In our quest to eat, live and stay healthy we most times may tend to go overboard with certain foods. Below are some healthy foods we tend to eat more than we really are supposed to be eating:
1) Nuts
Pretty much every raw, plain nut has a health
benefit to boast, but they are also high in fat, fibre and calories in
comparison to other snacks - meaning that if you eat a whole sharesize bag of
them on a regular basis, you're likely to a) gain weight and b) probs feel more
than a little bit sick afterwards. Proper portion size depends on the nut, but
an average reasonable serving is around a third of a cup. And don't forget to
count that nut butter you've been eating by the spoonful too.
2) Agave
It may be less refined, but sugar is still
sugar whichever way you serve it – and agave syrup might not be as good for you
as you might have thought whilst drizzling it over your buckwheat pancakes.
Agave was originally championed for being low in glucose, but it turns out that
to balance this out, it's crazy high in fructose, which can interfere with a
bunch of important functions from metabolism to insulin resistance. Agave is
far sweeter than generic cane sugar, so you only need a tiny amount to feed
your sweet tooth, but if you can bear to give it up altogether, you're better
off with raw honey instead.
3) Juices and smoothies
Smoothies and juices are often labelled as two
or even three of your 5-a-day, but due to the motherlode of sugar in many of
them, experts are now saying that this shouldn't be the case. It's far
healthier to eat the whole fruit (or veggie) so that you benefit from all of
its goodness and fibre and feel fuller for longer, but if you're a juice addict
that just can't quit cold turkey, try to build your beverage on a base of
greens and veggies, and add lower-sugar fruits like berries to make it not
taste all gross and grassy.
4. Avocado
Yes, avocados offer good fats, vitamins and
minerals in abundance, but one regular medium-size fruit also contains around
23g of fat, or 1/3 of your daily allowance – argh! One serving is estimated as
just a teensy 1/5th of an avocado, so if you're used to topping your salad with
the entire thing, it could be time to scale back.
5. Dried fruit
Dried fruit may last for ages, be easily
portable and more to the point, taste gloriously close to candy, but there's a
reason for that awesome sweetness – because it can also be comprised of up to
2/3 sugar! Raisins and dates are the worst offenders, with 59% and 66%
respectively, whilst prunes, figs and apricots range between around 40%-50%. As
with juices, it's better to eat fresh, whole fruit if possible, and limit dried
fruit portions to just 30g at a time.
6. Tomatoes
Naturally high in acid which can give you acid
reflux? Don't get us wrong, the recommended 80g serving of tomatoes is a great
addition to any healthy meal plan, but too many toms can leave you with
heartburn, and in some cases, digestive issues too – not fun. Bonus fact:
tomatoes are one of the few salad ingredients that are better for you cooked
than they are raw, so toss them into pasta sauce or grill them to serve with
eggs rather than slicing them up and serving.
Oh, and the acid thing also applies to foods
like citrus fruit, so go easy on the oranges too.
7. Protein powder
It's not that protein powders are bad for you –
it's just that if you're not following a pretty hardcore training regimen, you
probably don't need them! If you're eating a healthy, balanced diet with plenty
of lean meat or vegetarian equivalents like soy and eggs, and you're not
lifting weights or doing other muscle building activities on a regular basis,
it's likely that you're already hitting your protein quota anyway. In fact, too
much protein can actually cause problems with your kidneys and liver, so it's
important to do the maths and find out if you really need to reach for that tub
before you add any powders into your daily diet.
8. Hummus
Whether it's spooned onto a sandwich or served
with crudités, hummus is a staple snack that contains lots of healthy protein
and fibre. However, store-bought hummus is often blended with lots of oil,
raising the calorie quota and making it less nutrition-friendly than you might
expect. The other danger with hummus is portion control – one serving is two
tablespoons, not the half-tub you can easily munch through with a packet of
tortillas. Place your allowance in a bowl rather than eating from the
container, and if you have time? Make your own!
9. Quinoa
Gluten-free, high in protein – there's a reason
most of us now have a bag of quinoa stashed safely in the cupboard, but as
always, sadly you can have too much of a good thing. Lots of people find it
more filling than other counterparts like cous cous – but when a serving is
just ½ a cup of the cooked grain, it's easy to overeat, and because quinoa is
actually higher in calories than the same quantity of carbs like brown rice or
wholewheat pasta, you might find yourself piling on the pounds because of it. This
shouldn't put you off quinoa altogether, but if you don't already have a set of
measuring cups, now would be the time to invest.
Be Inspired To Look And Feel Healthy
I hope you were inspired by this post? If you were, please do share with others to inspire them too.
Yours Truly,
Chidinma
Article Credit-
cosmopolitan.co.uk
i dont know most of these
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