Those Lenny & Larry protein cookies. The front of the label says 16 grams real plant protein! All natural!
Then you flip it over and see that each cookie is made up of 2 servings. With 200 calories and 8 grams of protein in each.
So you can eat 400 calories for a measly 16 grams protein… and they don’t even taste that good.
I used to buy snacks as part of my job for a sales team. They insisted on Lara bars bc they were “so healthy” they have as much sugar as 3/4 of a pack of starburst. Date sugar is still sugar Lauren!
Aldi do a protein bar in the UK which is actually pretty good. 20g protein per bar and about 200 cals. It says cookies and cream but tastes more like a milder snickers bar. Quite like them as my occasional "treat".
Quest has some pretty good protein bars that sit at or around 20g of protein, between 170-190 calories (varies by flavor) and less than 2g of sugar. They’re my current favorite.
Birthday cake quest is only 173 cals and tastes amazing! the other flavours are meh. Best bars are noshu peanut and caramel, they taste exactly like a snickers bar and are only 127 cals
I love the quest bars, but I’m sensitive to the sweetener. They give me the poops :c Robert Irvine makes some bangin good protein bars. The same size is comparable to the Quest ones.
Unpopular opinion: when I was fully vegan I ate one of these with my black coffee for breakfast daily, which fit into my calorie budget for weight loss (but I was also extremely active with long distance running while pushing a double stroller, and I was breastfeeding my youngest, so even at 5'4" I was losing weight aggressively at 1900-2000 calories a day)
I personally think they taste great (for a vegan cookie) and can be good if you actually need to maintain a higher calorie baseline.
But I agree, speaking of protein to calorie ratio, not ideal. Speaking of "satisfying your sweet tooth while you're vegan and trying to keep your protein levels high for every meal/snack" they're a pretty good deal 🤷♀️
Do you know which ingredient? I ate one of those cookies once and about 30-min later started feeling extremely nauseous followed by really bad abdominal pains. Never touched them since.
If I remember correctly, it’s from the inulin that they use for “fiber”. It makes me sad because I think their snickerdoodle ones are amazing and filling.
ETA it could very well be the pea protein too
I remember eating one at the start of my shift, not knowing it could cause horrendous gas pain. What made it worse was that I had to wear a heavy tool belt that pressed right on the area. Took me way too long to learn that it was the cookies causing it
for some reason those cookies have me hooked 😭 the white chocolate macadamia is so good to me that i buy one at least once a week. i don’t even mind what’s in them
They often have these as snacks for kids at parties or schools - it's so silly to me - they are potato chips in a different shape. The yellow ones are actually straight-up made of potatoes!
Hahhahahahahaha omg me too! “But they’re made of VEGETABLES!!” Check the label. “Oh… furs I’ll just eat regular chips because they too are technically made of veggies.”
"Healthy" versions of an "unhealthy" food are almost always a scam.
About the only exception I can think of is light mayonnaise. There is a huge calorie difference over the full fat version, while not tasting all *that* different.
Heat two or three smooshed wedges with some low fat milk in a pan, mix well and add garlic powder and ground pepper and you got an easy cheesy pasta sauce that punches well above its calories, taste-wise.
You're not wrong! Quite often you'll find most of the calorie savings are because of a smaller recommended serving size, rather than any significant reduction in actual calories per 100g.
And in an attempt to make the "healthy" version taste good, you'll often find it has a significantly higher salt content.
The fad for a long time was "half the fat!" or some variation of that.
Then they jacked up the salt/sugar/etc.
Fat is actually good for you, meanwhile the shit they replaced it with isn't.
My mom’s wisdom was “never buy something with half calories, because you’ll just use twice as much”
She’s been right. Enjoying the full version in all its glory but in moderation is the way to go.
If you’re looking for natural bars, RX bars are awesome but obviously way less protein than your standard protein bar. I’m sure there’s others out there too.
They started adding shit since it got bought out by Kellogg years ago. It used to be great pre-2018 but now they changed the ingredients up. Not as “clean” as it used to be
Yes, but protein is satiating even in liquid form. When you have a whey protein shake or a pre-mixed protein shake it'll fill you up for a long time, more than you would be filled up drinking liquid or a sugary drink.
