If you're one of the millions of Americans who buys fat-free, cholesterol-free, or all-natural products hoping to lose weight – or to help your kids lose weight – you might be surprised. Many so-called “healthy” foods can sabotage a diet.
"These are the foods we naturally look to as we try to lose extra pounds. However, they are the ones that we need to be careful about,” said Dee Rollins, PhD, RD, with Baylor Medical Center.
Read the Labels!
- Granola bars: “Everyone thinks granola bars are wonderful. Yet if you read the ingredients, you might see that it has high fructose corn syrup and a lot of sugars,” said Dr. Rollins. In fact, the average granola bar contains more than 300 calories and 10 grams of fat – not a healthy snack at all.
- Bran cereals: “You’ll find that there’s a lot of hidden sugar, perhaps even some hidden salt and fat in those cereals that you don’t anticipate finding,” said Dr. Rollins.
- Ground turkey: A pound of ground turkey sometimes contains more fat grams than a pound of ground beef. “If you flip that label over and read the ingredients, you’ll see that it’s high in salt. Maybe they've also added some fat and sugar. Ground turkey products might not be as healthy as you think they are,” said Dr. Rollins.
- Multi-grain, honey wheat, seven-grain bread: Inside that brown bread wrapper may not be whole grain bread. Look for "whole grain" listed as the first ingredient.
- Low-fat foods: The ultimate in diet deception – the word low-fat. “When they take the fat out, they almost always put the sugar in. So check the calorie count. There’s probably more calories in a low-fat or low-carbohydrate product than in a regular product,” said Dr. Rollins.
- 100-percent fruit juice: It’s still full of calories.
- All-natural potato chips: They may be made from real potatoes, but they're probably still loaded with fat and sodium.
- Cholesterol-free anything: If it’s not an animal product, it never had cholesterol in it to begin with. The label “cholesterol-free” usually doesn't mean anything.
So what exactly should you look for when reading labels? According to Dr. Rollins, concentrate on three things: sodium, fat, and total calories. Then read through the list of ingredients to make sure that salt, sugar, and corn syrup aren’t at the top. (The closer to the top the name of an ingredient is in the list, the more there is of it in the food product.)
When it comes to snacks that really are low-calorie and low-fat, think carrot sticks or a piece of fresh fruit. |
