As an online health food store owner, I am always searching for the ultimate whole foods and health drinks. During the slowest shopping season I decided it was safe to make a trip to the mall. It was effortless to park right in front of the most gargantuan health food store on the planet. I probably shouldn't mention their name, but let's suffice it to say that many of the "health drinks" and supplements they advertise are not very "high" in real nutrition.

While my wife shopped for clothes, I started comparing ingredient labels with those at our online health food store to investigate what was really in all those muscle blasters and questionable health drinks. Hopefully, this little adventure to the big health food chain will help you dodge some of the ingredients that are anything but healthy in many of their products. Then, you'll begin to see how an online health food store can be a more intelligent way to get the best whole foods and health drinks.

Unlike our online health food store, the first thing I noticed is that this big health food store at the mall really loves to sell those enhanced vitamin waters. The brightly colored bottles were everywhere, attracting consumers to the bright colors, the low, low prices, and the hope of a health drink they might really like. It is unfortunate that these drinks are not much better than other convenience store products.

At the outset, the crystalline fructose (concentrated sugar) content in this particular vitamin water immediately created an unpleasant taste and an unhealthy feeling. Oh, and if your body could really use the isolated, laboratory produced vitamins in this water, the cost might be worth it. It's just too bad that isolated vitamins that are not associated with whole foods typically break down before the body can use them for fuel. At this health food store I could quickly see there were no whole foods in those candy-colored bottles of enhanced vitamin water.

These are a few of the other ingredients I saw on the labels that I make sure we steer clear of when choosing whole foods and health drinks for our online health food store: high fructose corn syrup, Xylitol, Aspartame, saccharine, and other artificial sweeteners (use Stevia instead). I also stay away from "isolated" protein drinks. The body must work harder to break down most protein drinks because they are usually made from "isolated" protein, which causes obstructions in the lymphatic system. Many experts agree it is a myth that the average person needs the excessive levels of protein in some of the most popular muscle blasting health drinks. In fact, all that protein is doing more harm than good.

Excess protein and sugars are just a couple things I try to avoid in my constant search for whole foods and health drinks that are truly beneficial for the body. What's in your supplements? I hope you have an eye opening experience as I did at the big health food store. When you are searching the net, investigate whole foods and health drinks at an online health food store.