[box]Many unsuspecting foods today are either masking their dastardly unhealthy intentions behind a healthful veneer, or are marketed and spun into full blown health foods. This makes it pretty hard to sift through what is actually healthy and what is simply overplaying the small nutritional value and embellishing the truth. It is extremely important to read the labels before you buy, look out for high sugar contents and unhealthy fats that plague supermarket shelves.[/box]
Try to avoid these foods as a general rule of thumb and you can help lose that extra weight. Foods that make you fat are often hiding behind natural looking labels and clever words like Natural or Fat Free. There are plenty of healthy alternatives to all of the foods below, so give your weight loss efforts the best chance at success and avoid these top 10 foods that make you fat.
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10 Top Foods That Make You Fat
1. Sushi Rolls
When people think of Sushi, they often think of raw fish and seaweed. If that was all it was then it wouldn’t even be in this article, sadly it is much much more than fish and seaweed. Wrapped in copious amounts of white rice, slathered in mayonnaise based sauces and even battered and deep fried in some cases. Just because you wrap it in something green and put minuscule amounts of vegetables in these rolls doesn’t qualify it as a health food.
The past few years sushi has really gotten popular, with this craze hitting North America like a tidal wave, sushi shops are popping up all over the place. That is why it is so important to get the raw facts about this raw fish dish.
Contributing to obesity, overeating, heavy metal accumulation and increased toxicity, this fan favorite should be eaten far less often and certainly not everyday. With some rolls coming in at a staggering 1000+ calories, most of which come from the huge amount of white rice used (often as much as 3 servings of rice are found in 1 roll, dramatically increasing unhealthy carbohydrate intake).
It really does all come down to what you order, sashimi for example is a far healthier choice when it comes to caloric intake and nutrient content. It is important to know that the fish itself is what contributes to heavy metal accumulation in your body, which leads to cognitive disorders and general cellular damage. If you are a sushi lover, simply moderate your consumption and take steps to chelate these heavy metals before they have a chance to do serious damage.
2. Dried Fruit
But fruit is healthy you might be saying to yourself, and yes it is, in certain cases. Many fruits (berries primarily) are filled with antioxidants and numerous health benefits, making them a great addition to anyone’s diet to fulfill that sweet craving while offering up beneficial nutrients. When fruit is dried though, you run into a number of issues and what was once a healthy choice, is now making you fat and spiking your blood sugar.
When you are consuming fresh or even frozen fruits you are getting the water content that dried fruit doesn’t have (obviously) but this is so important because it prevents over eating, leaves you feeling full and satisfied, and even helps flush the natural sugar content through your body more readily. Dried fruits have enormous caloric contents, and because of the lack of water content you will find yourself eating far more of these dried goodies than their fresh counterparts. Skyrocketing your blood sugar which contributes to fat storage and making it much harder to get rid of existing fat. These issues are all assuming you get the most organic and unprocessed dried fruits, ideally drying them yourself. However it is very rare to find dried fruits that don’t contain a myriad of other health determinants.
Often times your dried fruits will be treated / sprayed with even more sugar or oils, increasing caloric and sugar intake yet again. One of the most common additives to dried fruits is one of the things you should avoid at all costs, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, along with high fructose corn syrup. Transforming a once vibrant and healthy snack into a calorie rich, sugar filled death trap. Make sure to limit your intake of these dried goodies and squash the expectation of them being a healthy addition to your diet.
3. Muffins
Despite the good intentions of eating a bran muffin everyday, it is starting your day off with a bad health decision that causes you to gain weight. Muffins are often thought to be a healthy choice for breakfast, especially when loaded with bran fiber and loads of fruit flavors. The truth about these dense little calorie packages often oozing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils with enormous amounts of sugar. Surely offsetting the relatively small portion of dietary fiber and almost non-existent nutrient content.
McDonald’s Nutritional Information of their Bran Muffin
This is all assuming there is no margarine, butter or jam added to your favorite muffin, which packs on the calories even further. Dispel the myth that muffins are a healthy breakfast, no matter how much they tout their fiber content or the addition of fresh fruit.
