Fat Free anything
The psychological effect is amazing- you think ‘Fat free’ ? it must be good for me.
Fat free is often replaced with sugar and sweeteners to make it taste good.
Moreover to loose fat you need to consume good fat.
Olive oil
Although adding olive oil to salads and cooked meals can be healthy, frying with olive oil is not only unhealthy but quite dangerous. When heated olive oil releases harmful toxins.
Sushi
It has healthy omega-3 fatty acids and can be high in protein. We have been told time and time again that rice is a healthy vital grain, so how can one possibly go wrong with sushi?
One mini sushi can be packed with as much as 200 calories, but who really eats just one? More worryingly the rice content is disproportionally higher than the fish and veg, in essence it has a starch over load and we all know starch is the enemy!
‘Fruit’ Juice
Yes juice can be good for you but you have to be careful that you choose the right stuff. Many commercial juices are only partly fruit, with flavourings and sugars making up the content. Also some 100% juices are made from concentrate not fresh. From-concentrate means the fruit is squeezed, the water is extracted, which produces a concentrated form similar to that you see in the frozen food department. At a later time the water is added back in and the juice is pasteurized and packaged. The process reduces the vitamins and fibers in juices significantly.
Granola
Often portrayed as healthy on the package, truth is most mass produced granola can be as bad as eating Millie’s cookies for breakfast- they contain a lot of unhealthy calories in a very small serving. A fistful of granola can exceed 500 calories of unwanted sugar and fat. A great alternative is a homemade version, this way you know exactly what it is that goes in your body.
Yoghurt
A lot of big brands can have as much sugar as a can of coke. For example, a serving of Dannone Blueberry Fruit on the Bottom has more calories (140) and just as much sugar as 8.oz of a can of Coke. A great alternative is Total 0% Greek Yoghurt, blend in 25g of strawberry and banna to jazz up plain taste.
Juicing
Often pushed as a quick way to lose weight, load up on vitamins and minerals and ‘cleanse’. Unfortunately what they forget to tell you is much of the weight shed will be water weight and in fact, fruits are loaded with simple sugars and carbs. If not careful you can put on more fat during the period. An alternative is a vegetable juice with small portions of fruit like apples, lemons and blueberries which are high in antioxidants.
Peanuts
Nuts are good for you, they contact essential good fats. However, peanuts are high in saturated fat. A handful can be as much as 600 calories muh of which is starch and fat. A better alternative is almonds which have more nutritious values and healthy fat.
Raisins
A snack pack, 42.5g of surpride raisins contain 120 calories, 30g of which is sugar. An alternative is buying fresh organically grown grapes and freezing them to snack on moderately.
Diet Frizzy Drinks
These are worse than the real deal, they are often laced with sweeteners and flavourings to help achieve tastes akin to the non-diet drinks. It’s better to wean your self of them but if your addiction is too severe, buy some sparkling water and infuse it fruits. Try lemons and a touch of sweetner.
Flavoured water
These are usually laced with sugar, sweeteners and artificial colourings.
A 750 cl bottle of Volvic Touch of Fruit Strawberry flavour has 36.3 grams if sugar. That’s 9 cubes of sugar. Make your own instead, get some water and infuse it with fruits, if you have a sweet tooth add a touch of sweetner- this way you know what it is exactly you’re consuming.
Banana Chips
I know lots of people who throw these bad boys in with their cereal; they taste divine with weetabix.
However they are bad news! They are made by deep frying mostly, and when they are not they are coated in sugar to caramlise/harden them to make them crunchy, a small portion of 100grams can contain as much as 10g of saturated fat. In perspective thats just under half of my daily consumption of fat.
Energy/breakfast bars
These are often seen as an easy but healthy way to gain energy rapidly, they are, but they can be as high as 500 calories per bar.
They are small and will often leave you hungry shortly after- meaning you consume more calories than you need in the long run.
Trial mix- dry fruit and nuts=Health freak? Well no.
Trial mix are often full of dried fruit dusted in refined sugars and nuts high is fat.
A handful can be as much as 600 calories, refined.
“Multi-grain”
People often confuse whole grain with multi grain. Multi grains are often refined and so have less fiber and vitams than whole grain.
Read the labels! Manufacturers modify the colour of food e.g. bread to make it look healthier than it really is.
So what can I eat? Check out this post for more guidance: https://culturecustodian.com/food-shopping-list/, and look out for exciting new recipes coming up later this week.
