dip:
Think the chips are the only bad thing going on in a spinach dip? Turns out the dip itself isn’t all that good for you either. Yes, it does contain healthy spinach (and sometimes artichokes too!), but it’s also chock-full of heavy cream, mayo and cream cheese, and quite often topped with bread crumbs or croutons. Why use the ingredient that is usually featured least prominently to name the dip? It would be like calling “carrot cake” carrot cake.
Canned Vegetable Soup:
It’s easy to think that the food manufacturers are doing you a favor by preparing a delicious, hearty - and frequently low-calorie - vegetable soup, but the reality is there are a multitude of evils hidden in that can! High sodium content aside, many of these soups also contain honey, sugar and other sweeteners - whether real or artificial - that can amount to as much as 15g of sugar per half-cup serving!
Grocery Aisle Vinaigrette Dressings:
Ok, ok, so it’s technically not a vegetable dish, but for many of us, vinaigrette is synonymous with salads, grilled veggies and a multitude of other seemingly healthy offerings. Although still a healthier option than creamier salad toppers, store-bought vinaigrettes are frequently cut with honey or corn syrup to make them less tangy. Our advice? Pick up a good balsamic vinegar and an even better olive oil and they’ll be no need to add in any extras!
Vegetable Juice:
Let’s face it: Sometimes meeting your recommended daily vegetable quota can be a little taxing (both in terms of finding palatable vegetables and financing them too!) Enter vegetable juice, which promises to deliver up to two servings of vegetables in just a few gulps. However, a quick glance at the label of one of these pre-packaged beauties reveals that they are not only loaded with sugar (usually as a result of fruit-based sweeteners) but are also devoid of almost all fiber. The reason? Juicing, whether commercial or otherwise, can strip vegetables of their heart-healthy fiber, leaving you with nothing more than a fancy vitamin shot!
Carrot Cake:
Despite the fact that carrot cake has the word carrot in its name there still exists the nagging fact that the other word is cake. Enough said.
Corn:
We’ve told you countless times but we’ll tell you again. CORN IS NOT A VEGETABLE IT’S A GRAIN!! Although considered a great source of vitamins B1 (thiamin) and B5 (pantothenic acid), folate, vitamin C, phosphorous and manganese, just one medium ear of corn can pack as much as 15 grams of sugar! Our advice? Treat this GRAIN like any other GRAIN in your diet and bump it to the bottom of your shopping list!
The Untrained Eye Flickr Photo (CC)
Further Reading:
Top 10 Vegetables for the Winter Season
LifeHacker: How to Chop Veggies Like a Pro
Burning the Scale: Is Healthy Food Too Expensive?
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Posted By: Worker Bee
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But most of us living in the Midwest do love our corn on the cob. At least in my household, we have it maybe two or three times a year, in the middle of summer when you can pass three farm stands or farmer’s markets on the way home that are selling ears picked the day before at the latest. Fresh enough to just eat uncooked if you like.
Corn that’s been frozen or corn on the cob in the middle of winter is just…wrong. It’s a delicacy and treat when it’s good, and it’s available that way for a short amount of time. And therefore, not copiously consumed.
I have a question on the spinach dip. Is the knock on heavy cream and cream cheese based on the fact that you’re not big on dairy? It surely can’t be because of the fat content after Mark’s recent concession in the Protein post that he may have to moderate some of his lean versus fat advice. Robert Atkins (of Why Atkins Was Right fame) surely wouldn’t have any problem with those ingredients.
That photo is awesome
The other problem with grocery store vinaigrettes is the oils. They are usually inferior quality, omega-6 laden oils like soybean oil or nasty tasting ones like canola oil - even the ones that claim to be made of olive oil are usually mostly cheaper oil, with just a teensy bit of olive. And they are packaged in clear glass, where the oils become rancid due to exposure to light. Yuck.
Mark - have you ever done a post on canola oil? If not, may I humbly request one? Personally, the fact that it tastes fishy (and not in a delicious, salmon-like way) and gums up my baking sheets is enough to keep me away from it. But I have a sensitive nose, and many people claim not to notice that canola oil smells bad. For them, I’d love to have some resources about any adverse effects of canola on health. Especially because canola is touted by the mainstream as a healthy oil!
