8 Diet-Busters That Only Seem Healthy

Some foods are falsely marketed to seem healthy. Salad and smoothies are good in theory, but you could be dressing them up with calories or eating too much. 

Even when you think you’re limiting your calories and choosing food with health in mind, you may need to take a closer look at a few items, especially if they’re regulars. Some foods are falsely marketed to seem health-enhancing. Others, like salad, are good in theory, but you could be dressing them up with extra empty calories or eating too much.

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Smoothies

Whole fruits and vegetables are dense with nutrition per calorie. But juices are a fast, fiber-less, shot of sugar. If you add sherbet, full-fat yogurt, or peanut butter, a smoothie is really a rich dessert. When you want a smoothie as a snack or drink, focus on vegetables, including leafy greens, those low-calorie superheroes. Veggie-fruit combinations can be surprisingly good, too.

You should consider the fruit in a smoothie a sweetener. 

Granola and trail mix

The whole oats in granola provide fiber, as do nuts and dried fruit. Just know that granola and muesli evolved as breakfast for early-rising farm hands. Trail mixes, meanwhile, are meant to bolster hikers who could be climbing a mountain.

If you’re sitting in an office, be careful of the calories per bite. Sticky or clumped granola is usually prepared with a lot of butter and oil, observes Laura Jeffers, MEd, RD, LD, a registered dietitian at Cleveland Clinic. 

Bagels

If you’re choosing between a donut and a bagel, go for the bagel, which contains less sugar. But a plain bagel and simple glazed donut provide about the same number of calories. Cream cheese contains lots of fat and sodium as well.

People sometimes regard a bagel and cream cheese as a good regular breakfast, Jeffers says, when it’s really meant for the occasional Sunday.    

Soup and salad

It sounds good, but you’re overdoing the calories if you choose a cream-based soup and add croutons, bacon, and high-mayonnaise dressing to the salad. Substitute nuts and seeds or avocado to make a salad filling.

Restaurant and packaged soups are also high in salt, which increases your risk of high blood pressure, strokes, heart failure, and other health conditions. 

Fat-free foods

Dairy products made with skim rather than whole milk can help reduce calories. But fat-free processed foods tend to be high in sugar or corn syrup. Dieters should be much warier of processed carbs than fat.

You’re better off having a few nuts, which could ward off diabetes and other diseases, and skipping air-popped corn or a potato snack. 

Meatless burgers

Meatless burgers and similar products are highly processed. Read the label and check the calories. “People can actually gain weight on a meatless diet from eating the wrong types of proteins,” Jeffers writes. Look for a short ingredient list with items you recognize rather than mystery chemicals. 

100-calorie snack packs

Such snack packs can help you avoid overeating, but too often they contain foods you should avoid, like mini-cookies. You’d be better off eating a banana, a container of unsweetened yogurt, or a bar that contains only seeds and nuts. Those few cookies will give you a blood sugar spike that later drops, setting you up for weight gain. 

Energy drinks

They’re often packed with sugar and the stimulants that may be dangerous. Consuming just 16 ounces of an energy drink elevates blood pressure and stress hormones in young, healthy adults, according to one study by the American Heart Association.

Sport drinks, which contain minerals and electrolytes to replace water and electrolytes lost through sweating during exercise, are a better bet, but they’re probably unnecessary and should be sugar-free. 

Other products with false pretentions include:

• Light or low-carb beer
• Diet soda
• Rice crackers
• White-rice sushi
• Bottled ice tea and water

Try eating mostly foods that don’t come with label, says Mike Gorski, a registered dietitian and personal trainer. His list of fake-healthy products includes:

• Sugary snacks labeled gluten-free
• Artificially sweetened products
• Junk food with organic ingredients 

Your self-control may be less of an issue than you think. You don’t have to suffer: Jeffers suggests letting yourself indulge occasionally in less-than-healthy foods, but for no more than a quarter of your calories.

Cutting out some bad habits may go a long way.

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