Surprisingly UN-healthy

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jeffsater
jeffsater Posts: 8
in Food and Nutrition
I've been working out at the gym for 20 years... I do weights 4 days a week and then cardio 3 days a week. For the last 10 years or so, I've been around 210 lbs. I could "diet" and get down to 202 or 203, but a weekend splurge and I'd be right back at 210. About 37 days ago, I started the Insanity workout and, at the same time, really started to evaluate my diet. I thought I was eating healthy before, but I found that there were a number of things that i was eating that were keeping the pounds on.

1) Turkey sub on wheat with Honey Mustard (no cheese) from Quizno's. I used to eat that 3 times a week for lunch... until I found that it has over 700 calories, 15 grams of fat, 70 grams of carbs, and 15 grams of sugar!

2) Natures Own Honey Wheat bread - one word... sugar.

3) Chocolate Rice Cake mini's with crunch peanut butter - I didn't realize how much sugar was in store brand peanut butter until I read the label. It's the second ingredient and it's loaded. I switched to fresh ground peanut butter from an organic market so that I can still have it sometimes without the 13g of sugar.

4) Pretzels - Lure you in with the low-fat moniker... May as well eat white bread. It's loaded with bad, empty carbs.

5) SKIM MILK - This one was a shocker. I used to drink two or three 8oz servings per day of milk. Little did I realize, there are 12g of sugar per 8oz of milk. That's an entire day's worth of sugar in three small glasses of milk! Yikes!

6) Rasberry Vinagrette - I thought vinagrette's were healthy... There's more sugar in 2 Tbsp of rasb. vin. than in a bowl of ice cream.

I've changed my shopping and eating habits and feel so much better. Plus, I'm down to 192 lbs right now and look better than I ever have. Moral of the story is... read the fine print!
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Replies

  • mndamon
    mndamon Posts: 547 Member
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    We have a sandwich shop called Planet Sub out here, I figured it was relatively healthy but once I got a hold of the nutritional values of the sandwiches I refused to go back.
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
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    Are you diabetic? Just curious as to why you seem to be concerned about sugar? From a weight perspective it's not really a concern it's calories in vs. calories out. Nothing wrong with carbs either. Don't let the food nazi's scare you
  • jeffsater
    jeffsater Posts: 8
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    I don't avoid carbs but I try to control them. 40% carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fat seems to work for me. I worry about sugar because I've always carried weight around my gut until I cut sugar down dramatically. Now I can finally see abs!
  • begreenbe
    begreenbe Posts: 102 Member
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    It really pays to read the labels of everything, even if you think it's healthy.
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
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    Labels are indeed a girls' best friend!! (and I don't mean fashion labels!) LOL

    Since I was a kid I have always eaten Nature's Own 100% Whole Wheat bread - it has maintained its nutritional quality over the years.

    You can make your own raspberry vinegrette - just buy the vinegar and make it yourself. The fruit itself is one of the lowest on the sugar charts, actually.
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
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    hmm pretzels.. they are healthier than a bag of chips :smile:
  • angelicasmommy
    angelicasmommy Posts: 303 Member
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    I disagree with the "calories in, calories out" that everyone keeps saying. If you eat 1500 calories a day of healthy food, you are going to be a lot healthier than if you ate 1500 calories of junk. Maybe you could lose weight eating junk but you wouldn't be healthy.
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
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    I disagree with the "calories in, calories out" that everyone keeps saying. If you eat 1500 calories a day of healthy food, you are going to be a lot healthier than if you ate 1500 calories of junk. Maybe you could lose weight eating junk but you wouldn't be healthy.

    No one said anything about health. It's in regards to weight loss. Hence me saying "In regards to weight loss..."
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
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    Some of these I totally get why the concern, but others, not so much. Nature's Own Honey Wheat Bread only has 2g sugar/serving, according to their website. That's pretty low in the world of bread.

    On the skim milk - 1 cup of whole milk also has 12g of sugar. Milk naturally has lactose (a sugar) in it. Unless your milk has added sugar on the label, then those 12g are natural lactose, and any cows milk is going to have a similar sugar level.

    Unless you're trying to avoid all sugar, I'm not seeing a problem with these.

    I just try to minimize my processed food and hit my macro targets, and things like sodium and sugar tend to take care of themselves.
  • angelicasmommy
    angelicasmommy Posts: 303 Member
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    I think the majority of people on here are trying to lose weight to get healthier
  • Brennaohh
    Brennaohh Posts: 47
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    banana chips, specifically the Trader Joes brand.... 1 serving is 1/4c and 42% of your daily saturated fat! :noway:
    i almost died when i realized this. Then dumped the bag down the disposal
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
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    I think the majority of people on here are trying to lose weight to get healthier

    I actually think the majority of people are trying to lose weight for vanity reasons. Difference of opinion I guess.
  • Sailorwind
    Sailorwind Posts: 158 Member
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    I went through the same realization lately. I honestly had no idea how bad a lot of things were for me. Once I started paying attention to the labels and looking at nutrition values for restaurants online, I was blown away. I thought that by passing on my beloved ranch dressing and ordering balsamic vinaigrette at a restaurant, I was making the smart choice, but most restaurants somehow manage to pack more than 100 calories into two tablespoons of balsamic. HOW? As a result, I keep trying to find a decent leak proof travel salad container to just take my own to the restaurants. I also thought my morning granola bars were good for me, but they were packed with sugar and saturated fat.

