I found a great article, from a link Bill Poppin sent with the 5k Lavender Days run email today, written by Liz Applegate on Runnersworld.com. Since the original article was targeted toward runners, I have condensed it for your reading pleasure on how to make smarter choices on a few things!
Regular Peanut Butter vs. Low-fat Peanut Butter
While reduced fat peanut butter has less fat, it almost always has more sugar. Also, the reduced fat version has hydrogenated vegetable oils, which is the kind of fat that clogs up your arteries. The fat in peanut butter, cholesterol lowering monounsaturated fat, is much healthier. Winner: REGULAR PEANUT BUTTER (even better, go with Natural Peanut butter which doesn't have all the added sugars and preservatives).
Multi-Grain Bread vs. 100% Whole Wheat Bread
5, 7 or even 12 grain breads may sound impressive, but most multi-grain breads will still contain enriched flour. A whole grain flour, found in 100% whole grain breads, means the entire grain kernel was used to make the bread, making it nutritionally superior to an enriched flour (which won't contain the whole grain). WINNER: 100% WHOLE GRAIN BREAD
Reduced-Fat Potato Chips vs. Baked Potato Chips
Let's face it, we all dig chips sometimes. Go baked for all the crunchy goodness with FAR less fat.
Reduced fat chips still mean 7 grams of fat per 1 oz serving, compared to 1.5 grams of fat in the baked chips. Add some nutrient rich salsa or a yogurt dip and they make a great post-workout snack. Just watch your portions! WINNER: BAKED CHIPS
Frozen Yogurt vs. Light Ice Cream
Yogurt is healthy, but in frozen form it has more calories and sugar than you might think. In a half cup serving, frozen yogurt has 200 calories and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Light ice cream has 120 calories and 2 tablespoons of sugar, about the same amount of fat, and slightly less saturated fat. WINNER: LIGHT ICE CREAM
Here's my two-cents worth on a few other healthy lifestyle food choices:
Skip the mayo. At 110 calories in 1 tablespoon, it is also 80 percent fat. Even light mayo are still 50 calories. OUCH. And you add that to a large sandwich, you are using more like 2-3 servings. Sadly with mayo, the higher fat version always taste better. Try switching to mustard:
Yellow mustard is only 11 calories per tablespoon, while brown mustard is still only 14 calories. If you want to make an ever bigger impact, go with vinegar. Only 2 calories and packed with flavor. Trade in your ketchup for salsa. While ketchup is only 16 calories a tablespoon with 5 grams of sugar, it can add up fast and has little in the way of nutritional value. A good fresh salsa, on the other hand, is packed with flavor and brings vegetables into your diet. Find a good fresh salsa or a bottled one without sugar, it's packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals. Plus it tastes amazing. A great addition to eggs as well as traditional uses!
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3 comments:
Love it! :) So many of the should-be common sense things that I'm sure most of us didn't know.
Good information. It just goes to show that Low fat is not always the way to go.
Keep the good information coming.
I had no idea about any of that stuff. I thought that 12 grain bread is more healthy than 100% Wheat Bread. The chips, ice cream and everything else in the article, I had no idea. Most of it was the opposite of what I would have thought. Good Information. Thanks!!
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