foods you used to think were healthy...

BryanAir

Not that I thought that they were necessarily healthy, but back when I could eat anything I would take a twice a week trip to my favorite taqueria on Mission Street and get a super burrito. Those things were so big you had to eat around them in layers. I tried every filling but cow brain. Mmm. Good times. Then I would walk down the street two blocks and get two mangos for a dollar.

The one food that I really had to cut out is breakfast cereal. The serving sizes there are ridiculously small and wouldn't tide me over for any length of time.

fitnesspirateninja

VitaTops muffins, FiberOne/Fiber Plus bars, orange juice...

The thing that surprised me the most was how much high fructose corn syrup there is in everything. I'm trying to eat like my grandpa did, but it's difficult sometimes.

cgsamp

Low-quality calories are so cheap because it is easy to make high-fat, high-sugar giant-portioned food ("value") for not a lot of money. White flour, high-fat meat and high fructose corn syrup are very cheap.

Low-quality items can be masked by lots of oil, salt, msg, etc.

It is hard to find very good, say, fresh produce especially out of season, or that perfect cut of fish. It is also hard to make 1,000 portions of that in an assembly-line kitchen.

When I moved from the Bay Area to the Midwest I learned that any restaurant with bad Yelp reviews of "stingy portions" was one I wanted to try, and if it had a high rating "left there feeling so full!" it was off my list.

To answer the thread question: Clif bars (calories ok but so much sugar), granola, olive oil, and cheese.

Mrs_McFadden

I'll confess that I haven't found many surprises. I knew every single time I ate any food ..whether it was healthy for me or not. lol.


I'm a great home cook and because of my preferences I usually eat mostly at home. Since my early twenties I've discovered that wow, I cook better than the majority of mediocre restaurants in my suburban area. I never add salt to my foods after they are cooked I season throughout the cooking process. I have to imagine that I have a lesser amount of sodium in my diet since I mostly cook my own food.

Re: Cleaner foods being offered based on socio/econ reasons. YES. Research has shown repeatedly that higher income groups have far easier access to healthier foods, options/restaurants..and even lifestyle often (IE: public parks/trails).

I usually am wary of anything labeled as 'healthy' in the grocery store lol. I read labels and I read articles. I can figure it out myself...

One thing that I slipped up on is yogurt. Low fat or no fat yogurts have tons of sugar. I adore actual desserts and chocolate etc, but I was remiss in finding out exactly how much sugar is thy enemy and how much of it is in *everything*.

madijo41

Muffins, bread, pasta, bagels, rice, cereal...

CeejayGee

I think we need to define "healthy." Just because something is low-calorie doesn't mean it healthy and just because something is higher calorie doesn't make it unhealthy. It's all about portion size because even too much health food won't help weight loss.

alaskagrown

Not that I thought that they were necessarily healthy, but back when I could eat anything I would take a twice a week trip to my favorite taqueria on Mission Street and get a super burrito. Those things were so big you had to eat around them in layers. I tried every filling but cow brain. Mmm. Good times. Then I would walk down the street two blocks and get two mangos for a dollar.

The one food that I really had to cut out is breakfast cereal. The serving sizes there are ridiculously small and wouldn't tide me over for any length of time.

was it cancun? or el farolito?

shvrngrl

This is such a tought question for me because I never use to count calories. What matter more to me was the quality of my foods, like making sure they are free of Hydrogenated oils, HFC syrup, artificial coloring, etc... My eating philosophy is try to eat whats closest to how its found in nature. Which does work, but it makes portion control so important. This means eating truely whole grains like bulgar, quinoa, oats. And also lots of fruits and veg, and some protein in animal and plant form.

alaskagrown

There's a difference between food that is unhealthy and food that is deceptively high in calories. Nuts, almonds, cheese, (some) red meat, or even pasta and fruit juice aren't unhealthy -- but they tend to be consumed in excessive quantities and then push calories and either carbs or fat over the limits. Now big, cheese/bacon topped restaurant salads, excessively high-in-sodium prepared meals or canned soups etc *are* a lot more unhealthy (though portion control can limit the damage).

My own eye-opener: "healthy" bran/nuts/seed muffins. I didn't expect them to pack 450-550 calories. Also, I didn't expect the low-fat versions of coffee-shop muffins to be worse than the full-fat ones: barely 20 calories saved, but a LOT more carbs.

