Foods that surprised you
elmusho1989
Posts: 321 Member
... In taste, calories content or anything else.
I for one was not aware of the calories in a small potato!
Still tasty though 😁
I for one was not aware of the calories in a small potato!
Still tasty though 😁
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Replies
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Starbucks everything
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Lattes are my weakness!1
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Cooked bacon. Not nearly as calorific or fatty as I would have thought.10
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Kale chips taste good!
Smoothies can be quite ridiculous calorie bombs.
Hummus does have less protein than I thought it did.5 -
The amount of sodium in many of the foods I was eating!
I moved countries a few years ago and suddenly started having massive headaches. I thought it was stress, and it took a little while for me to realize that the similar foods I was buying were much higher in sodium than my old brands. Sure enough, when I cut my sodium to a more reasonable level and cut out some of the more highly processed foods the headaches went away.5 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »Cooked bacon. Not nearly as calorific or fatty as I would have thought.
This one. Shrimp and other shellfish too -- not that I thought it was high cal (apart from frying it or adding sauces), but I was surprised at just how low it was.3 -
Just bought an Cherry Vanilla Olipop (flavored sparkling tonic) and was super pleasantly surprised over the great flavor. They aren't cheap but worth an occasional splurge and for only 45 calories, it works nicely1
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Pizza is actually pretty easy to fit into your daily calorie budget6
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There are so many since I've started getting into nutrition and food it's hard to even say!
The lower calorie count of most squashes and pumpkin. That was a happy moment.3 -
Celtuce - also known as wosun or stem lettuce. I recently discovered it at my favorite Asian grocery.
It has a earthy flavor reminiscent of asparagus but with a firmer texture. Love it steamed with onions, mushrooms and curry powder!3 -
My biggest surprise had to be ham - something I've eaten all my life, but for some reason I always assumed it had way more calories than it actually does. So it was a good surprise.
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how much starches raise blood sugars and often more than table sugar.6
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How many calories are in milk. I used to go through a gallon of skim every couple of days.
That was one of the things I unexpectedly missed the most, even more than the baked goods and candy.
How little oomph you get for a 100 calorie granola bar- even if you eat the damn thing oat by oat by oat. To drag it out, ya know.....
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Tortilla chips you get like 8 catalina ones for a serving.........😧
LORD JESUS BLESS4 -
It's an awakening when you find out the caloric density of most desserts snd the size.
How many calories in rice for a tiny amount too.
The insane amount of sugar in so many foods and condiments.
A whole 4 oz sweet potato is only ~100 calories and filling. A serving of chips is like an ounce of air in comparrison. Beet chips are 👌AWESOME
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Quinoa - all the rage at one time, and I like it. But it doesn’t really have so many nutrients compared to calories.
OK, not great.2 -
The opposite for me, I was really surprised how low calorie a potato was, lol.
How much a serving of nut butter really was. How super low calorie pumpkin, zucchini, and broccoli was. (My three favorites!) Also sandwich turkey. I always way overestimated how much I was eating until I started weighing it.
Another one is how easy it is to fit in traditional “junk” food and how low calorie some actually can be. (I always eat ~200 calorie protein/snack bars at night so that’s why I am comparing to them.) For example I can have three Oreos for the same calories as a similar size “healthy” snack bar.
Other stuff like this too surprised me like snack a 200 Calorie pop tart is bigger than many 200 calorie “healthy” bars. Also snack cakes that are around 200 calories. Easy to fit these traditionally thought of as “high calorie junk” foods into your daily calories.7 -
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »The opposite for me, I was really surprised how low calorie a potato was, lol.
How much a serving of nut butter really was. How super low calorie pumpkin, zucchini, and broccoli was. (My three favorites!) Also sandwich turkey. I always way overestimated how much I was eating until I started weighing it.
Another one is how easy it is to fit in traditional “junk” food and how low calorie some actually can be. (I always eat ~200 calorie protein/snack bars at night so that’s why I am comparing to them.) For example I can have three Oreos for the same calories as a similar size “healthy” snack bar.
Other stuff like this too surprised me like snack a 200 Calorie pop tart is bigger than many 200 calorie “healthy” bars. Also snack cakes that are around 200 calories. Easy to fit these traditionally thought of as “high calorie junk” foods into your daily calories.
True. Especially if you are getting your protein and stuff from other sources... why NOT eat a twinkie over a protein bar2 -
My biggest surprise was how many calories I added that I didn't miss.
Cream in coffee. Butter on toast. Mayo on my sandwiches. Salad dressing. Do all of those in a day and I added 600 calories I didn't care about (unsweetened cashew milk, sugar free jam, mustard instead of mayo, ranch seasoning without a carrier or in nonfat greek yogurt). Huge eye opener.
