You might be shocked to hear that even foods we think are healthy can be high in calories, which can cause unexpected weight gain. Recently, a group of nutrition experts warned that basic calorie counting is misleading. This means many people eat more calories than they realize. Fruit is good, right? Yes, but if you overeat, you might end up in a nutritional minefield., here are the top ten foods with hidden calories.
First: Olive oil
Olive oil can help lower bad cholesterol and improve your immune system. but pouring it on every salad and adding it to all your meals is a bad idea, since each tablespoon has 119 calories. So just four big tablespoons add about a quarter of the daily calories recommended for a woman.
Second: Fruit juices
Do you eat three oranges at once? Maybe not, but a 250 ml cup of 100% orange juice, made from those three oranges, has about 110 calories. This can easily push your daily calorie limit without you even knowing.
Third: Dried foods
When you extract the liquids from fruit to make dried fruit, you increase its calorie content. so avoid eating large amounts of this dried fruit because it's very easy to consume too many calories in just one snack.
Fourth: Nuts
They are a great source of protein and plant oils. but they have high calories, so limit yourself to a tablespoon or two each time you eat them to stay within your daily recommended calorie intake.
Fifth: Peanut Butter
Nutella and peanut butter are marketed as healthy alternatives. Although they have high protein levels, they also have more calories than jam. A teaspoon (10 grams) of peanut butter has 62 calories.
Sixth: Banana
Bananas have a lot of nutrients, but one medium banana has 100 calories - that's equal to about ten minutes of running.
Seventh: Yogurt
You might be surprised to see yogurt on the list. but with the big variety in supermarkets, you gotta be careful picking the right kind. A small cup of yogurt can have 250 calories.
Eighth: Breakfast cereals
Even though there are campaigns to make cereals healthier, they still have lots of calories. The daily recommended portion is 30 grams, about 120 calories. If you up your portion to 50 grams, that's about 75 extra calories per serving.
Ninth: Protein shakes
It's really easy to add lots of calories with juices. Mixing milk, fruits, veggies, and protein powders in your favorite blend can easily hit 400 calories.
If you use juice to replace meals, that's fine. But if you're just having it as a snack, its calorie count is gonna be very high.
Tenth: Salad dressings
Some salad dressings can actually add more calories to a healthy meal than a burger and fries, which sucks if you're trying to stay healthy. Just three teaspoons of dressing have 50 to 85 calories. And salad dressings from the supermarket often have more than three teaspoons in the container. So watch out when choosing them.
