You’re an exercise queen, a health diva, and you spend half your paycheck at Whole Foods. But if you’re still frustrated by weight gain/plateau, see if you are eating too much of these “healthy” foods. Here are the deceptive culprits that can derail your weight loss efforts – healthy foods that might be causing your weight gain.
1. Dark chocolate – For a while there was an incredible amount of excitement over the news that eating dark chocolate might keep your heart healthy. Alas, eating a whole bar won’t help you lose weight–at 240 calories per serving (about 1/3 bar), this is definitely a “health” food that you need to eat with caution.
2. Soy yogurt – Calcium, probiotics, protein, Vitamin D–so healthy, right? But most brands of soy yogurt are pretty high in sugar. Silk soy yogurt in Blueberry, for instance, has 140 calories and 6 grams of soy protein, but 16 grams of sugar. It’s delicious, by the way, but if you are watching your sugar/carb in take, make sure you budget this into your daily allowance.
3. Red wine – A glass of red wine a day reduces heart disease risk, but one five oz serving has about 125 calories–about a slice of bread.
4. Smoothie – You would think smoothies loaded with greens and fruits are a healthy choice. But many bottled brands are full of sugar and calories. Odwalla Superfood is an appealing deep green and only 190 calories, but has 37 grams of sugar in a bottle! Hel-lo, high glycemic!
5. Peanut butter – All natural nut butter is one of the most delicious things on earth (in my book), but just two tablespoons (one serving) is about 190 calories. If you think about it, a tablespoon of oil is about 100 calories, and you wouldn’t eat two tbsp of (vegan) butter in one seating, right? So try to limit the intake as much as possible…(as I take a spoon to the jar).
6. Granola – Most store-bought granola is at least 240 calories per 5 oz serving, and 11-14 grams of sugar. Granola is also often high in fat, so if you are worried about the nutrition content, make yours at home with less sugar and fat.
Photo: Peaceful Dumpling; Odwalla.com
