As a fitness instructor, I really like to make sure I am taking care of my body in any and all ways that I can. If there's one thing that really makes me mad about trying to be healthy, it's all the misleading labels on food products out there. Just because it says "low fat" doesn't mean it's healthy, because low fat can sometimes mean more sugar, and that totally defeats the purpose of trying to make the healthy choice in the first place!
Introducing: Eat This, Not That (yes roll your eyes, you've heard it a thousand times, but have you really ever scrutinized the nutrition labels on the foods you're eating?)
1) Your Yogurt
First of all, if you're not eating greek yogurt, then you should probably go ahead and make that change first. Greek yogurt has so much more protein than regular yogurt, meaning it is going to keep you feeling full longer.
If you've already moved on to greek yogurt, then congratulations, that is step one to finding healthy yogurt. However, now it's time to read those nutrition labels and get the most out of those calories that you are consuming. Check out the labels above. The one on the top is Dannon Lite & Fit Strawberry Greek Yogurt, and the one on the bottom is Chobani Strawberry Greek Yogurt. A couple things to notice:
- The Dannon Lite & Fit yogurt has significantly fewer calories than the Chobani yogurt
- The total grams of fat is the same, and Chobani has just slightly more grams of protein than Dannon Lite & Fit
- Here's the big one: look at the sugar. Dannon Lite & Fit has just 7 grams of sugar, while Chobani has 19 grams of sugar!! That means there are more carbs in the Chobani (20) in comparison to the Dannon Lite & Fit (9).
For carbohydrates, there are about 4 Calories per gram, meaning that there are 44 extra calories from carbohydrates in the Chobani than in the Dannon Lite & Fit, and 36 of which are from sugar! If you ask me, I think the clear winner on greek yogurt is
Dannon Lite & Fit.
2) Your Afternoon Snack
One of my favorite afternoon snacks is popcorn, but I have to be careful with it, because popcorn can pack quite a bit of extra fat depending on how you flavor it. Above are two nutrition labels, the one on the top is Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop Kettle Korn, and the one on the bottom is Act II Butter popcorn. Here are the main things to look at:
- Total Calories: 100 compared to 170, so clearly there is something extra in the Butter popcorn!
- Carbohydrates are similar, and so is protein
- Look at the total fat. The kettle korn has just 2 grams of fat, while the butter popcorn has 11 grams of fat.
Since fat is about 9 Calories per gram, that is 18 Calories in the kettle korn compared to 99 Calories in the butter popcorn. To me, the clear winner here is the Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop Kettle Korn (and it's tasty!).
3) What's in that Guacamole?
People say guacamole and think either one of two things:
- That's healthy!
- That has lots of fat in it.
Honestly, both are true. It is very healthy because of all the good fats in it, but at the same time, everything in moderation because of the amount of fat! Here's the real kicker though, are you really eating guacamole made from avocados?
The one on the top is Wholly Guacamole, and the one on the bottom is Deans Guacamole Dip. As you can see, Wholly Guacamole has very simple, normal ingredients, as guacamole should. Now let's look at Dean's. First of all, why is there coconut oil in guacamole?? Not that it's a bad thing to eat, but it's guacamole we're eating here. Second of all, the main ingredient of guacamole is avocados, yet the label clearly says: "less than 2% of: avocado....". Um, what? Isn't this guacamole dip? Clearly, my winner is Wholly Guacamole because of the simple ingredients. If I can't pronounce the name of an ingredient, then I probably shouldn't be consuming it.
I tend to get on a soapbox when it comes to eating healthy, so I'll go ahead and put it on pause for now. If you have any questions for me, I would love to answer them! Also, don't forget about my Simple Addiction giveaway!
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God Bless!
Hannah
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