    The second epiphany came to me when I realized that when looking at the labels, the calories WEREN'T the most important thing to pay attention to. If higher in calories also means higher in protein and fiber while lower on sugar than the other options, I will go with the higher calorie option because the protein and fiber will keep me fuller longer. Learning how to effectively read nutritional labels was a much longer process than one would think. But since I learned how to read them and what to eat, I actually find it difficult to reach my 1400 calories every day, often times even 1200 is a stretch. It turns out there is plenty of delicious food that is healthy and good for you that keeps you FULL and satisfied.
  • brh2010
    brh2010 Posts: 9
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    My favorite sandwich is either a 6 in or foot long oven roasted chicken sub on wheat from Subway. I'm unique in that I only like the bread and the meat.

    All I get is the bread, the chicken, a little buffalo sauce, and some oregano.

    It's about 320 cal & 5 grams of fat in a 6 inch. So, not too bad. It's probably a little heavy on the carbs and sodium though.
  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
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    I disagree with the "calories in, calories out" that everyone keeps saying. If you eat 1500 calories a day of healthy food, you are going to be a lot healthier than if you ate 1500 calories of junk. Maybe you could lose weight eating junk but you wouldn't be healthy.

    Voice of reason.

    I'd argue that the weight loss would be better on the healthy food too.

    It's not all about calories in and out.

    Hold on, I'll say that again ... It's not all about calories in and out.

    One more time for the hard of thinking ... It's not all about calories in and out.
  • Sailorwind
    Sailorwind Posts: 158 Member
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    I fixed my lunch sandwich shop outrageous calorie problem by buying a pack of lean deli meat, a pack of Nature's Own Healthy Multigrain Sandwich Rolls, and putting about 5tbsp of low fat mayo in a small Tupperware. I leave them in the work fridge and make my own sandwiches all weak. They are all under 200 calories a sandwich, though how much under depends on what kind of meat you buy. Usually I go with turkey but currently I have pastrami in there. One of those and a cup of grapes or an apple usually is more than enough of a lunch for me. And the slightness of the sandwich rounds really brings out the flavor of the meat. Yum.
  • LaurenLite
    LaurenLite Posts: 87
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    For milk- try flaxmilk. It's delish. Good Karma has one of the best. Unsweetened is great in cereal- it's 25 calories and has 1200 mg of omega3.

    Bread- forget the bread. There are some great wraps for only 80 calories a piece. Cut them into 1/3 to help reduce the cals. There's also the Nature's Own 45 cal bread.

    All of those sandwich shops are terrible. Their breads are delish but SO high in cals.

    For a satisfying crunchy snack, consider popcakes. Their similar to rice cakes but are only 15-18 calories (and they're bigger). Also try Skinny Pop popcorn. Both are awesome if carrots and celery aren't hitting the spot.

    Eat fresh fruits and veggies rather than dried (which are packed with sugar). Some sugars are ok and easy to digest (fruits and veggies). Complex sugars and those fake low cal sweeteners are the ones that kill the waistline.
  • SusanDoesIt
    SusanDoesIt Posts: 73 Member
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    I can see that you don't discard the importance of carbs and the role they play. I kept stalling in my loss until I found the level per day that still allowed me to lose weight...usually under 135g a day. It's definitely doable, but I still must be very careful. And I agree with those don't subscribe to "a calorie is a calorie", because that's really what has kept me from being successful long-term. I have to watch calories AND carbs, or I just don't lose the weight I would expect too at my current calorie level.
    Fruit was a problem for me (Weight Watchers counts it as zero points), and at this point I usually have only 1-1 1/2 servings per day within my carb count.

    It's a science of the individual. What do I react to? What works for ME? It's a lot of work to figure it out, but worth the results.
  • AmyLyn1983
    AmyLyn1983 Posts: 100
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    I think the majority of people on here are trying to lose weight to get healthier

    I actually think the majority of people are trying to lose weight for vanity reasons. Difference of opinion I guess.

    I'll admit that's the main reason I'm doing it. Getting healthier is an added bonus. lol! :laugh:
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    5) SKIM MILK - This one was a shocker. I used to drink two or three 8oz servings per day of milk. Little did I realize, there are 12g of sugar per 8oz of milk. That's an entire day's worth of sugar in three small glasses of milk! Yikes!

    There are 0 grams of sugar in unsweetened almond milk if you are looking for alternatives...:flowerforyou:

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