So-Called "Healthy" Foods to Avoid at All Costs

Healthy weight loss is all about choosing the right diet, eating the right kinds of food to give your body the energy it requires and avoiding the foods that take us away from our goal of losing or maintaining a healthy weight. Just as there are some foods we should eat on a daily basis, there are some presumably "healthy" foods we should avoid at all costs.

Fruit Juices-Fruit juices can wreak havoc on your healthy weight loss plan. You are essentially removing the vitamins, fiber, and other healthy benefits found in the skins and meat of the fruit, and getting a super dose of the sugary liquid. Think about how many apples you have to squeeze to get a glass of apple juice...let's say 4-5. In drinking the juice you are consuming 4-5 apples worth of sugar. Even though it is from a healthy source, it is still sugar, and you threw away all the healthy benefits of the apple, for example, the fiber. And that's if you drink straight, fresh-squeezed apple juice. The store-bought version, which adds insane amounts of sugar, is 10 times worse. Avoid the juice and just eat the whole apple instead with a glass of water.

Salad (toppings)-Salad itself is obviously very healthy, but the stuff we pile on top of the salad is where we can get into trouble. Take a perfectly healthy, low calorie salad full of fresh, crisp, colorful veggies and add bacon, piles of ham, chopped eggs, cheese and croutons, then smother it in salad dressing and you have devastated your healthy meal and your calorie intake. Stick to a nice variety of colorful vegetables in your salad, add a little ham or egg for protein, skip the cheese and croutons, and use olive oil or vinaigrette dressing. If you must use creamy dressing like ranch or blue cheese, keep it on the side. Dip your fork in the dressing and then in your salad to get a little dressing with each bite. You'll have dressing left over and you won't destroy the health benefits nor the point of eating a salad.

Whole-wheat products-Whole-wheat products are misleading. Most have nearly as much fat, carbohydrates and calories as regular white bread. They may or may not have more fiber than products made with white flour. Multi-grain products are just as bad. You want to look for whole-grain products for a healthy option.

Artificial sweetener-Your body cannot tell the difference between real sugar and artificial sweetener. Your body metabolizes them both the same way. And studies show that artificial sweetener can actually make your body crave more sugar, so you might subconsciously reach for foods that have high levels of sugar in them. Your best bet is to consume real sugar, but just reduce your sugar intake and keep it under control.