Healthy snacks that are not actually so
Posted on: 10/Apr/2018 12:25:41 PM
Many stores pass off foods that are not nutritious as healthy snacks. In fact, they are more loaded with the food components that you`re trying to avoid than you think. Here are the most commonly mistaken healthy snacks that can actually disrupt your fitness routine.
The fresh veggies on the packaging of veggie chips or puffs can be deceiving. Be sure to check the ingredients on those veggie chips and puffs before you add them to your cart. Ingredients like potato-flour, potato starch, cornmeal, or rice flour – which are far more loaded with calories than just vegetables – are what these snacks abound in. Instead opt for baby carrots, broccoli florets, sliced bell pepper, and cucumber, paired with hummus or guacamole for dipping.
Simply being vegan doesn`t automatically make a food healthy, or better for you, say experts. As for vegan cookies, they explain, most of them are made with loads of sugar and refined flour and lack fiber and nutrients.
If at all you`re craving for something sweet, make your own `no-bake` cookies. Use whole food products like almond butter, rolled oats, and chia seeds, with a little bit of maple syrup and vanilla.
In some brands of gluten-free crackers the first two ingredients are white rice flour and vegetable oil - a refined grain paired with oil heavy in omega-6 fatty acids, which have been linked to inflammation. In simpler terms, the calories and carbs from its ingredients add up to amounts that are equal to those in potato chips.
Fruit puree combined with corn syrup, sugar, cornstarch, artificial flavors, and artificial colors` could be possible ingredients of these fruit snacks. To avoid packing on all these calories, eat a cup full of fresh blueberries, or a medium-sized apple, or two kiwis, all of which come bundled with filling fluid and fiber, along with antioxidants and more overall nutrients.
The health quotient of trail mix depends on how it`s made. Many brands contain dried fruit that`s been sweetened with sugar and treated with artificial preservatives, in addition to sugar-laden add-ins, like candy coated milk chocolate. Per quarter cup (which is a serving about the size of a golf ball), these varieties can pack close to 200 calories and not much nutritional value. To avoid these, make your own with tree nuts, like almonds, walnuts, pecans, or pistachios; as well as seeds, like pumpkin or sunflower, as the primary ingredients.
Pita chips might seem healthier than potato chips, but the main ingredient in these is refined white flour, and its calorie content is not much lesser than potato chips.
