Health Foods to Avoid

Certain foods marketed as health foods -- or commonly thought of as health foods -- are really anything but healthy. Some "health" foods are nothing but junk foods in a clever disguise. Discover these decidedly unhealthy culprits, eradicate them from your diet and replace them with the real thing -- foods that contribute to your good health.

Fruit Yogurt

Yogurt blended with fruit, or with fruit on the bottom, is often loaded with added sugars, such as sucrose or fructose. A 6-oz. cup of Dannon Fruit on the Bottom Blueberry has 140 calories and 25g -- or 5 tsp. -- of sugar, half the amount you'd get in a can of regular soda. Even though it provides 25 percent of the calcium needed in a day, the fact that it's more than 70 percent sugar dispels its image as a health food. Instead, choose low-fat, plain yogurt and add you own fresh fruit for a healthy snack.

Low- Fat Granola

Another high-sugar food masquerading as a health food is granola cereal, and low-fat granola is no better, with just as much sugar and only 10 percent fewer calories, on average, according to RxList. You might be tempted to eat more of it because it's lower in calories, but it doesn't take much to make up the small calorie difference. Instead, eat whole-grain cereal or oatmeal, and add your own nuts and dried fruit.

Cranberry Juice Cocktail

Cranberry juice cocktail seems like a healthy beverage, until you look at the calorie and sugar information. A 12-oz. glass has 200 calories and 12g of sugar, more than a regular soda of the same size. Orange juice -- the ubiquitous breakfast beverage equated with a healthy start to your day -- has 10g of sugar in 12 oz., the same amount as a regular soda, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Skip juice in favor of whole fruits, which are lower in calories and sugar and contain healthy fiber.

Fruit Smoothies

A fruit smoothie from a smoothie shop might seem like a health food -- and is often marketed as such -- but the truth can be different. Some contain as much as 380 calories; an outrageous 80g of sugar, the equivalent of 16 tsp.; and often, no protein. Some don't even contain any real fruit, according to RxList. For a much healthier smoothie, blend together fresh fruit, milk and plain low-fat yogurt.

Some Foods Labeled Multigrain or Seven Grain

Whole grains are an important part of a healthy diet. Unlike refined grains, such as those found in white bread and bagels, doughnuts and most breakfast cereals, whole grains are just that -- whole -- so they provide you with more vitamins and minerals along with fiber, which prevents blood sugar spikes and crashes. To really know if a bread, bagel, waffle, cracker, cereal or other food that's billed as "multigrain" or "seven grain" really is, read the label. Make sure a "whole" grain -- such as whole wheat, whole rye or whole oats -- is listed as the first ingredient and choose items that have at least 3g of fiber per serving, advises MayoClinic.com.