4. Granola
[box]Visions of the outdoors, hiking, health conscious and earth friendly individuals all enjoying their favorite snack, granola. Don’t be fooled by the common misconception that granola is healthy (same goes for most trail mixes in general), it is one of the inconspicuous culprits making you fat while you are trying to stay healthy.[/box]
Granola is filled with sugar, this is the most ubiquitous commonalities among store bought granola mixtures. Aside from that they can be filled with saturated fat, hydrogenated oils and palm oil which are quite bad for our health. As if that wasn’t enough, many granola mixtures go even further, adding fillers like soy protein isolate and other forms of fiber that can be linked to digestive problems.
Calorie content in these fatty sugar filled oats is, as you would expect, quite high. Easily munching through 500+ calories within a few handfuls. If you are eating granola, make sure to portion it out and keep that portion small.
Granola can easily be made at home, this can ensure you are using limited amounts of sugar (using natural sugars like honey) as well as replacing hydrogenated vegetable oils with healthier coconut oils or extra virgin cold pressed olive oil. Add in some omega 3 rich seeds and add your mixture to some healthy Greek yogurt for an added crunch.
5. Juice
You open the fridge, look in the door and you see a bottle of pop, a carton of milk (we will get to this in the next Foods that make you fat point), a jug of orange juice and some purple stuff. You pause for a second, and before reaching for the bubbly refreshing soda pop you decide to make the healthy choice and pour yourself a cold glass of orange juice instead. After all it has Vitamin C and is supposed to be a great way to get ample amounts of nutrients. In reality, you might as well reach for that bottle of pop.
Juice contains just as much sugar per serving as soda in most cases, in some cases it is even worse. I know what you are thinking, these sugars are coming from fruit so they are not as bad as the processed sugars in the soda pop. To put it frankly, sugar is sugar in this case. When you eat an orange or an apple you are getting a great deal of fiber and nutrients for the serving size. Whereas a glass of juice may be the equivalent to eating 10 or 15 of the same fruit, with the omission of the fiber and most of the nutrients. Causing a huge spike in your blood sugar and causing your body to pack on the pounds.
Stop letting the vibrant colors and images of wonderful fresh fruit fool you, these cleverly marketed beverages are not the healthy choice, it is sugar water in disguise!
6. Milk
Lets go back into that refrigerator and instead opt for a nice glass of bone fortifying milk. Now lets assume you are drinking organic grass fed cow milk with no antibiotics or growth hormones, no steroids or chemicals that are passed through by products like milk and cheese. So if you can get beyond paying three times the price for this natural organic “healthy” milk, lets take a look at that nutritional facts label. Once again you see quite a bit of sugar for a drink that is supposed to be healthy.
It is healthy for your bones though right? Wrong, milk may contain some calcium, which is thought to improve bone health and prevent osteoporosis. But without incorporating Vitamin D3, Magnesium and Vitamin K2 that calcium is not being absorbed by your bones, it is being deposited in your tissue. Your tissue is where it sits and accumulates, instead of improving bone health, it will sit and calcify over time which brings up a whole number of health concerns that manifest over decades.
Now lets be honest, most people are not sourcing their milk from 100% organic and health conscious farmers. Most people are going to the supermarket and purchasing their milk which comes from huge farms where steroids, antibiotics and countless chemicals are being used on the livestock everyday. These chemicals are then passed through into the milk those animals produce, milk that ends up on the store shelves and passed onto the consumer as a staple for growing children and people with weak bones. These chemicals cause hormone imbalances, countless health concerns and combined with a huge sugar content regular milk consumption is a health hazard plain and simple.
7. Salad Dressing
Vegetable platters are a fantastic way to snack on finger friendly veggies while entertaining guests or having the family over for a backyard barbecue. When we start dipping those vegetables in ranch dressing though, those once nutritious veggies are now just vessels for the unhealthy sauce slathered all over them.
