There’s no question that health science is a constantly changing field. But today we review the 4 most overrated health foods

Depending on what decade you are living in, cigarettes may be good for you, high protein may be bad for your kidneys, and cocaine may be the new wonder drug everyone’s talking about

Luckily, we’re past much the dark ages for health ignorance.  However, due to either marketing hype or honest scientific mistakes, we continue to swallow misinformation that has to be corrected.  Some of this misinformation are about foods that are supposed to save the day but turn out to be either just “normal” or even unhealthy.

Let’s look at the biggest offenders…

The 4 Most Overrated Health Foods…

#1 Soy

It’s getting hard to recall why exactly soy made a splash as being an ideal animal protein replacement.

True, the powder from soybeans makes a fairly tasty protein shake.

And yes, if you’re a vegan, soy is the best chance you have of getting 40g or more of protein in one place without a ton of carbs in each bite.

However, unless you’re physically or morally incapable of digesting cow’s milk, then the benefits of soy collapse in seconds.

Take just about anything you don’t like about dairy and soy is a worse offender.

Don’t like how milk is homogenized and pasteurized?  Soy protein has to be ultra-processed to take the rest of the bean out of the product

And just compare the ingredients of a hunk of cheese to any type of soy meat.  You’ll be stunned that fans of “natural food” would ever consider putting a soyburger on their plate.

What about sugar?  Well milk does have more of the sweet stuff, but at least it comes straight from the cow.  Soy milk requires refined sugar to be added to the product, which is not doing your body any favors.

This is all before we get to the bigger problem that soy has: phytoestrogens.  This should especially be a concern to males trying to build muscle and maintain high testosterone levels.  The last thing you want to do is start putting additional estrogen into your body.  Some studies even suggest high amounts of soy can increase risk for memory loss or breast cancer in females

Avoid this one as much as possible.

#2 Egg Whites

This is probably the food on this list that is most used by athletes and health-minded people reading this site.
To be honest, there’s nothing wrong with egg whites as a protein supplement.  They are fat free and have a lot of protein.

However, the original reasons for separating the whites from the yellow were fear of fat and cholesterol, which research continues to suggest is an unnecessary worry when eating natural foods.

The yolk actually is very good for you.  It’s packed with amino acids as well as a ton of vitamins and minerals.

So you can see egg whites as a supplement to your food, but that’s all it is.  It is an incomplete food and you should feel confident getting all your omelets “whole egg”-style from now on.

#3 Acai

There’s a good possibility that you’ve run across a website or advertisement touting Acai as the greatest super food on earth… causing rapid weight loss, healing lifelong health problems, and preventing disease.  Additionally, you have restaurants and coffee shops offering acai-bowls and smoothies as the superfood of the future.

The truth is that acai berries do have a very high antioxidant content.  However, so do other fruits like cranberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries.

There’s reason to say that acai may have higher amounts of antioxidants than the berries above, but not enough to warrant whipping out your wallet to get acai capsules delivered to your door every month.

There’s also little research to support the claim that acai will help you lose weight.

Why have you heard so much about acai?  About eight years ago, multi-level marketing companies started touting acai as the “next big thing” for health and wellness.  Network marketing companies always have a new obscure fruit juice to promote, and after mangosteen juice… it was acai’s turn to bat.

However, because we were well into the internet marketing age at this point, other companies saw this as an opportunity and started selling their own version of the supplement, complete with fake testimonials from Oprah, Rachel Ray, and fictional journalists.

So by all means, have an acai bowl if the carb content fits your regimen and you enjoy it.  Just know that it’s only a few steps above a blueberry in healthfulness.

#4 Whole Grains

When visiting my high school for my 10 year reunion, I was astounded to see some of the old posters we had in health class.  First thing I saw was the good old “Food Pyramid” which suggested we eat a ton of white carbs every day.

Most amusingly there was a blurb saying “Make Half Your Grains Whole.”  Apparently at the time when this poster was created, it was news that whole grains were good for you and they had to gradually encourage people to switch from white bread to whole wheat.

Now, you’d be hard pressed to find someone these days who thinks that white bread is the healthier choice, but there is definitely more you need to understand about whole wheat than that.

First of all, when you take wheat and grind it into flour, you end up with a very processed food with a lot of carbs and little nutritional content.  This is rarely a good combination.

If you have to go with bread, get a non-flour type like Ezekiel bread.  These are sprouted grains meshed together, including other grains like as spelt and millet in their most natural edible forms.

The bottom line is you should always do your research and keep your diet current.  Even recommendations you get from expert dieticians will need to be reevaluated as new studies are created in health science.  And above all, watch your own progress to see how your body interacts with different foods.

-Terry Asher