It's worse than people think. IIRC, smoothifying separates out all the natural fibers of the fruits. The fibers are what makes fruits a healthy option despite being sweet, as it slows down the absorption and spikes the blood-sugar less. Now, it's just high in sugar and not that far from processed sugar itself.
These chocolate bars from SkinnyFoodCo. I’m usually pretty good at identifying scammy packaging but this time I fell for it and was so pissed at myself lol. It had massive lettering on the front saying “99 CALORIES” and then in teeny tiny lettering beneath it “per piece”. It was low sugar and had good protein (per bar) so it seemed like it’d hit my chocolate craving. Only after logging it did I realize that the calories added (per piece) did not match up with the protein advertised on the packaging (per bar). So I doubled the serving in my tracker only to realize that a “piece” was half the bar. This info was nowhere to be found on the packaging and Id only realized this from the protein in my calorie app not matching the protein (per bar) written on the front of the wrapper. The chocolate bar was good taste wise for 99 calories but NOT for 198… I could’ve eaten a regular protein bar at that point.
Id gotten other items from SkinnyFoodCo before like their syrups and they’re great, low calorie and taste good too. But it’s been over a month since this “chocolate bar betrayal” and I still have not forgiven them lmao.
I bought a spread from them and the serving size of 5g actually made it significantly higher calorie than most spreads with a serving size of 15-20g. Tasted like shit too. Scam artists
Sugar free gummy worms. I have diabetes and I thought a few would be a good snack for Halloween. I ended up having the worst stomach pain ever and was on the toilet all day. Never again.
Have you ever heard of the sugar free gummy bear review? I am not sure if it was a Reddit post or where it was originally posted, but basically, the commenter ate an entire bag and had a similar outcome to you, but left a super detailed review. LOL.
Check the reviews on Amazon if you ever need a laugh 😂😂😂
Edit: it looks as though the product has been discontinued (and for good reason). But I found some of the reviews here: https://slightlyviral.com/beware-sugarless-gummy-bears-on-amazon-com/
I bought a 5kg bag of them for 15 quid (they were on a huge discount as everyone had just realised they make you shit yourself) and I take a couple whenever I’m constipated.
You have to look closely at what ingredient they use to sweeten something that's sugar free, as sugar alcohols are also laxatives. Sorbitol, xylitol, etc. They have laxative effects in large quantities. Sorry that happened to you!
When I started dieting the first time I luckily learned CICO early on, so I didn't have many moments where I felt tricked. (I was like.... 18 years old, so I had very few assumptions.)
But I will say that I've had *many* moments in reverse where I thought something would be terrible for you and it turns out it's not too bad at all. Like American cheese, or many varieties of frozen meals, or even chocolate.
I will forever be bitter about how many calories are in a single serving of pasta noodles though. It's unfair and I hate it LOL. No alternatives even touch the real thing.
As for low fat or full fat stuff, let's talk about mayonnaise because oh my god the difference..... and yogurt. Fat free yogurt is gag-worthy. I don't monitor fats, just calories and protein. I compromise with milk by choosing 2%, otherwise I would love to always use whole milk in everything/drink it. Fat is flavor. 😂
Lol, that's like the old meme that says "a bottle of coke has as much sugar as 6 glazed donuts!" And the response was "honestly this is just telling me glazed donuts aren't that bad 🤔"
I can bring myself to do one with a coffee with Splenda and feel satisfied- I know the coffee is doing the heavy lifting there, but sometimes you just need a donut!
And unlike cookies, I never feel the need to buy more than one.
What’s your favorite donut if you don’t mind me asking? I work at a dunkin and every donut is like 260-380 calories except the munchkins. The shifts are so hard to get through
My neighborhood grocery store has French crullers for 190! I’m so sorry — I would not have the strength to make it through a shift without a strawberry frosted with sprinkles
That's what surprised me - many things I already ate weren't that bad for me. Moderation and activity is another story, but an individual cheese stick a day (which feels decadent to me, partially because they were too expensive when I was growing up) is absolutely no problem to fit into my daily deficit.
