The word ‘healthy’ is going a lot of heavy lifting in your introduction. I’m not sure there is agreement of what that actually means.
Consider how much of what you see online and on TV about ‘healthier’ foods is actually directly or indirectly advertising thief own products, someone selling something you would not otherwise eat.
if food is actually healthy, why would it need to be advertised?
Much research is ultimately funded by food industry organisations, so that anything which does not support the message they want to plug. Only research which provides supportive results ever get quoted.
Then consider the difference between the eye catching headlines and the actual article on which the headline is based.
it’s taken me until my sixties to understand what good really is good for my body, the kind which lets me notice when I’m full and can then easily stop eating. That gives me a spring in my step and has my skin clear and glowing.
of course it’s absolutely fine to have small amounts of ‘treat’ foods , say kettle chips but I find it easier to just not eat them than to have a few and then stop. As for eating a less palatable but lower calorie substitute, it’s very likely they will be highly processed with salt and flavouring to make anyone eat them.
Ever since big food manufacturers in the 1970’s discovered that they could make highly processed food with long shelf life taste enticing with salt and flavourings, heavily advertised to make them attractive to the consumer, our notion of what is ‘healthy eating’ has become seriously distorted.
The rise in consumption of these foods accounts for the increase in average weight and heart disease across the population.
John Yudkin was hounded out of his profession for exposing the dark workings of the food industry in his book about sugar Pure, white and deadly by food industry powers wanting to demonise fat in order to increase consumption of their processed rubbish substitute food.
Goodness, if you are still reading, thank you. Glad to get that rant off my chest.