You (and others who have said the same) make a good point. It's really all about portion control. The original idea of the thread was for those things that do seem healthy but are very high in calories or sodium. It really was the Mission street burritos that shocked me. Here I was thinking, "It's a tortilla full of healthy beans, rice, and veggies! How bad could it be?" without realizing that the 20 inch tortilla, cheese, sour cream, and SALT were off the chain.

Also, a friend talks about how they were never allowed juice as kids because of the sugar content. He still treats it like a huge indulgence.

Mirabilis

To those sushi lovers.... ME TOO! But I do have the last laugh anyway. I found SASHIMI. No soy sauce (it is the devil) and no rice means you get in your HDL raising LDL lowering fish and it tastes awesome all on its own.

"Brown" breads that are made with white flour and molasses for colouring. What a fake-out.

Fried multigrain chips that are so calorie rich and make you feel virtuous (take that, Sunchips!).

Dark chocolate that isn't 99% cocoa (sugar sugar sugar sugar). Once you lose the sugar from your chocolate, you can actually really taste the chocolate.

antipholous

I made a trail mix that I loved. It was full of dried bannana chips, cashews, macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, dark chocolate chips, coconut, and papaya. It was wonderful, and full of all healthy ingredients. The only problem was I didn't realize there was a difference between half a cup of this wonderful mix and say....half a bowl. Needless to say...I didn't lose a whole lot of weight while eating this.

Mrs_McFadden

@ antipholous LOL.

Yeah- it reminds me of the whole 'all natural' movement. Even good, natural things have to be taken/consumed with consideration .

mamagooskie

Tabouli salad, it seems so innocent.

atomiclauren

Corn (and I'm not talking nutritionally, though it's not good for *me* in that way, either)

alaskagrown

Corn (and I'm not talking nutritionally, though it's not good for *me* in that way, either)

You're NOT talking nutritionally? What, may I ask, are you talking about?

chrysnel

Anything that comes in a package with a barcode and more than a few ingredients! Or ingredients that I have never heard of or cannot pronounce!

samrockrocks

Anyway, my own biggie was definitely Lean Cuisines and other diet frozen meals. It took me awhile to fully grasp that lower calorie does not equal good choices.

Of course, I don't think I could eat them now even if I tried. They're just gross.

ahhhh!! i totally agree! i used to be hooked on the Sweet and Sour Chicken Healthy Choice. I seriously ate them for lunch almost every day. I finally looked beyond the low calories and stopped buying them. A few months later my mother had one in the freezer back home and there wasn't much else to eat so I said okay. I couldn't even eat it! It was sooo gross!

happy_vegan

My first shocker was PB&J I always thought you know, peanuts (i only buy pb that says "ingredients: peanuts" and nothing else), a little fruit jelly, whole grain and seed bread...pretty healthy! Then I realize it's 500 calories and you're not even full. Bread is such a waste of calories when you're trying to get only 1200 in a day.

For me it was canned soup - it wasn't the calories, because that was great, but the SODIUM!!! I'm not as concerned about hitting my sodium goals everyday, but I don't want to obliterate it and eat that American average of 10k. I used to love how easy soup was for lunch at work. It was filling, I thought I was getting good veggies and sticking super low cal to support my snacking habit at work and when you catch them on sale its pretty darn cheap!

I miss canned soup...but I'm going to try making my own in the crock-pot! Hopefully that'll cut down the sodium down and keep my calories near the same.

Making your own is great but there are a ton of soups that have 400-600 mg. To me that is a lot, so i only have it once a day. But either way it's way under a 1500 goal, provided the rest of your diet isn't crisps and french fries. Look in the organic/vegetarian section. I promise you.

whatupskinnyjeans

canned mushrroms, baby corn and any pickles--low cal tons of sodium.
most canned foods/sauces- same
cheese
soy sauce-(i use lite and dilute it with water)

oh and to who ever thinks the 10k sodium is an exaggeration-i dont think so- before i paid attention to sodium i would eat decently and still have over 3000. so just an average meal can have 1500-2000 sodium.
think of all the chips and snacks packed with sodium and 10k is not that high at all.

katapple

Anyway, my own biggie was definitely Lean Cuisines and other diet frozen meals. It took me awhile to fully grasp that lower calorie does not equal good choices.

Of course, I don't think I could eat them now even if I tried. They're just gross.

yup, that was a big one for me! Especially since I lost 30lbs eating them religiously, not realizing that they weren't the best for you!