Top 10 Diet Foods that can Make you FAT!
Juices and smoothies
When totting up our daily intake of calories, many of us forget to take into
account those that come in liquid form. However, the drinks you consume
throughout the day can vastly contribute to weight gain. While smoothies and
juices count towards your daily intake of fruit (and swapping fry-ups for a
morning smoothie would certainly do wonders for your waistline!) supplementing
meals with these sugary fruit drinks could add hundreds of extra calories on to
your daily intake. Smoothies and juices contain more sugar but less fibre than
whole fruit, making fresh fruit a much better snacking option.
Cereal bars
Many of us believe that cereal bars are the perfect healthy snack and
breakfast-on-the-go. However, most breakfast bars are packed with cane sugar and
corn syrup, not to mention high levels of fat. In fact, despite their healthy
image, cereal bars can contain as much fat, sugar and calories as an average
chocolate bar, and can cause crashes in blood sugar levels which will leave you
craving more food.
Dried fruit
As with smoothies and juices, dried fruit has many
beneficial properties and counts towards your daily intake of fruit. However,
due to the concentration of sugars that occurs when fruit is dehydrated, it is
also very high in calories and sugar when compared to the same amount of fresh
fruit, and is much lower in fibre and nutrients. On top of this, many brands add
sugar to dried fruit to improve the flavour, which boosts the calorie content
even further.
Diet drinks
Many of us turn to sugar-free versions of our favourite
drinks to help stay trim, yet diet drinks may actually be causing you to pile on
the pounds. Research by the Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio found
that those who consumed diet drinks daily experienced a 70 per cent greater
increase in waist circumference than those who drank none, while a previous
study showed that obesity risk increased by 41 per cent for each diet drink
consumed. A suggested reason for this is that artificial sweeteners trigger
appetite, and they may also inhibit the brain cells that make you feel full.
Salads
When eating out or buying food on the go, salads are
generally presented as the “healthy option”. However, often this is not the
case. While salads contain vegetables and other healthy ingredients, these are
often buried under a layer of oily, sugary dressings which can be high in both
fat and calories. Many salads do contain good fats that can help with weight
loss (such as in the case of avocados and olive oil), yet this is not always so.
Avoid those sneaky calories by drizzling your salads with a light dressing such
as balsamic vinegar, or skipping the dressing entirely.
Soup
While soup can be the perfect weight loss food when prepared
correctly, not all soups fall into the diet food category. In fact, many soups
can rack up a significant amount of fat and calories, particularly those
containing dairy products such as cream or cheese. On top of that, many soups
are very high in salt, which can lead to bloating. To help stay trim and cut
calories, try purchasing (or better yet, making your own) vegetable-based and
cream-free soups.
Dips
Hummus is often perceived as the perfect diet-friendly dip. However, while
the healthy snack is undoubtedly nutritious, it is also packed with calories and
fat from its principle ingredients of oil and tahini. Another dip for dieters to
watch out for is guacamole which, while traditionally packed with nutrients and
good fats, often contains calorie-laden double cream. While most dips can be
eaten in moderation, if you want to splurge guilt-free go for a homemade tomato
salsa which is packed with nutritious ingredients and is almost fat-free.
Vegetable crisps
Many people view vegetable crisps as the “healthy”
alternative to the potato variety. However, while some vegetable crisps contain
slightly more fibre and vitamins than potato crisps, this is not always the case
and the difference is generally very slight, with most of the vitamins derived
from fresh veggies being lost in the process of making them into crisps. On top
of this, vegetable crisps are often just as high in fat and calories as potato
ones and contain just as much salt.
Popcorn
Air-popped popcorn is a great nutritious, high-fibre and
diet-friendly snack. However, when butter is added into the equation, the tasty
snack can quickly lose its healthy credentials. Store-bought and cinema popcorn
can be extremely high in fat and calories due to its liberal coating of butter
and/or sugar, and is often also served in large quantities. Furthermore, as the
TV-friendly snack is often eaten in front of a screen, we can easily consume far
more than we intend to due to mindless snacking.
Granola
It’s marketed as a health food, is sold in health food stores and even looks
remarkably healthy, so it must be a diet food, right? In the case of granola,
sadly the answer is no. While granola is undoubtedly nutritious and full of
fibre, it also contains high quantities of sugar and oil, making it extremely
high in fat and calories. To help save your waistline, try eating granola in
small portions or, better yet, switch to a lower fat sugar-free muesli which
will deliver the same health benefits without the calories.
[Related article: 6 hidden causes of overeating]
[Related articles: The rules to dropping a dress size]
Source:http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/10-diet-foods-make-fat-094200516.html
RealBuzz – Tue, May 15, 2012 10:00 BST
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