Healthy But High!

By WLR Staff, by Pat Wilson

Completing a food diary can be a real eye-opener! Foods, which you know are healthy, can actually have a higher calorie content than you think.

Eating a lot of these ‘healthy’ foods, regardless of their nutritional benefits, can hinder your weight loss goals and take you over your calorie needs each day. Remember ‘healthy’ does not necessarily equate to low calorie.

Healthy but High Calorie Food:

NUTS

Although most nuts contain heart-healthy monounsaturates and other helpful ingredients, they are high in calories and fat. Just watch how many handfuls you are eating especially with drinks. Count the calories!

BANANAS

Highly nutritious with plenty of useful minerals and vitamins, bananas are a healthy snack but remember 1 medium/118g banana carries 115.6kcals.

PEANUT BUTTER

Healthy with monounsaturated fats but just one Teaspoon/10g spread over a slice of bread carries 62.3kcals. In general watch out for spreads. Even when spread thinly they can push up the day’s calorie count by quite a lot.

FRUIT JUICES, PURE

Drinking a glass of fruit juice is a healthy option counting towards your 5 a day fruit & vegetable quota. But do watch how many glasses you are drinking. A glass at breakfast and then a couple throughout the day could mean you are unwittingly notching up a lot of calories.

YOGHURTS

There are endless different yoghurts on the market today – fat free, low fat, natural, lite, and healthy. Yoghurts carry a healthy image. But you do need to be careful with which choices you are making regardless of what the packaging says. A product from Sainsbury’s – Natural Yoghurt With Honey, Greek Style, oozes connotations of being good for you and healthy but one 150g pot has 243kcals.

PASTA

Pasta is not necessarily as high in calories as you might think. A 75g serving of Pasta Twirls which is a reasonable portion contains 259.5kcals and with a tomato based sauce can make a filling and nutritious meal that does not overload the calories. The idea that pasta is packed with calories comes from portion sizes which can be too high. A 100g serving notches up 346kcals. Watch the portions and be careful with the olive oil and cream.

DRESSINGS

Dressings can liven up any salad. In liquid form and just a Tablespoon used it’s easy to think dressings carry minimal calories. A 1 Tbsp serving of different dressings can carry between 50 to 80+ kcals alone.

BREAKFAST CEREALS

Breakfast is an important meal and kick-starts your day. Get into the habit of eating breakfast but make it a healthy option not one which will start off your day by over-doing the calories. There are loads of breakfast cereal options. Most make a healthy choice but guessing at portion sizes makes it easy to over-fill your bowl. If you are eating 10 or 20 grams more of your chosen cereal each day than the recommended portion size it's easy to overdo the calories.

Over a 7 day period a difference of 518kcals

A LITTLE BIT OF BUTTER OR MARGARINE

A piece of bread and butter seems harmless enough. Many will concentrate on the calorie content of the bread and believe it to be loaded with calories. But how much butter are you actually spreading?

The piece of bread toasted is not the problem!
Bread, Brown, Toasted 1 Slice/24g = 65.3kcals
Bread, White, Toasted 1 Slice/24g = 63.6kcals

By carelessly spreading lashings of butter or marg on to the toast you are making this a calorie-filled breakfast or snack.

NB Unless you are thinly spreading your butter, you are actually consuming more calories from the butter than the piece of toast.

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