20 Types of Food That are Making You Fat
With the current obsession by the health and food companies marketing their new products, books written on diet and nutrition on the “foods that make you fat instead of thin,” there has been some misconception, lies and myths of all sorts that have made you obsess with your weight watch.
Have you become cautious on what you are putting in your mouth and maybe attending the gym for long hours (with no visible change in your weight loss?). Lucky for you, here is a list of 24 “diet” foods that are making you pile more pressure and don’t even know it.
1. Elegant Coffee Drinks
Coffee in its plain form is pretty mild, with a dash of skim milk is fine. But taking it every day and topping it with whipped cream is pretty much adding more calories in your body. So it’s a fantastic idea to limit your fancy coffee of lattes and the likes and take your coffee plain.
2. Breakfast Cereal
Cereals have been paraded for years as “Healthy” when the truth is that they are the worst food to start your day. They are packed with refined carbs and sugar, which are to a large extent, the fattiest weight piling ingredients. Eating cereals for breakfast will increase your insulin and blood sugar levels. But after some time, your blood sugar will crash, thus triggering an uncontrollable craving for a snack rich in refined carbs.
You will end up in a blood sugar level wave familiar to people on high carb nutrition. The labels on cereals packages reading whole grain or low-fat are the ones to avoid because they are full of sugar.
Eat a healthy breakfast consisting of proteins and stay away from processed food. If you can’t do without cereals in the morning, then go for the ones that at least don’t include highly refined grains.
3. Agave Nectar
Agave nectar is always marketing their product as a likely alternative to high fructose corn syrup and sugar, the fact is that agave nectar is the unhealthiest compared to sugar.
Research shows that ggave nectar is not as a healthy alternative to sugar; the truth is that agave nectar is very harmful; it is unhealthier than sugar.
Sugar contains at least 50% fructose, whereas Agave has 80-80%.
Excessive intake of fructose can cause insulin resistance and raise the production of insulin (fat storing hormone)
The hype behind agave nectar being the best alternative to sugar is a myth. You are in fact making the situation worse if you are looking forward to losing weight.
4. Whole Meal Bread
According to several health experts, whole meal is the best alternative to refined wheat.
That might be true. At least, “not so bad” compared to refined wheat. Because whole grain foods don’t necessarily contain whole grains.
Without exception, almost every whole meal companies grains crush into very fine flour that is just as effortlessly digestible and increases blood sugar as fast as the refined grains do.
The advantage in consuming whole wheat bread flour is that whole wheat has more fiber and more healthy nutrients than refined wheat bread. Of course, there are various types of grains that are healthy for people who can stomach them, but wheat is not in that category.
5. Low Fat Yogurt
Don’t get this point wrong. Low-fat yogurt is very healthy. But the ones found in the supermarket are not. The fat has been removed from the yogurt, spoiling its taste. The manufacturer then adds artificial sweetener to give it taste. This makes it worse for your health.
Likewise, the fat taken out of the low-fat yogurt is saturated fat which is the one valuable for your body. By the removal of the beneficial fats from low-fat yogurt, and replacing it with sugar, or artificial sweetener, it loses the meaning of eating yogurt in the first place.
6. Salad Dressings
Just because it is salad does not automatically make it healthy. Vegetables are full of antioxidants, vitamins, and antioxidants; salads are usually very healthy meals. But some are loaded with cheese, croutons, chicken, meats, bacon, blue cheese, ham, eggs, and avocado.
Any salad that is creamy and dipped in olive oil is probably not the best choice of a healthy salad.
However, most people don’t like the bland taste of vegetables, so they prefer to add dressing to their salads. The problem with some commercial dressings is that they make them with ingredients that are unhealthy.
It’s easier to make your dressing at home with vinegar, olive oil, and healthier spices. This way, you will avoid the dressed salads that have with high calories which are obviously what you are trying to avoid.
7. Diet Soda Intake
Replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with diet soda is the worst solution when trying to lose weight.
This is because artificial sweeteners can fuel the appetite in some people. Although the sweeteners themselves are calorie free, they may make you consume more of other foodstuffs.
Having said that, most people can drop some weight by drinking diet soda, but that will work if they are chaining other things in their diets as well. As with most things, this depends on a person.
One of the easiest changes for anyone to make is to replace sugar-sweetened beverages with diet soda.
8. Fruit Juices
Fruits either canned or packed are healthy right? And so must be fruit juices.
Well, not all the time. Many times, these canned or packed fruits contain no real fruit at all. Instead, they only contain nothing more than fruit-flavored sugar-rich water.
What of real fruit juice?
Real fruit juice is also not healthy because it does not include much of the good substance you find in fresh fruit. They are just rich in sugar, which is the main thing you must avoid if you want to cut weight.
Whereas whole fresh fruits also have sugar, the sugar contained is in cells found in fresh fruits. When consumed whole, these sugars are released slowly into the bloodstream and do not cause your blood sugar levels to go up.
If your objective is to cut weight, eat whole fruits instead. To satisfy your thirst, substitute fruit juice with plain water.
9. Processed Foods
Organic whole foods are wonderful, but organic processed foods are not that excellent.
When you read the ingredients labels for countless of these natural, “healthy” meal replacement crackers, snacks, bars, cookies… you see that there is no big difference from other processed foods.
They can contain Organic Cane Sugar as a substitute for normal sugar. But normal sugar is just as bad as regular sugar.
