Do all the foods touted as “lite” “diet” and “fat-free” live up to their names? Take a look at the items listed below and find out if what you’re eating now can really help you shed unwanted pounds and improve your state of health.
Tofu. This soybean-based food item does have few calories (1/2 cup has about 84), but half of these come from fat.
Fresh Fruit Juice. Home TV Shopping has created a juicing frenzy that many people have been misled into thinking that juice is better than real fruit. The fact is you get a lot less fiber and a lot more calories than eating the fruit. For instance, an orange has only half of the calories in a glass of orange juice.
Dates. They seem to be harmless, but a dozen of them gives you 264 calories. If you’re craving something sweet, go for lighter fare such as canned unsweetened mandarin oranges, which only have about 92 calories per cup.
Sports snacks. Power bars may seem harmless because they’re known to be the snack of choice of fitness buffs, but a bar has roughly 190 calories. Try fat-free granola bars instead.
Whole-wheat crackers. It’s true that they’re higher in fiber content, but they also contain more fat than your regular soda crackers.
Cottage cheese. The 4% variety of cottage cheese has about 10 grams of fat per cup. Choose the non-fat and low-fat products instead.
Salmon. Not all kinds of fish are lean, and salmon has roughly 6g of fat per 3 ounces. Try less fatty fish such as halibut, and use olive oil, not animal fat, when cooking.
Popcorn. You might be misled by what’s written on the package: “90 calories per serving.” On close scrutiny, a serving may be a mere sixth of the contents of the package. Add to this the butter flavor that’s included with the package, and you would end up binging, not dieting.
Vegetable pate. This is a better alternative than liver pate, but it still contains eggs, oil, and perhaps heavy cream.
Ground beef, “extra lean.” About 53% of pre-ground meat’s calories come from fat, and you can’t really tell the meat cut that was ground. To be sure, choose leaner beef cuts such as top loin or top round and have your butcher grind it on the spot.
Flavored rice mix. Rice per se doesn’t have a lot of calories, and when you’re cooking at home, you have control of the amount of butter that you add to the recipe. However, when you’re in a restaurant, a considerable amount of fat is used to cook, say, curried rice, rice pilaf, or Spanish rice. Order plain white or the healthier brown rice instead.
So-called “healthy” soups. These canned soups may have the same amount of calories as those with the regular label, it’s just that they contain less salt. Try the fat-free variety.
Spaghetti sauce. When you’re buying them in jars, check their labels carefully. Red sauces may contain fewer calories than cream sauces, but they’re still made with oil. Again, look for the fat-free” varieties.