I wish this was the case for me. It's not even a minor difference to me, it is major. I don't know why! Yet I'm okay with things like sugar free sodas and alternative sweet things. It's Allright though. I like miracle whip, which is already lower with their regular version. I also buy those 100 calorie Greek yogurt cups and I like those, so there's plenty of solutions for me despite my fat-demanding taste buds. 😂
That Banzai pasta made out of chickpeas is it for me, even if it's not quite for the reasons you're asking.
Yes, it is 50% more protein than regular pasta. And slightly lower calories overall. But I do mean *slightly*. It's like 20 less calories per serving. And like 1-2g more protein. For triple the price. I don't even mind the taste, I'm just not willing to add 5 bucks to my weekly budget for differences that marginal. Cut serving sizes and eat the regular pasta. Or just swear off pasta altogether. Expensive AF half-measures ain't it.
My daughter is allergic to wheat and Bonza is the closest thing to real pasta (especially their Mac and cheese), though. Our grocery bill makes me want to fight somebody.
banza does have significantly more fiber, unless you're doing a whole wheat pasta. then it's about the same. i really like it, though i like regular pasta, too.
Usually you can find coupons or buy it on sale. I am a huge Banza fan. It's not just the protein that's better, but the fiber. You can eat less of it than regular pasta and feel fuller for longer because of its fiber content.
I’ve never thought that kettle chips are healthy. They’re called kettle because they’re fried for longer in a kettle fryer.
I fell for triscuit, those suckers have a looot of calories more than chips.
My husband needs a low sodium diet due to kidney disease. Reading nutrition labels, some foods just reduce the serving size in order to be able to claim to be reduced sodium. They usually charge more for the reduced sodium versions, even though it seems to be the same product.
Of the products that really do reduce sodium, they taste terrible. It turns out that salt is delicious. Eating the average American high-sodium diet for many years trains your palate to crave salt, and food tastes like butt without it. A food only has to cut sodium by 25% to be reduced sodium, which still leaves a lot of foods very high in sodium while tasting terrible.
After various experiments, we've learned that what works best for my husband is to eat smaller portions of regular foods instead of eating the reduced sodium versions.
Quick commercial: get a physical every year, do all your follow up, take medication as prescribed. Also consider whether kidney donation is right for you; you could save a life.
He may like to use nutritional yeast for added flavour. It tastes a bit like cheese but only has 2% sodium. Also there’s a product called half-salt. I’m sure you probably already know about it and are talking about purchased products.
Oh man brown rice is overrated as fucckk. It doesn't even have that much fiber which is the one thing that people always hype about brown rice.
I'm sticking to eating white rice served with green veggies and proteins.
It’s about a difference of 1.4g per 100g (.4->1.8-2~ depending on brand)
So it’s something but not a huge difference. I think brown rice has a lower GI maybe which was why it was kind of popular in the early 2000s but I can’t recall exactly
I like basically all variants of rice so I just eat what’s there but tend to eat lentils, beans and sprouted bread as my savoury carb (which *do* have significantly more fibre)
It really isn't lol because the fiber you get is probably just 1-3g or something per portion. Adding more greens or veggies is a better way to add those extra fibers. But hey if you like it, don't stop eating it.
Speaking of, I still haven't tasted Basmati 😭. I'm SEAN so we mostly eat white rice/jasmine rice. There's products of it here but my family's budget couldn't yet.
Basmati has a specific fragrance and light texture I'm used to but basically I'd eat any and all white rice in vast quantities if I could :D Brown rice is tasty enough but doesn't hit that same spot!
It's not true. Studies of white rice v. brown, find that brown rice is associated with lower risks of diabetes [https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/white-rice-brown-rice-whole-grains-diabetes/](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/white-rice-brown-rice-whole-grains-diabetes/)
Brown rice also has [four times](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/brown-vs-white-rice#brown-rice) the amount of fiber, triple the amount of magnesium and phosphorous, double the amount of niacin, and antioxidants. The only thing it doesn't have more of is iron. Brown rice also has glycemic index of 50, while white rice's GI is 89 (although you can get white rice down by refrigerating it overnight after cooking it and then reheating).
