These are goods that the commercials, ads and packaging claim to be “healthy” for us. I’ve definitely fallen into that trap. I didn’t really know HOW to eat or what to eat to be healthy in the beginning. I didn’t have help either, I just muddled my way through it and figured things out on my own.<\/p>\n
I realized I was eating a lot of junk food. Especially the “diet” junk food. Processed food was making me feel sick. I realized the hard way that I needed to stop eating “diet” food I thought <\/em>\u00a0was healthy and eat real food<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0instead<\/a>.<\/p>\n Granola\/Granola Bars<\/strong> – Granola is something I thought was healthy when I first started out. A good snack, I thought, was a Yoplait yogurt with granola mixed in. I bought granola in bulk from a natural health food store (sort of like Whole Foods) in Portland. Of course I never used just one serving, either. When I started counting calories I was shocked<\/strong>\u00a0at how high granola was in calories. I realized I was eating a super sugar yogurt with granola that was over 200 calories–my “healthy” snack was probably 400 calories. Yikes!<\/p>\n Breakfast Bars<\/strong> – Oh my gosh! These are the WORST. They are high in sugar, high in calories, high in carbs with absolutely NO nutritional value. It’s just manufactured junk food masquerading as “breakfast.” Eggs! Eggs! Eggs! They are the perfect food.<\/p>\n Vitamin Water\/Gatorade – <\/strong>This is another one I see at the gym a lot. Personally, I prefer water. It taste better than a bunch of sugar water. I see people at the gym doing this and I wonder why they’d waste the calories they burned at the gym by sucking down liquid calories. Gatorade was developed for\u00a0athletes\u00a0and did amazing things for their performance and recovery. It does\u00a0<\/em>improve performance. \u00a0For high level athletes.<\/em>\u00a0 It’s for endurance sports–prolonged, competitive activities. For example, Gatorade is great for someone training for a marathon. Someone walking on a treadmill? I’m not so sure it’s needed.<\/p>\n Trail Mix\/Dried Fruits – <\/strong>Dried fruit is higher in sugar than fresh fruit (they add<\/em>\u00a0sugar to them!). Higher in calories than fresh fruit. Trail mix is a big culprit in packing on the pounds. Did you know a typical serving size of trail mix is about a Tablespoon? If you’re like me, I don’t eat just a tablespoon of trailmix–I eat a handful. Just wagering a guess that could be 400 calories!<\/p>\n Yogurt – <\/strong>I’m talking about the sugary yogurts–the ones that taste like candy? The ones the that are high in calories and sugar and not high in anything good. A few years ago I discovered Greek yogurt and I have never looked back<\/em>. I won’t eat anything else. And my palate has changed even more, I prefer the plain Greek yogurt instead. It’s much healthier, higher in protein, lower in sugar and I can add fresh fruit to my yogurt instead.<\/p>\n Frozen Yogurt<\/strong> – Sure frozen yogurt may<\/em>\u00a0be a healthier choice than ice cream. But….if you’re adding five extra servings of toppings onto the frozen yogurt you’re defeating the purpose. Butterfingers? Snickers? Cookie dough? Coconut? Chocolate sauce? Shoulda just had the ice cream!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/gatorade-300x205.jpg\" "\\"gatorade\\"")
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