Foods you thought were healthy…that aren’t
So you’ve decided to start eating a healthier diet? Good for you! Loading up on more nutritious foods and cutting back on the junk is good, not only for your waistline, but also your health and well-being. But before you trade in that fast food burger for that fast food salad, read this. Those calorie-packed foods can be hiding in the most surprising places!
Restaurant Salads
Cheese, heavy dressings, crunchy noodles, and bacon pack on the calories like you wouldn’t believe. These additions can take your salad from healthy to heart attack in no time. For example, according Best Health Magazine, lunch should be about 400 to 500 calories. But the Wendy’s Chicken BLT Salad with croutons and honey dijon dressing is 790 calories. Now compare that to a McDonald’s hamburger, which is only 250 calories, and you have yourself a salad that is actually worse for you than a hamburger!
Granola Bars
It’s an easy snack to bring to work, but these delicious treats can be just as bad for you as a candy bar! Be sure to read the list of ingredients. If sugar is listed first, put it back on the shelf and look for one that lists whole grain first. Don’t be fooled by ingredients like yogurt and “real fruit filling.” Both of these can actually be made from a powder formula which does not deliver the same health benefits of an actual cup of yogurt or fruit. Even the bars that contain oats and nuts can be glued together with blood sugar raising ingredients like corn syrup.
Juice
Drinking a cup of fruit juice is not the same as eating fruit. Beverages labeled “real fruit beverage,” “fruit punch” or “fruit cocktail” contain huge amounts of sugar. So much sugar, in fact, you might as well be drinking a soda! Also, packages labeled as “100% fruit juice” can be very misleading. Even drinks labeled as pure fruit juice can contain added sugars like high fructose corn syrup. Your best bet is to ditch the fruit juice, drink water instead, and eat an apple.
Diet Soda
Though it may contain zero calories, it also contains zero nutrition. Diet soda is loaded with controversial artificial sweeteners and aspartame. And it may even cause you to gain weight! According to a 2005 study by the University of Texas Health Center, San Antonio, of the 622 study participants who were of normal weight at the beginning of the study, about a third became overweight or obese when they only drank diet soda.
Smoothies
They are served at health clubs and have fruit and immunity boosts in them, so how could they not be healthy? Do you consider a milkshake healthy? Surprisingly, some smoothies contain ice cream and ice cream fruit topping, taking the healthy factor completely out of your smoothie. For example, the Jamba Juice Peanut Butter Moo’d has a whopping 470 calories! And that’s just for the small size. You go up to the next size and you’re looking at 770 calories! That’s more than 3 times as many calories as a McDonald’s hamburger! If you add that as your beverage with your lunch, you’re looking at a huge calorie feast. What’s worse is that just by looking at the list of ingredients, you may be tricked into thinking it’s not that bad for you: nonfat vanilla yogurt, soymilk, frozen bananas, and peanut butter. The lesson here is to be sure to take note of the calories and the ingredients, or better yet, save yourself the calories and drink water.
What food did you eat a lot of before you found out it wasn’t good for you?