‘What is something that people think is good for them, but in reality isn’t?’ – 22 so-called healthy remedies that aren’t helping

Anyone who has ever cast an eye across Instagram or TikTok will know there’s a world of health and wellness influencers out there whose credentials are tenuous, to say the least. They will tell you something is very good for you, from juice cleanses to extreme yoga, when in fact it is the complete opposite.

However, there are some people out there who know what they’re talking about, as user Ocean_Pine discovered when they posed this question of the AskReddit page:

What is something that people think is healthy/good for them, but in reality isn’t?

Here are some examples of allegedly wholesome things that are best avoided.

1.

‘Chugging a gallon of detox juice. Congrats! You’re just starving with expensive pee.’
–tx_Samantha

2.

‘Biologically inappropriate fad diets.’
–Amazing_Finance1269

3.

‘Getting only 4 hours of sleep and calling it ‘grind culture’.’
–JamesD3s

4.

‘Wine. My dad heard 2 drinks a day is healthy. So he was at his cardiologist and they asked how much he drinks a week and he said 14 drinks. The cardiologist was flabbergasted and told him to cut out drinking.’
–Soggy_Competition614

5.

‘The rat race. We should really switch to a capybara or manatee race, slow things down a bit.’
–cursedcowpie

6.

‘Vitamin Water. Coca-Cola won a lawsuit claiming the branding was misleading. Their argument, iirc, was that they’re Coca-Cola; nobody should expect things they make to be healthy, and it isn’t their fault people are stupid.’
–BeeztheBoss

7.

‘Detox anything. Your body has organs literally for this purpose.’
–ichbinhungry

8.

‘Taking those massive vitamin supplements without getting bloodwork done first. Wasted so much money on them until my doctor told me I was actually overdoing it with certain vitamins.’
–LovelyHoneybunzx

9.

‘I still hear people talking about getting “a healthy tan” when they are actually (and quite obviously) burning their skin with UV radiation. I’m not talking about general outdoor lifestyles (we all need Vitamin D), but the dedicated pursuit of a tan.

There is a cultural heritage in the UK where burning to a crisp on the beach/by the pool with no sun cream (or just low factor/oils) was a sign of social status when you got home and showed off your melanin infused skin (or even a nice bit of UV radiation scarring) in the pub or office.’
–Geofftheowl

10.

‘I’m a yoga instructor and I constantly have to remind my students that doing advanced poses without proper form isn’t pushing yourself it’s just asking for injuries.’
–SweetGoddess21

11.

‘Granola bars. Most of them are no better than candy bars.’
–Just_Me1973