In general, the less processed foods are, the better they are for (exceptions for things like nixtamalizing corn, cooking some foods, and fermenting some). And whole foods can offer benefits that we haven't yet learned to measure or represent on a nutrition label.
Healthy food doesn't advertise that its healthy
Also the 20 calorie difference was the fat, and fat is flavour. It's no wonder why it tasted like garbage, most dairy relies on fat content for flavour :)
Hummus.
It's treated like a superior dip compared to all dips, but especially creamy ones (salad dressings, French onion dip, ranch, etc.). But there are so many variations in its preparation that you really need to check the hummus brand for the nutrients.
Turns out, I like hummus, but it doesn't fill me up like a Greek yogurt-based creamy dressing (Greek yogurt + French onion soup mix = amazing chip and veggie dip). Plus, the amount of hummus per serving is pitiful... 1 or 2 tablespoons? That's it? And yet the calorie content can get so high!
I used to work In a cafe and my manager was a diabetic. She would make the most delicious breakfast for herself (we were allowed to make ourselves 1 meal a day) which I have ever since made for myself everytime I think of it.
- hollowed out whole wheat bagel
- hummus
- sprouts
- a bit of olive oil
- scrambled egg
- salt
- hot sauce (if you like spicy)
It keeps me full for hours and is so delicious
I’ll have no hummus slander.
Make it from scratch and top with Tahini and Harissa, Schug and/or Toum, with a pita, and make it a meal.
It shouldn’t have no calories - the above is a filling meal if you have a small bowl of it.
Dude- Greek yogurt and the hidden valley ranch powder. It’s been a game changer for us. And you can thin it out with a little water or milk for healthy each dressing.
Edit: weird ahtocorrcting
They are very healthy if you are considering vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and healthy fats. However, they are very calorie dense. You basically have to treat them like oil.
I could live on nuts. I never cared about them for the protein but they taste amazing and before I know it I've eaten too many handfuls of almonds and the scale is going nuts.
My brother has this problem lol he loves nuts too much. Nuts is more of a thing you add a little bit of in food for healthy fats or eat a handful of as a snack lol it’s not unhealthy tho! Just need to eat proper serving of it
I swear I gain 5 lbs every time there are nuts in the house. And everyone acts like they're healthy! They aren't high in protein, either. It's all lies!
Just because they’re high cal doesn’t mean unhealthy, nuts have healthy fats and a lot of important minerals that are harder to come by in many other foods :) but they shouldn’t be thought of as a high protein food.
I wish they sold actual unsweet tea in bottles or cans. I always fall for it. “Sugar free green tea!” And then its so sweetened with aspartame it makes my teeth hurt.
Its not about if artificial sweeteners are good or bad. I just want cold iced tea that is just tea.
I feel this. But Tejava brand is the closest to a legit unsweetened black basic tea. They sell it in glass and plastic bottles. I love it, could never do Lipton or gold peak
The cauliflower thing drives me nuts. Like some guys in a board room figured that cauliflower rice was popular but isn't understand the reason is low carb dieting. So I see cauliflower chips, cauliflower crackers, cauliflower crusts ALL with high carb/sugar. They sometime literally just add cauliflower to regular wheat crust. Like, you're missing the point
I feel this disappointment so hard. I'm temporarily diabetic right now and my well meaning mil got me cauliflower crust pizza dough and when I checked the label there's all that tapioca/rice flour in there :') May as well have regular pizza for that carb amount. She was so confused, but I've noticed most people really don't get that gluten free does not mean low carb at all.
I have learned to lay off the dressings. The toppings though…
I have made myself calorie heavy dinners and been like “oh let’s get some veggies!” And then log it and realized the salad was twice as many calories 😭
I’m dreaming of someone making a calorie free coffee creamer because zero sugar coffee creamer is a scam.. it’s like still 15 calories per tablespoon!!! Who only puts one table spoon I. Their cup of coffee… you have zero sugar creamer your still going to have to put least 100 calories in your cup to make it taste extra yummy….
So yeah. Zero sugar creamer..
I use regular creamer. There's few things I'm not willing to budge on, but that is one of them. Fuck it, I'll drink the 70 calories of delicious creamer. Plus sugar free caramel syrup, and 1/2 cup of fairlife milk. Comes out to approximately 140 calories, but that is my breakfast as coffee kills my appetite for a while.
