zahraeman's Blog

Healthy food may be making you fat.

Hold on: I'm not talking about broccoli and bell peppers here. I'm talking about a lot of the foods that are sold to us as "low-fat," "low-carb," or otherwise "healthy" fare. The food industry invests $30 billion a year in advertising, and much of that is used to dupe consumers into believing bogus bites are somehow good for us.

The truth is, behind every low-fat label and celebrated salad is a list of ingredients that would give even the most relentless glutton reason to reconsider.

In researching the best-selling book "Eat This, Not That!," the title for this new blog with my co-author Matt Goulding, we were shocked to find that the foods so many health-conscious eaters in this country consider to be smart choices are actually the most responsible for our ever-expanding waistlines.

Many of the "low-fat" or otherwise "healthy" options we examined packed several hundred extra calories in them! Translation: Get duped into eating one pseudo-healthy food a day, and you'll have an extra 30 pounds (or more) to work off by the end of the year.

We've identified six of the most misunderstood foods in America, so that next time you think you're doing your body a favor, you actually will be - by looking for something else that actually is healthy.

1. Bran Muffin
440 calories
23 grams of fat
35 g sugars

Made primarily with sugar, refined flour and hydrogenated oil, it's like starting your day with a candy bar. Actually, it's like starting your day with two candy bars, since this misunderstood muffin has more fat and calories than two Kit Kat bars.

2. Chicken Caesar Salad
900 calories
60 grams of fat

Caesar salads suffer the consequences of two natural disasters: a flood of fatty dressing and a blizzard of Parmesan cheese and croutons. All told, it's a caloric catastrophe - equal to scarfing down 20 Chicken McNuggets!


3. Tuna Melt
950 calories
55 grams of fat

Plain tuna out of the can is healthy; tuna drenched in mayo, shrouded in melted cheese, and slicked with another layer of dressing is not. You'd be better off eating three six-inch roast beef sandwiches from Subway!

4. Chicken Wrap
700 calories
35 grams of fat

How wraps got such a good rap is beyond us, since they're really just oversized tortillas, packing up to 400 calories on their own - that is, before the onslaught of cheese, meat, and dressing it houses! You'd get the same number of calories from 20 strips of bacon.

5. Turkey Burger
850 calories
50 grams of fat

At home a turkey burger might be a decent choice, but in the restaurant world it means high-fat ground turkey, heavy mayo, melted cheese, and a big, pillowy bun. It's the equivalent of three 8-oz sirloin steaks.

6. Fruit Smoothies
600 calories
120 grams of sugar

Unless it says 100 percent fruit, your "fruit" smoothie is likely made with ice cream, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and a few token chunks of banana. All told, this popular afternoon snack has as much sugar as six Haagen Dazs Vanilla and Almond ice cream bars. Ouch.

Not all burgers are created equal. That's important, especially when you consider that the average American will consume 100 of them this year.

Take, for example, America's two most famous burgers: the Whopper with Cheese and the Big Mac. A fair fight, right? Well, if you go for the Arch alternative, you'll save 220 calories over the BK Behemoth. (A Big Mac has 540 calories and 29 grams of fat, compared to the Whopper's 760 calories and 47 grams of fat!)

Use that strategy for every burger you eat in 2008, and you'll save 22,000 calories - the equivalent of almost six pounds of body fat. You don't have to (nor should you) live on Big Macs; pick an even leaner burger and save even more.

See, the way you pick your favorite fixes - from burgers to banana splits - could help you make the transition from chubby to chiseled. In researching our new book Eat This, Not That!, we found that the most effective weight-loss strategy doesn't require you to abandon the foods you love, but simply to make better choices when selecting them.

Supplement that approach with plenty of fresh produce and lean protein throughout the week, and you'll trade failed diets and wild weight fluctuations for healthy eating patterns and a lean, new you. And once you learn how it's done, you can stay that way forever. Who wouldn't make that swap?

Pizza
Eat This:
2 slices Domino's large cheese pizza with crunchy thin crust
360 calories
19 g fat

Not That!
2 slices Pizza Hut large cheese pizza with thin 'n cripsy crust
560 calories
24 g fat

Save 200 calories and 5 grams of fat!

In the world of mass-produced pizza, nothing beats Domino's crunchy thin-crust pie. Eat pizza just once a week, and you'll save more than 10,000 calories this year - which is a nice down payment on a smaller waist size.

Turkey Sandwich
Eat This:
Subway 6-inch Turkey Sub with provolone cheese
330 calories
8.5 g fat

Not That!
Panera Bread Sierra Turkey
840 calories
40 g fat

Save 510 calories and 31.5 grams of fat!

Don't sweat the meat in the sandwich: turkey, roast beef, and ham are all lean cuts. But Panera slathers its turkey with a thick layer of chipotle mayo and slides it into a heavy, oily wedge of focaccia, so that turkey is a porker. A Subway 6-incher not enough to quell your raging lunchtime hunger? Double up on meat for just 50 calories more.

Cinnamon Roll
Eat This:
Au Bon Pain Cinnamon Roll
350 calories
21 g sugars
12 g fat

Not That!
Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Roll
813 calories
55 g sugars
32 g fat

Save 463 calories, 34 grams of sugars, and 20 grams of fat!

