Most people consume food that is ineffective at combating an expanding waistline. While it is usually a choice whether or not to eat for good health, several comestibles are cleverly marketed as healthy while they continue to create a waistline that is far from flattering. Here are the top five culprits of these sneaky snacks… reesejoke


#1 – Juice and Smoothies – Jamba Juice, Your Local Smoothie Joint

The Illusion – Fruit is Healthy

The Reality – Not when it is laden with extra sugar. The smoothie mixes at the health club I trained at were basically the equivalent of drinking a pouch of liquid skittles. Combine that with the simple carbohydrates naturally found in the fruit and there is a sugar bomb waiting to blow up some belt lines.

The Fix: Have a piece of real fruit. Plenty of fiber and nutrients are found in the skin. It is also much more pleasant to be able to sit and enjoy a fresh piece of produce rather than drink it from a Styrofoam cup.

#2 – ‘Healthy’ Restaurant Food – Chipotle, Panda Express, Healthy choices on menus

The Illusion- It is Fresh and Healthy

The Reality- ‘Healthy’ Restaurant Food is an oxymoron. It comes loaded with sodium, carbohydrates, and fat, not to mention in Huge portions. I used to think PF Changs was a great choice for healthy dining. Most of their dishes consist simply of vegetables paired with lean meats. Then I found out that every meal there begins in a wok filled with fattening oils and sugar. A sandwich maker at Potbelly’s confessed to me that their wheat bread is actually just white bread dyed brown.

The Fix: Share it with someone. Aside from keeping restaurant meals to a minimum, splitting a dish will cut both the calories and check in half when dining out. The deceiving chipotle burrito contains roughly twelve hundred calories. An innocent looking nacho platter can easily contain over two thousand. Splitting meals will turn those numbers into a much more reasonable indulgence.

#3 – Mini Snacks – 100 calorie packs, Snackwells, Fun Sized Candy Bars

The Illusion – Guilt free indulgence

The Reality – Eating the entire wedding cake, one small slice at a time. This may be the craftiest belly buster of the bunch since it is habitual and perhaps goes unnoticed. It could be a handful of M&Ms from a co-workers candy dish or daily pretzel pack from the pantry. Over a year, this miniscule snack comes out to 36,500 extra calories to burn. I am sure for many people this mini snack strays into the two, three hundred calorie a day range which translates into 73,000 and 109,500 extra calories a year. Yikes.

The Fix: Go Nuts. Nuts are a low carbohydrate snack that provides healthy fats, fiber, and protein which in turn create a feeling of satiety. Purportedly, a person can eat up to five hundred calories a day in nuts and not see any fat gain. Trail mix would be a great alternative if plain nuts are a bit boring for the palate.

#4 – Sports Drinks – Powerade, Gatorade, Vitamin Water

The Illusion – Energy for My Workout

The Reality – Extra Calories to Burn. It is amusing how Powerade has the word energy in parenthesis next to calories on the nutrition label. Depending on one’s body mass it will take an extra fifteen to thirty minutes of working out to expend all of that ‘energy’. If the goal is fat loss, which requires a calorie deficit, it does not make sense to take in an extra two-hundred calories before trying to burn them off.

The Fix: Use it as a Post Workout Drink. After lifting weights your body actually needs the fast acting, simple carbohydrates found in these drinks to jumpstart the recovery process. Twenty grams of whey protein along with forty grams of fast acting carbohydrates is great recovery mix for fat loss. Forty grams of whey protein and seventy grams of fast acting carbohydrates would be great if gaining lean muscle mass is the goal.

#5 – Healthy Foods Smothered In Sauces – Salad, Fish, Poultry

The Illusion- Its Healthy Food

The Reality – It was healthy. Popcorn is the perfect example of this illusion. A bowl of freshly air popped popcorn can be a great source of complex carbohydrates and fiber. But no one thinks it is a health food when it is covered in movie theatre style butter. Why is it any different when a salad is soaked with Caesar?

The Fix: Ditch/Switch The Sauce. Try eating your foods without any sauces or condiments. I find that several meats actually taste better without any additional flavorings. Switching the current sauces with something less fattening would also be a great change. Try vinaigrettes instead of creamy dressings on salads, mustard instead of mayonnaise on sandwiches, garlic salt instead of butter on popcorn, Mrs. Dash instead of barbecue sauce for meats and poultry. If both those options still seem a bit too restrictive then try dipping a fork in the sauce as opposed to pouring it all over an entrée. There is flavor in every bite and the majority of calories are left on the table and away from your waistline.