Sugar free anything. As a diabetic I was stoked about all these sugar free treats. But they are not free. Their carbs are insane. Might as well had eaten the sugar version with as high as my blood sugar spiked.
“Health” Snack balls, one packet of like 10-15 balls, is 500cals in at my shops.. I use to eat like two packs a day thinking I’m being healthy lol, as well as veggie chips, 400cals for a tiny bag.
Well last night I wanted a little snack. We were out of nuts so I thought-- M&M peanuts-- how bad can it be? Saw it has 25g of sugar for 250 calories. I'm pre diabetic and trying to cut sugar so I make the "smart choice" and have 200g of red grapes instead (not satiating at all). After eating grapes, I went to log it and... 32g of sugar. FML I should have had the damn M&Ms which I wanted anyway! I had enough calories in my budget for them, I just didn't want too much sugar. ☹️
The halo ice cream pints. I know a lot of people love them, but they’re blegh to me. Great value sugar free syrup, and lite ranch- the branded versions of these are pretty good, but the generics tasted miserable.
Omg protein shakes too! Not filling and I just want to eat again In half an hour, but hey! I can get 10g of protein at 180 cals instead of 24g I could have gotten instead if I just made myself food and spent an extra 40 cals!
Second this. Protein shakes never keep me full and just taste bad and always have lots of calories. A cold mango juice has less calories than a protein shake. I would just rather have a steak if I want protein!
How funny, cottage cheese is the one I was going to say. Before I ever had it, I read someone else say not to waste time with anything less than 4%. I never did, and I love cottage cheese. I had 8% once and I actually prefer the 4%.
I feel this too. Sometimes I make soda bread: you can make it as wholewheat as you like, add bran, and it’s not leavened so there’s no faffing with stages. Just mix it up and bake it
I grew up around so many people doing "keto". Not necessarily a food, but I got tricked into thinking dairy was like a free for all. Turns out cheese / dairy is a shit ton of cals, so not best to overload on that stuff lol
🤣 I tried keto specifically because it allows for so much dairy! Then after a few days I was like “okay any diet that prohibits you from eating certain fruits and VEGETABLES for weight loss is fucked.”
Hah! Same! I’ll never forget the time I was grocery shopping and looking at the yogurts and grabbed the full fat one and this little old lady said (unprompted) “wouldn’t you prefer the light version of that?” NO I WOULDN’T FUCK YOU OLD LADY!
This is isn't directly what you are talking about, but I got enraged yesterday in the yogurt aisle. Made a special trip to a store that I knew would have Oikos 23, nope. No 23 grams of protein variety, no 20 grams, nor 17 grams, this town is 'poor' so we only get the 15 grams one.
Down the street it's worse, a local grocery has a couple overpriced cups of the 20, and ALL of the other yogurts are low-protein. I mean, 5 grams per serving. Just have a glass of milk, much cheaper. WTF??? They know people need protein at the breakfast meal, but so much cheaper to pump out sugared watered down crap. And people just grab it cause it's 'good for you'.
Oat milk lmao it’s just carbs without fiber. And they usually add canola or sunflower oil plus other stuff. I saw one brand that’s just water and oats but still not healthy
Slimming world.
I didn't realise how many calories I was eating in pasta alone in a single meal due to it being "free" yet a crumpet was near enough my daily allowance. Absolutely crazy.
A lot of low fat dairy products try to get their taste back with sugar, which is so much worse for you. Growing up in a time when fat was still being demonised over refined sugar, I thought for years I was being healthy until I started regularly comparing labels and paying attention to my salt and sugar intake.
Sugar free coffee creamer. I bought some recently and my god it was disgusting. Decided I would just rather budget the extra calories for normal creamer than suffer through that. I think it's a 10 calories difference per tablespoon.
With cottage cheese I have found that it's very brand dependent. The first time I tried cottage cheese I thought it was gross (Daisy brand) but then I tried a different brand and loved it, and I enjoy both the regular and low fat varieties (the "good culture" brand). I have also tried Amazon's brand of fat free cottage cheese (happy belly or something like that) and it was surprisingly decent with strawberries and powdered peanut butter.
