When you’re trying to lose weight and get into shape, picking the right foods is essential for reaching your goals. Unfortunately, the prospect is not as easy as it sounds and it can be downright confusing. It sure doesn’t help that many foods that sound healthy turn out to be nothing more than junk.
If you’re fed up with hidden surprises in the foods you eat and want to see real results with your exercise and weight loss program, you are going to need to learn to be savvier about the foods you consume. While your trainer or your AlaskaFit Boot Camp instructor or I can guide in the right direction as far as meal plans go, you can benefit from brushing up on the bombshells to watch out for. The reality is many healthy sounding foods simply are not.
- Canned soups – While mom’s homemade chicken soup is good for you, canned soups are not the same thing. Many are high in preservatives and most have tons of salt. Sodium can hamper weight loss efforts and it’s just not good for your heart. Even if canned soups are low in calories and fat, the salt content can make them a very bad choice.
- Juice – Fruit juice is a great option in place of sugary sodas, but this is not the case if that juice happens to contain high fructose corn syrup. This is used in place of sugar, but has the same basic empty-calorie effect. Make sure you read the label! Don’t assume just because it’s a “juice beverage” it’s good for you.
- Dried fruit – Although plain dried fruit is a great snack choice, many prepackaged products have some hidden ingredients. Sugar, trans fat and other unwanted ingredients might be lurking in those apricots or prunes. Read the label before buying just to be sure. Not to mention that dried fruits are high in sugar already. Once you take out the water, you’ve concentrated the sugar.
- Low, or no-sugar items – Take extreme care when buying products that tout themselves as low or no sugar alternatives. While a product might not contain “sugar,” it could have corn syrup, dextrose, sucralose, aspartame, and a variety of other high-calorie sweeteners.
- Diet sodas – You won’t get a high sugar content with these, but you might end up with a few ingredients you didn’t bargain for. The synthetic sweeteners in diet sodas are not good for you (regardless of what the marketing gurus tell you). Many have actually been linked to weight gain and a host of other health problems.
Eating right is essential for losing weight and getting into shape. Work with your trainer, instructor or me and you will find out just how important diet is. Unfortunately, making the right choice in foods is not easy. To get the most out of your meals and snacks, make sure to read labels, stick to whole foods and brush up on the pitfalls to avoid.
About the Author
Ginny Grupp is the owner of AlaskaFit, LLC, Anchorage’s premier fitness and wellness business. If you’re ready to begin your journey on the road to health, please call 783-1241 right now to receive a complimentary nutrition and fitness Consultation (valued at $97).
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