7 Healthy Sounding Foods to Avoid

Sugar-free! Low-fat! Full of antioxidants! These labels scream out loudly at the average dieter as healthier versions of the foods that they love. Sometimes they really are, but more often than not they are just part of a marketing ploy to mislead consumers into buying products that are full of calories and not diet friendly. Here are 7 healthy sounding foods to avoid buying the next time you go shopping.

1. Sugar-Free Chocolate and Cake – Sugar Free sounds great because we all know that many high calories foods also have high sugar contents. But in reality some sugar free products have almost as many calories as their normal counterparts. For example, 2 normal peanut butter cups have about 230 calories for 45 grams of chocolate while 2 sugar free cups are still 182 calories and offer a smaller 36.4 grams of chocolate. Not much of a difference at all.

2. Haagen-Dazs Light Ice Cream – Light Ice Cream sounds great, but for the premium brands their ‘light’ versions are still calorie laden and can ruin a diet. Even for vanilla, the simplest of flavors, a single ½ cup serving will set you back 200 calories. Why not try the much healthier slow-churned type for about half of the calories?

3. Chain-Smoothies – Smoothies can be great for diets, but only if they are made correctly. Many smoothie vendors play off of perceptions of the heath benefits of fruit while adding loads of sugar into the mix. Before heading out for a smoothie it would be best to look up the calorie counts online and pick one that isn’t full of fat and calories. Or better yet, follow my recipe for a quick homemade low-calorie smoothie.

4. Dried Fruits – Fresh fruits are great diet foods, but there are two reasons why their dried versions are not. First, when a fruit is dried it shrinks and all the calories and sugar get concentrated into a small snack. Think of it this way, a prune is a dried plum, so if you eat 10 prunes that is the same as eating 10 whole plums! Second, on top of all that concentrated natural sugar many manufactures add even more sugar to enhance the taste. If you really want some dried fruit make sure to find some with no added sugar and monitor your portions carefully.

5. Light Beer – At about 100 calories a can light beer really isn’t going to break your diet, but how many people really only drink one when they go out? The problem here is not the product itself, but the lack of control that many people have while drinking it. The mindset is ‘Oh it’s light so I can drink as many as I want without guilt!’ 5 cans of light beer still total 500 calories and, if not factored into a diet, those can really hurt weight loss efforts. Enjoy if you want, but be careful!

6. Light dressings – Salads are probably the number one thing to eat on a diet. Filled with vegetables they have the potential to full you up without adding too many calories. That is, until someone goes and drenches it in high-calorie dressings. There are many great options for truly low-calorie dressings, but more often than not you cannot trust the ‘light’ label. 2 tablespoons of light ranch, for example, still have 70-80 calories and can seriously ruin your otherwise healthy salad.

7. ‘Bran’ or ‘Nutri-grain’ Breads – Just because it says bran or nutri-grain does not mean that it is really made from whole-wheat. Many times the main ingredient is still white flour which is not as healthy as wheat flour. Additionally, these breads can still be full of fat, sugar and calories. Even one fairly small ‘bran’ muffin is going to set you back over 300 calories.

These examples demonstrate that relying on bold words on packages is not a good idea and can be costly weight loss efforts. Please, check those labels carefully to make sure that what you are buying is truly something diet-friendly! I’ll plan to follow this up with a 7 best foods to eat, stay tuned!

(Picture by Br3nda on flicker)