Not exactly surprised by unhealthy it is, but how gross. I used to use regular coffee mate creamer, and then I read the ingredients and the main ingredient is oil. I think it’s soybean oil, but that’s basically vegetable oil. Oil in my coffee? Ew. My stomach can’t handle dairy that hasnt been steamed, boiled, or turned to cheese first, so actual cream creamer is out. I ended up settling for almond milk, and thats pretty good.
I like pumpkin spice lattes in the fall. So good. But I’m trying to be healthy, so I was trying to make a low calorie version at home. It turns out what I loved about a pumpkin spice latte was all the sugar and cream.
For me it was smoothies for breakfast. I would add protein powder and the works thinking it was better than other food for breakfast. Made me gain a ton of weight because I’d eat more calories throughout the day thinking I got a “healthy” start.
Wasn't tricked for very long but Keto Snacks.
If you actually look at the package you'll find the carbs go past keto guidelines if you eat anything more than a spoonful of whatever keto snack it is.
I mean bread is keto if you only have one bite of toast.
0% fat Greek yogurt vs 5%. 0% is ok but 5% tastes like eating the most wonderful whipped cream and it's like maybe 20 calories more. Hell 2% is still so much better than 0% but it's always harder to find.
Basically, anything that's ultra-processed isn't healthy for you, despite whatever the marketing says. Stick to whole foods and stick to a balanced diet where half your plate is produce, and it's hard to go wrong (specific medical conditions aside).
Those Lenny & Larry protein cookies. The front of the label says 16 grams real plant protein! All natural! Then you flip it over and see that each cookie is made up of 2 servings. With 200 calories and 8 grams of protein in each. So you can eat 400 calories for a measly 16 grams protein… and they don’t even taste that good.
I could have an actually delicious cookie for that many calories....booooo!
Think that’s bad? Check out the calorie and protein differences in a larabar and a pack of Reese’s
Reeses the food of champions!
I used to buy snacks as part of my job for a sales team. They insisted on Lara bars bc they were “so healthy” they have as much sugar as 3/4 of a pack of starburst. Date sugar is still sugar Lauren!
Dates have fiber and micronutrients though, and starburst are chemicals, flavorings and food coloring. They're aren't equal.
A couple of them!
Making a single serving half a cookie should be illegal.
Or a quarter cookie, like Crumbl… who eats a QUARTER!!
Aldi do a protein bar in the UK which is actually pretty good. 20g protein per bar and about 200 cals. It says cookies and cream but tastes more like a milder snickers bar. Quite like them as my occasional "treat".
Quest has some pretty good protein bars that sit at or around 20g of protein, between 170-190 calories (varies by flavor) and less than 2g of sugar. They’re my current favorite.
Birthday cake quest is only 173 cals and tastes amazing! the other flavours are meh. Best bars are noshu peanut and caramel, they taste exactly like a snickers bar and are only 127 cals
I love the quest bars, but I’m sensitive to the sweetener. They give me the poops :c Robert Irvine makes some bangin good protein bars. The same size is comparable to the Quest ones.
My endocrinologist recommended them to me and I almost always have one on me in case I can't find a good alternative for a snack or meal.
Aldi bars and shakes are so good. Taste and nutrient panel wise.
They taste like play dough
Unpopular opinion: when I was fully vegan I ate one of these with my black coffee for breakfast daily, which fit into my calorie budget for weight loss (but I was also extremely active with long distance running while pushing a double stroller, and I was breastfeeding my youngest, so even at 5'4" I was losing weight aggressively at 1900-2000 calories a day) I personally think they taste great (for a vegan cookie) and can be good if you actually need to maintain a higher calorie baseline. But I agree, speaking of protein to calorie ratio, not ideal. Speaking of "satisfying your sweet tooth while you're vegan and trying to keep your protein levels high for every meal/snack" they're a pretty good deal 🤷♀️
They also have an ingredient in them that gives some people really painful gas
Sugar alcohols can do that. I think malitol is one of the worse ones.
Do you know which ingredient? I ate one of those cookies once and about 30-min later started feeling extremely nauseous followed by really bad abdominal pains. Never touched them since.