OK, there's absolutely no nutritional value in a cinnamon roll. We said it. But when you just have to have one, take comfort in knowing that Au Bon Pain's restrained rendition more than halves the calories, sugar, and fat found in the Cinnabon catastrophe.

Beer
Drink This:
Guinness Draught
125 calories
10 g carbohydrates

Not That!
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
175 calories
15 g carbohydrates

Save 50 calories a beer!

Surprised? Most people think of Guinness as a beer milkshake: dark, thick, and rich enough to inspire guilt at first sip. But switch out a six-pack a week and you've just saved yourself more than four pounds this year. Extend those savings even further with Beck's Premier Light: At 64 calories a bottle, it doesn't get any lighter than this.

Doughnut
Eat This:
Dunkin' Donuts Glazed Donut
230 calories
10 g fat
12 g sugars

Not That!
Dunkin' Donuts Glazed Cake Donut
330 calories
18 g fat
18 g sugars

Save 100 calories and 8 grams of fat!

Both are cloaked in sugar, but their original doughnuts are light and airy because they're made with yeast, and cake donuts are heavy and dense because they're made with cake batter. Remember: Cake is not a breakfast food.

Fruit Smoothie
Eat This:
Jamba Juice Power Mega Mango Smoothie
420 calories
97 g sugars

Not That!
Dunkin' Donuts Large Tropical Fruit Smoothie
720 calories
142 g sugars

Save 300 calories and 45 grams of sugars!

This sickeningly sweet concoction from Dunkin' has an ingredient list straight out of a chem lab and more sugar than seven Häagen-Dazs vanilla-and-almond ice-cream bars. So this tropical excursion will be bad for your equator. The Jamba version is 100 percent fruit, so there's a huge caloric discount and big antioxidant payload.

On a daily basis, we have to contend with the toxic side effects of our technological advances. Not only have we made our environment cancerous for ourselves, but we have also made it more difficult for other organisms in nature to thrive.

Since the Industrial Revolution, thousands of species have vanished from our planet. This constant assault on our environment from pesticides, dioxins, and poisons in our soil and water threatens the health of the whole earth. If we don't pay attention to the warning signs, we may eventually extinguish ourselves.

Start making healthy choices for your lifestyle today, because what's good for the planet is also good for you! Read on to find ways you can contribute to a healthy, harmonious planet.

Less Plastic, More Health
Lightweight, durable and versatile, plastic is everywhere in our modern world; this is bad news for the environment and our health. Many plastics release vinyl chloride and other harmful estrogen-like substances that can lead to cancer, birth defects, hormonal imbalance, and lung and liver disease.

Some plastics are obvious, like the ones found in our TVs, computers, telephones, coffeemakers, water bottles, and food containers. But some plastics are less evident, showing up in carpeting, chewing gum, cosmetics, mattresses, sanitary napkins, polyester clothing, tissues, toilet paper and upholstery.

Cut your health risks by cutting out the plastic. Use glass containers, wooden toys, personal care products and cosmetics made with natural ingredients, as well as natural fiber clothing, bedding and mattresses.

Quit Plastic Water Bottles
Getting fresh drinking water is becoming more and more of a problem, especially now that we know that the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in plastic containers leach into the water. And all those plastic bottles piling up in landfills aren't good for our planet.

So how to get fresh, pure drinking water? The solution is to filter your water. I highly recommend this water filtration system, which filters your water direct from the tap. For your traveling needs, store fresh, filtered water in glass bottles.

Pick Unbleached Paper Products
Paper products are not naturally white. All white paper products are bleached with chemicals that leave behind a harmful residue of dioxin, a known carcinogen. This residue is found in coffee filters, diapers, lunch bags, napkins, paper towels, tissues and toilet paper. When dioxin enters the landfill as waste, it leaches into the soil, contaminating groundwater. Using unbleached paper products is good for both you and the earth.

Natural Lawn Care
Weed killers contain chemicals that are toxic to our nervous systems and have even been found to cause cancer. Instead of using chemical herbicides and artificial fertilizers on your lawns, fertilize with organic compost or manure, pull weeds regularly, and reseed any areas that are overgrown. Also, avoid cutting the grass too short, because this will expose the root system and leave the grass vulnerable to disease.

Pest Control without the Poison
Pesticide sprays are terrible for your health and the environment. The pesticides used to kill ants, roaches, and other pests are comprised of noxious chemicals that can shorten your life span. Research has discovered that children dwelling in households that use pesticides have a much greater chance of developing childhood leukemia. Instead of these poisonous pesticides, choose one of the many chemical-free pest controllers available at local health food stores.

Green Cleaning
Protecting yourself and the planet from toxic harmful products starts in your household. The first step is to completely stop using cleansers containing bleach or chemicals. These days, there is an abundance of natural cleaning products on the market, which are safe and will not pollute the environment.

You can even make your own cleansers. Diluted vinegar is an effective kitchen and bathroom cleanser and works for tiles, windows, toilet bowls, mirrors--even carpets. Another bonus? The acetic acid in vinegar helps inhibit bacteria and mildew. To make your own homemade cleanser, mix 1 cup of distilled white vinegar with 1 cup of water. For those tougher jobs that require elbow grease, avoid chlorinated powder and scour with baking soda or salt instead.

I hope you find ways in your life to be in health and harmony with the earth! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

May you stay healthy, live long, and live happy!

zahraeman

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