The Healthy Foods That Wreck Your Diet

Fruit

Surprisingly, most peoples’ number one health food makes the top of the list of lying, cheating foods.

We’re always told to eat more fruits and vegetables, as they contain a high amount of vitamins and minerals.

There’s no arguing this point, and vitamins, minerals and antioxidants are certainly extremely beneficial, yet the main problem that fruit poses is the sugar content. Fruit has to get its sweetness from somewhere, and that somewhere is the natural sugars that fruit contains.

This is a prime example of when “natural” isn’t always a good thing.

Foods such as bananas, pineapple, raisins, dates and figs are massively high in sugar, meaning they contain a lot of calories too.

When choosing fruit, stick to lower sugar ones, like berries, melon, kiwis, plums and apples.

Fruit Juice

Fruit juice is a convenient way to get plenty of nutrients in, right?

Wrong.

Fruit juice is even worse than fruit, as all the fiber has been removed and you’re left with pure sugar. Fruit juice may as well be soda in disguise.

Cereals

This one relates to the serving sizes mentioned earlier.

The average recommended serving size for most cereals isn’t enough to feed a squirrel. While a box may state that a bowl of cereal contains only 150 calories, most peoples’ idea of a bowl of cereal can constitute in the region of 500 calories. Add to that that cereals are pure carbohydrate (possibly with added fat too if you opt for a chocolate or nut based cereal) and you’re definitely on to a loser.

If you want to keep your cereal in the morning, switch to oats or a porridge main with quinoa, buckwheat or oat bran, or make your own muesli (going easy on the dried fruit.)

Health Bars

The word “health” is seriously misplaced here. Few dieting or meal replacement bars are healthy in any way whatsoever.

The one plus they have going for them is that your calorie intake is controlled. One bar is one portion, and they’re not usually that high in calories. However, they contain very little in the way of nutrients, and are again, predominantly carbohydrate based.

Protein meal replacement bars are slightly better, as the added protein increases satiety, and has a positive effect on your metabolism, however you should still watch out for the carb and sugar content.

Energy Drinks

Energy drinks are definitely lying to you.

The idea behind energy drinks is that they boost performance, allowing you to work harder in the gym. This sounds like a good thing – working harder in the gym means you’ll burn more calories and thus lose weight faster.

Unfortunately though, this is not the case.

A standard energy drink will contain around 8 to 12 grams of carbs per 100 milliliters of fluid. That’s 40 to 60 grams of pure sugar in each bottle. Or to put it another way – 160 to 240 calories.

The performance boost you’ll get from an energy drink is minimal at best. It certainly won’t give you so much energy that you’ll offset the increased calories by working harder. Add to that the fact that increasing your consumption of carbs during a workout can stop your body from burning stored fat, and you’re on to a real loser.

Low Fat Foods

Low fat may seem fantastic, but when a food loses its fat content, manufacturers generally replace it with sugar, so as not to impact on taste.

This doesn’t mean that all low fat foods are bad. Naturally low fat foods like vegetables, meat, fish, dairy products, beans, and so on are all great. Likewise, it’s not an excuse to deliberately choose high fat foods, or gorge on butter all day long, but be sensible when choosing your groceries, and don’t always assume that a low fat product is better.

Summary

Remember, the food companies could be lying to you, and cheating you out of your money – so keep an eye out and be vigilant against these fake health foods.