I’d be interested in Mark’s take on corn masa. I know its a grain but in whole from and in tortillas it has zero sugar and a decent amount of fiber. 3-4 grams. You can also get no sugar added veg juice cocktail wich i use in making sauces and chili and low or no sugar added katsup. Realy good blog though. I’m hooked!
Dave C -
There certainly is nothing wrong with (homemade) mayo and some (organic) heavy cream. I think the Worker Bee was simply making a tongue-in-cheek comment on a dish called “Spinach” dip when it is in fact a calorie dense dish comprised mostly of fats. Nothing wrong with fats here at MDA. Just don’t go all out on the spinach dip thinking you are following in Popeye’s footsteps.
Thanks for the post suggestions everyone! I’ll have to pencil in a post about canola oil and corn masa for the near future. Thanks again!
There is nothing as tasty as a high-quality balsamic (which should cost about the same as a good bottle of Moet) and EVOO (which should also be expensive or I question quality and production techniques).
However, I admit to using store-bought salad dressings, but I mix it with about 50% EVOO and 25% water. The EVOO adds a healthy dose of good oil (I drink about a quart every week or two) and the water helps it spread out around the salad better. This amount of flavor from the dressing makes it more of a subtle complement rather than a salad taking a bath in it. Sometimes I eat my salads plain…
When you eat a couple salads a day, using the exact same concoction of balsamic and EVOO gets tastefully boring…
I think it’s very funny what gets classified as a vegetable nowadays! But I don’t think Ketchup is really the same as the rest on there…it’s a condiment and a true serving is pretty small compared to a bog of chips that advertises “veggie.” Yes, it has sugar but in a small amount, it makes a treat of fries or a burger taste sooo much better!
Would you believe it if I were to say that even in my country, with its reputation of gastronomy and real gourmet meals, corn tends to be considered as a vegetable by most people (including those that came preaching for “5 fruits and veggies a day” in the campus restaurant last year)?
The usual argument is “yes but we put it in salads”. Well, I happen to put chicken in my salads sometimes, so can I assume that chicken is a vegetable? :p
Hey Mark,
I’ve been reading about this idea of fat-burning on a low carb diet. Seems that carbs are needed to ignite the consumption of fat by muscles at aerobic levels of activity. (The whole Krebb’s cycle thing where carbs are the lighter fluid and fats the wood). Without sufficient carbs the engine just runs down, or worse starts to cannibalize muscle tissue . . .
Given all this, I wonder what you think an appropriate level of carbs is on the primal diet and how one should gauge this. Also, it seems in mainstream medical circles a state of ketosis is considered to be an evil. Do you disagree? Why?
1) On the primal plan, we don’t TRY to burn a lot of carbs. There is no reason to. Long aerobic stuff done easy burns almost entirely fats. Short intense stuff on the PB plan burns carbs but you don’t ever do it long enough to deplete carbs. If you choose to train to race long, don’t then argue that PB doesn’t work, because PB isn’t set up to do “chronic cardio”.
2) The notion that “fats burn in a carbohydrate flame” is 1980s technology. It’s wrong. Fats and carbs burn in an amino acid flame. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18500949
3) Ketosis is not evil for all the reasons I have stated many times on the site and in prior answers on mine and other sites. If you as a reader still want to believe what others say, be my guest, but it’s quite clear that ketosis is a normal, healthy form of energy production and human metabolism.
Mark, what do you think of an occasional short-term increase in carbs for something requiring intense anaerobic power over a long day (like climbing up 1,000 feet or more of vertical cliff)? It seems like the kettle chips (just potatoes and quality oil) really help supplement my jerky, tangerines, celery and nuts on these forays. Or am I just causing an insulin spike that my body is unaccustomed to when it least needs this shock?
Haha, great list! I got some veggie chips last summer thinking they were actually based on vegetables. Yeah right! They were potato, corn, or rice chips with some powdered veggies sprinkled in there.
It’s getting to the point where the FDA needs to regulate the use of the word “vegetable” on these boxed and bagged products…