So, consume whole, single item foods but stay away from organic processed foods.
10. Gluten-Free Baked Foods
Gluten free is the in thing these days. People nowadays are devotedly trying to reduce the amount of gluten they consume in their diets.
The food manufacturers have hopped on the trend and are marketing all kinds of gluten-free replacement foodstuffs to the marketplaces.
The problem here is that these foods contain highly refined chemicals and sugar, which makes them just as bad as their gluten-containing equivalents. If your plan is to reduce gluten, then pick foods like plants and animals that are obviously gluten free and NOT processed gluten-free foods.
11. Toxic Chemicals
Very few people know of phthalates—a chemical used to make plastics flexible. Researchers have taken to labeling several of these ingredients obesogens. A strong immune system can help eradicate off the dangers of these chemicals. But it’s much safer to keep off using the grocery water bottles.
12. Cranberry Juice
Just like lime or lemon juice, pure cranberry juice is very sour and undrinkable on its own, so most of the “cranberry juice blend” you find in restaurants and supermarkets that contain sweeteners and sugar. A glass of store bought cranberry contains more sugar compared to a glass of soda in a bottle.
There is an alternative, though, look for cranberry juice concentrate in small bottles. It is pure cranberries juice in its sour state. Mix it with a little water and you will get the many health benefits found in cranberries. And you will also reduce the bitter taste and get its flavor.
13. Granola
It’s ironic that we frequently associate the word “granola” to normal types, considering the crunchy snack is nothing but puffed up rice, honey and rolled oats, being produced in masses and they the marketing claims it to be “healthy.” But in the real sense, the ingredients have no real nutritional value. Granolas are packed with fat, calories and sugar and are low in minerals and vitamins.
Besides, granola is not easily digestible which leads to gas, bloating and a series of stomach issues. Try a handful of almonds or a fiber-rich cereal next time.
14. Apple Sauce Bought in Stores
Here, we are referring to the mass-producing of apple sauce you get in the shelves of supermarkets; they are full of added sugar like high fructose corn syrup. Instead, eat an actual apple- one small apple has an estimated 3 grams of fiber, 13 grams of sugar and 65 calories. You will be consuming its natural sugar instead or look for unsweetened apple sauce health store.
15. Muffins or Cakes
Muffins and Cake bakers are marketing to us their goods as breakfast foods when in the real sense are considered to be deserts. The” healthy” and oversized pre-made muffins contain refined sodium and grains.
They contain calories as high as 350 and nearly 40 grams of fat.
Consider homemade muffins; this is because you will be able to control the size and what ingredients you put into, this will help you plan out your health recipe of muffins and keep your weight in check.
16. Spiced up Greek Yogurt
It looks like Greek yogurt can be found everywhere these days. Its creamy, thick, protein-packed snack first became popularized in the states by a brand called Fage, in the late 1990s. Nowadays, every known yogurt brand has started to manufacture the Greek yogurt. But they have altered the original ingredients with artificial and unhealthy junk. The Greek is the worst of all, as most contain sweeteners and fake flavors.
17. Nuts
Nuts and almonds contain calories in a large number and are considered to be trigger foods. To gain the nutritional value of almonds, walnuts and cashew nuts- such as magnesium, omega three fatty acids and vitamin E without over doing them. Sprinkle them on your salads. Thus reducing the amount of nuts you consume.
18. Dried Fruit
Dehydrated fruits can be worse compared to liquefied fruit. Dried fruits contain a lot of calories and sugar. The manufactured ones are worse because they are often added more sugar to cherries and cranberries because of their sourness.
Instead, eat fresh fruits that naturally contain less sugar.
19. Coconut Water
Coconut water contains electrolytes like potassium and sodium. But the smallest carton contains 45 calories. It’s advisable just to drink plain water. Unless of course, you are an athlete, they need electrolytes to assist them in exercise recovery. Or you are running for at least more than one hour.
20. Raw Foods
As long as you get rid of cooked foods from your food, the portions will reduce significantly, but that is not a fact in your case. A lot of fresh foodstuffs like celery, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce and cabbage are perfect. But those strictly on raw food diets usually turn to high-calorie nuts and fruit purees to from a filling menu.
The brilliant marketing camping’s are not clear on the calories input, vitamins, protein, minerals, exercise, antioxidants and fat in the diets they are advertising, thus making this issue confusing to some people.
However, it’s not just foods that will make you add weight, while you are struggling to lose weight. Others include;
Lack of Sleep
Based on research done by the New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt hospital, they discovered that the people who lack sleep burn the same calories as their counterparts who get adequate rest. But they tend to eat more since their bodies are craving for more food that is high in calories leading to more weight gain.
The other factor contributing to such weight gain is the body burns the most calories during REM sleep, a type of sleep that takes place at intervals during the night, described by; bodily movement, more dreaming, faster pulse, breathing and quick eye movements. So, less REM sleep is not a good thing for you.
Experts recommend that you sleep 7.5 hours of the night. In case you have trouble sleeping, from an evening routine and stick to it. Exercise during daytime and reduce the amount of activities and you do at night and create a peaceful environment for relaxing.
Obese Friends
Apparently, you can “catch “weight from the company of fat friends you have. This is according to research done, which concluded that you would tend to do every action your obese friends will take. “Birds of a feather… flock together.