Conversely, yeah, as the person above: It is not hard to fit that candy bar or brownie or some chips into my diet.4 -
Oh and conversely I realized that I hate chicken. I've eaten it periodically most of my life but attempting to make it a major player in my diet taught me really fast - I. Hate. Chicken.2
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wunderkindking wrote: »Oh and conversely I realized that I hate chicken. I've eaten it periodically most of my life but attempting to make it a major player in my diet taught me really fast - I. Hate. Chicken.
Thank you for this! Haha the more I read about chicken the more I dislike it, too. Although I DO like rotisserie chicken every once in a while...2 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »Cooked bacon. Not nearly as calorific or fatty as I would have thought.
Right!?!? I looked at turkey bacon and thought “why in the world would I buy this?” Regular bacon is maybe 20-30 more calories and more protein, PLUS taste SO much better!!!
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My biggest surprises when I started using MFP were mostly the calories in a lot of drinks. I realized sugary soda had a lot of calories, and stopped drinking it many years earlier. But the calorie content of things like 2% milk (or any dairy milk), juice, and especially specialty coffees such as lattes/mochas...it was absolutely a mind blower for me. I've always been a very fast drinker so I was consuming sooooo many calories in liquid form and not even realizing it. Also, ice cream for me is a weird thing because I consider a small 1 topping sundae to be so much more "decadent" than a small milkshake and it's often 1/2 the calories. Crazy.
On the good side...pasta and rice aren't the crazy instant weight-gaining foods I thought they were, and are fine in moderation. Same with donuts. Of course I don't eat donuts regularly but to realize I can easily have 1-2 every month is really cool.1 -
springlering62 wrote: »How many calories are in milk. I used to go through a gallon of skim every couple of days.
That was one of the things I unexpectedly missed the most, even more than the baked goods and candy.
How little oomph you get for a 100 calorie granola bar- even if you eat the damn thing oat by oat by oat. To drag it out, ya know.....
Definitely agree about milk. I used to pour myself a huge mug to dunk 4 Oreos and was so concerned about the cookies I was eating, didn't give a thought to the (probably 2 servings!) of milk.1 -
elmusho1989 wrote: »Lattes are my weakness!
I still like them occasionally, especially limited-time versions (a local shop did an orange pecan latte that was just amazing). But for the most part I've started drinking black coffee and then splurging on sweets like a cookie, scone or even donut alongside it for the same cals. Trade offs! Everyone's got their preferences.
On the opposite side, I have a friend who likes to use her calories on fries and will get a grilled chicken no bun & giant fry. I'm the one skipping the fries and enjoying a double hamburger on that same occasion.2 -
pancakerunner wrote: »wunderkindking wrote: »Oh and conversely I realized that I hate chicken. I've eaten it periodically most of my life but attempting to make it a major player in my diet taught me really fast - I. Hate. Chicken.
Thank you for this! Haha the more I read about chicken the more I dislike it, too. Although I DO like rotisserie chicken every once in a while...
I love whole roasted chicken. Or even roasted skin on, bone in chicken breast. But I've never tried to make chicken something I ate all the time like I think some do when dieting, and I only do skinless boneless on rare occasion with other ingredients that make it delicious.1 -
Simply baked cheetos! I bought some tonight and you get waaaay more then other ones yes still junk food but man sometimes you just want "normal" junk not protien laden goodies lol
LORD JESUS BLESS 💟3 -
How good beyond burgers actually tasted4
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Cheetos Crunchit's are the devil's food... Specially the Jelapono flavor cause they are amazing.
Seriously, just a regular bag is 310 grams
And a "serving" = 50 grams @ 280 Calories per serving.
At 6.2 servings per bag thats a whopping 1736 Calories.... Don't even think about the big bag.
Evil I know thy name!
Edit: I always knew they weren't great to begin, with but how bad they are is what surprised me. Just 1 regular bag would equate to my entire day's calorie alotment.3 -
springlering62 wrote: »How many calories are in milk. I used to go through a gallon of skim every couple of days.
That was one of the things I unexpectedly missed the most, even more than the baked goods and candy.
How little oomph you get for a 100 calorie granola bar- even if you eat the damn thing oat by oat by oat. To drag it out, ya know.....
Same here with the skim milk. I would easily go through two gallons every week, Now I limit myself to 6-8 oz each day and 3 tablespoons of half & half as coffee creamer. There are times when I really want to drink a huge glass of cold milk but it would take up far too much of my daily calorie budget.
BTW - How does a thread like this manage to generate 'disagrees?' 🙄
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