5 "Healthy" Foods That Make You Fat
There are unfortunately many foods or food categories out there that are touted as “healthy” that will actually cause you to pile on the pounds. Unethical marketers have realised that there is a global trend towards more conscious healthy eating and because of this they are using deceptive messaging to portray some food products as healthy when they really are not.
In this article we will highlight 5 of these products or product groups that will increase your fat cells behind your back.
1. “Fat-free” versions of food
Fat-free, low-fat and light versions of many foods have been increasing in popularity for many years now and why shouldn’t they be popular? Fatty food is one of the main perpetrators in gaining fat so surely eating the same food without the high fat content would be much better for our waistlines.Unfortunately, the reason fatty food tastes so good is because of their fat content. When your remove the fat you also remove much of the taste. However, this isn’t where the problem lies. The problem is that often the fat is replaced by sugar and/or artificial additives. Fat-free versions of otherwise fatty foods can be just as caloric as their full-fat cousins and because we tend to eat bigger portions thinking that this food is healthy we often end up with more calories then we would have got with a smaller portion of the fatty variety.
2. Cereal
They say the breakfast is the most important meal of the day so getting this right will get you on the right diet path for the day. One very popular breakfast food that can trick us into thinking it’s healthy is our good friend cereal. This is not to say that you can’t find a cereal that is genuinely healthy because there are heaps out there that are.There are also heaps that you would think are healthy that aren’t. Cereals can often be coated in sugar and you should always check the box for sugar content. Added sugar aside, you should also avoid cereal that has dried fruit, honey and nuts. These less suspicious ingredients actually have a high sugar content too.
Once you add milk and other toppings you can easily see how something that is supposedly healthy for your waistline can pack a real punch.
3. Salads
If your anything like me when your out at a restaurant and feel like being “healthy” you’ll order a salad. It will be delicious and you’ll feel like you’ve done your belt a favour.While this can be the case with the right salad it is also not uncommon for a salad to be over 1000 calories. What you need to watch for are all the non-vege based toppings. Salad dressings (especially creamy ones) are the major culprits and so often the salads I get are completely drenched in it. A good tip is to ask for your dressing on-the-side so you can control how much of it (if any) you have with the salad. Also try and avoid toppings like cheese, crusty bread and processed meat such as bacon.
4. Starch-based vegetables
It is fairly common knowledge that vegetables such as potatoes aren’t the healthiest vegetables you can eat. They are very high in carbohydrates, calorie dense and because of their high starch content our bodies find it easy to convert them into sugar.Another vegetable that can have the same effect is corn. Like potatoes corn is a starchy vegetable that our body will convert to sugar. However, in moderation neither corn or potato is bad in itself and in fact the way the are cooked has a large influence on how caloric they will be.
If your eating potato try baking them with the skin on as this will lesson their potential to make you put on weight and the skin has good nutrients. For corn, I like to steam it. This way the good stuff stays in and your not adding butter or oils that would make them worse.
5. Frozen Yogurt
Unfortunately and unbeknownst to many, fro-yo and normal yogurt are not the same on the health-food scale. A lot of frozen yogurt is in fact incredibly high in sugar and will not do you any good as far as your weight loss is concerned.Frozen yogurt relates well back to our number 1. in the list in that it could be considered as a fat-free version of ice cream (almost) and as we mentioned in that point if there is no fat to make it taste good there is often sugar which our bodies can just as easily convert to our waistline.
Eat foods that will help you lose weight.
Now that you know that some “healthy” foods are not always as they seem find out about real healthy foods that can actually increase your ability to burn fat. Read the post here.