Ok so it is pretty obvious that ranch dressing is not the healthiest choice, but what about the vinaigrette that you liberally pour over a vibrant and colorful bowl of fresh crisp greens and assorted garden vegetables. Lets take a look at a very typical Balsamic Vinaigrette made with oil and vinegar, store bought of course. Instead of making it yourself by simply pouring extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar over your salad, you pay for a company to mix it for you. The only catch is that food producer cheaps out and instead of using a healthy extra virgin olive oil, they put in a hydrogenated vegetable oil, load it with sugar so it appeases the taste-buds and ramp up the sodium. The end result is a vinaigrette abomination, jacking up the calorie count in your salad and shattering any illusions of being healthy by choosing to eat a salad.
Go for a simple homemade dressing instead, they are dead simple to make and you can ensure you only use ingredients that benefit your health instead of inhibiting it. A high quality extra virgin olive oil can be paired with red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar and any number of spices or garlic for extra flavor.
8. Flavored Yogurt
Before you think we have a special agenda to ruin all the snack foods you love, we will offer you an healthy choice when it comes to yogurt right off the start. Pure Greek yogurt is a healthy choice when it comes to yogurts. Flavorless is the best way to go, if you need the extra blast of flavor add in a handful of fresh berries or chopped nuts. Now, why is most yogurt so bad for you?
Most yogurts found in store today are absolutely loaded with sugar, artificial flavors and dyes. The worst among them are the ones marketed towards children, realistically they are a glorified fruit flavored pudding.
When we talk about the health problems associated with yogurt, many of the problems with milk arise here as well. Steroid and drug filled animals impart these chemicals into their byproducts (eggs, milk, cheese, meats and of course yogurt) which are then eaten and absorbed by the consumer. As mentioned before, this causes severe hormonal issues and a plethora of assorted health conditions.
9. Whole Wheat Bread
This clever loaf is a brown version of the infamous white bread. Most people today know just how unhealthy white bread is for them, spiking glucose levels and all those carbohydrates convert into sugar and are absorbed quite quickly. Really a terrible decision to add to your diet if you plan on losing weight and staying healthy. Now back to whole wheat bread, you can expect all the same pitfalls of white bread to be found in the “healthier” brown version. The one difference is you might feel better about eating it because of the implication of a healthier, more pure and natural alternative to typical white bread. Sadly these good intentions and positive thoughts don’t fool your body, or your waistline.
Now slather that piece of bread in mayonnaise, margarine, butter, jam or any number of other popular condiments and you have yourself a full blown unhealthy decision. The best option is to simply avoid bread almost entirely, along with flat bread, tortilla shells and wraps. They are all densely packed with carbohydrates eager to transform into sugar in the body, as well as huge amounts of calories with absolutely no nutritional value to redeem these woeful threats to your health.
10. Cereal
Here is one of the worst offenders that is engorging your waistline and causing severe harm to your health. Often times you are getting the worst of a few different worlds here, containing dried fruit regularly and usually served covered with milk. But lets look at the typical cereal barring the unhealthy additions.
Look at the ingredient list on your favorite cereal and you are likely to see Modified Corn Starch, Corn Syrup, Wheat Flour, Artificial Colors and Flavors among other ingredients, some scarcely pronounced properly. So not only do these breakfast cereals contain sugars and carbohydrates, they contain the worst possible types of sugars and carbohydrates. Impacting your health immensely, and often eaten first thing in the morning adding to the problem. This kick starts your day with a huge spike in insulin which promotes fat storage, leaves you with a gigantic sugar crash later in the day and causes a dependence or addiction to sugar.
Now with all this already going against it, even the “healthy” cereals go a step further and add the before mentioned dried fruits which ramp up the caloric intake as well as the sugar content. The cherry on top, you pour chemical riddled sugary milk on top of it and pour a heaping bowl. The suggested serving size of a typical cereal is around ½ to ¾ of a cup, however it is easy to double that serving size when pouring a regular bowl of cereal.
Instead cook up a bowl of steel cut oats and add nuts, fresh berries and even a drizzle of honey. The low glycemic rating of the oats will not prompt a substantial spike in blood sugar and therefore will help you lose weight as opposed to hold onto it.
