What foods provide nutrition? I bet you thought of spinach, broccoli, and kale. Indeed, those foods are healthy in their own right, but they’re only part of the bigger picture. Some foods you crossed out are just as healthy, except they’re wrongly placed in the other realm–“bad” food. Most of these foods were deemed unhealthy because of there use in junk food or false research.

Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise is a creamy high-calorie condiment, often used as a spread for sandwiches. Due to sandwiches high amounts of sodium, mayo is seen as unhealthy. I know this isn’t food but mayo can still be healthy. Mayo is healthy because they often have good-for-you fats. Keep in mind that not all brands have healthy fats, so read the labels and compare them. 1

Chocolate

Everyone loves chocolate, which is everywhere from desserts to the classic chocolate bars. Most people keep their distance from chocolate because of its high sugar content. However, not all chocolate is equal. You ever noticed those written percentages on chocolate bars? That tells you how much of the chocolate is from the cacao pod, a key plant that chocolate comes from.

When we go to the candy aisle, we’re bombarded with different types of chocolates, like white, milk, and dark chocolate. Truth be told, white chocolate isn’t really chocolate. White chocolate is made of cocoa butter, while other chocolates are made of cocoa solids. Cocoa solids give chocolate their flavor, but cocoa butter doesn’t have flavor. As a result, most companies fill their white chocolate with sugar and additives to add flavor. Good white chocolate can still be found, keep an eye out for ivory or bone colored white chocolate (natural white chocolate should be these colors).

As a general rule of thumb, aim to get chocolate that’s at least 70% cacao. Remember that the higher the percentage of cacao is, the more bitter it will taste like. That’s because chocolate that mostly comes from cacao has less sugar and more fiber. As a bonus, you’ll find iron, copper, and flavanols in chocolate. It’s recommended to limit how much chocolate you eat because it’s high in calories, especially to those with weight loss goals. 2

White Potatoes

White potatoes are a starchy vegetable and a star ingredient in french fries. French fries have too much salt which is a reason why white potatoes get a bad rap. Healthy ways to eat potatoes would be to have them mashed or baked. While sweet potatoes are white potatoes competitor, it still has benefits of its own. White potatoes provide fiber, manganese, and vitamin B6. It’s recommended to have a diet high in plant foods, so you can eat white potatoes guilt-free. 3

Butter

No other food has a reputation as bad as butter. Just when things couldn’t get worse, turns out butter alternatives further damage butter’s image. That’s a shame considering the many styles of cooking that butter shines in.

The main reason everyone hates butter is because it has a lot of saturated fat. Saturated fat itself shares a fair share of hate along with butter. It’s believed that saturated fat is unhealthy and inferior when compared to other fats. Truth is, all the different types of fat can coexist in one’s diet. The trick is to eat butter in moderation. 4

Source(s):

  1. https://www.verywellfit.com/mayonnaise-good-or-bad-2242232
  2. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/dark-chocolate/
  3. https://fruitsandveggies.org/stories/atb-for-072711/
  4. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/magazine/magazine_article/is-butter-really-back/