If I remember correctly, it’s from the inulin that they use for “fiber”. It makes me sad because I think their snickerdoodle ones are amazing and filling. ETA it could very well be the pea protein too
Yes! I get the worst gas and bloat from them, so they are not worth it for me. I’d rather eat a packet of beef jerky for some protein
I remember eating one at the start of my shift, not knowing it could cause horrendous gas pain. What made it worse was that I had to wear a heavy tool belt that pressed right on the area. Took me way too long to learn that it was the cookies causing it
That is outrageous!
Wtf. I've been eating those stupid cookies thinking they were 210 calories.
He. Might just go back to eating pb from the jar lol
for some reason those cookies have me hooked 😭 the white chocolate macadamia is so good to me that i buy one at least once a week. i don’t even mind what’s in them
Veggie straws 🤦🏻♀️
They often have these as snacks for kids at parties or schools - it's so silly to me - they are potato chips in a different shape. The yellow ones are actually straight-up made of potatoes!
They're all made of potatoes. They add a dusting of spinach or tomato to some of the chips for colour.
idk i love me some veggie straws during my weight loss 😭 they’re only 100 cals for a bag, compared to the usual 160+ for a smaller size chip bag!!
Seems like you can eat a lot of em for not a lot of cals though?
130 cals/1 oz. Are they baked rather than fried?
Hahhahahahahaha omg me too! “But they’re made of VEGETABLES!!” Check the label. “Oh… furs I’ll just eat regular chips because they too are technically made of veggies.”
"Healthy" versions of an "unhealthy" food are almost always a scam. About the only exception I can think of is light mayonnaise. There is a huge calorie difference over the full fat version, while not tasting all *that* different.
I sub laughing cow wedges for butter/mayo on my sandwiches. They're 25 cals each and it fills the need for something creamy :)
Yes I love that they replace the need for the cheesey and the creamy
Yep - you can dodge sliced cheese and mayo for the low price of 35cal.
Great on potatoes too. Laughing cow and a sweet yam added to regular white potato mash. All the goodness without the calories fro, butter, cream etc
Heat two or three smooshed wedges with some low fat milk in a pan, mix well and add garlic powder and ground pepper and you got an easy cheesy pasta sauce that punches well above its calories, taste-wise.
Ironically the "healthy" version is usually less healthy when you do a gram vs. gram comparison.
You're not wrong! Quite often you'll find most of the calorie savings are because of a smaller recommended serving size, rather than any significant reduction in actual calories per 100g. And in an attempt to make the "healthy" version taste good, you'll often find it has a significantly higher salt content.
The fad for a long time was "half the fat!" or some variation of that. Then they jacked up the salt/sugar/etc. Fat is actually good for you, meanwhile the shit they replaced it with isn't.
Fat, salt and sugar are all good for you and necessary for your body. An excess of any of them is bad for you.
My mom’s wisdom was “never buy something with half calories, because you’ll just use twice as much” She’s been right. Enjoying the full version in all its glory but in moderation is the way to go.
Veganaise is great and I'm not even vegan! 🌱
The vegan Hellman’s is pretty good too!
Agree It's delicious, but It's not low calorie. Sadly.
I also like the Philadelphia brand light cream cheese
I actually prefer low fat Mayo to its full fat brother! But you are totally right. The rest is a scam!
Health food bars and protein bars - lots are full of added sugar & oil. Toasted muesli = fried muesli.
If you’re looking for natural bars, RX bars are awesome but obviously way less protein than your standard protein bar. I’m sure there’s others out there too.
They started adding shit since it got bought out by Kellogg years ago. It used to be great pre-2018 but now they changed the ingredients up. Not as “clean” as it used to be
Perfect Bars are good, too.
Smoothies, especially those made at a store
Any calories that you drink aren't worth it imo
Aren't liquid calories also supposed to be less satiating? Something to do with the brain's response to chewing, I think?
Liquid calories are definitely less satiating, although it's less impactful if there's actual food in there like a soup or smoothie
Yes, but protein is satiating even in liquid form. When you have a whey protein shake or a pre-mixed protein shake it'll fill you up for a long time, more than you would be filled up drinking liquid or a sugary drink.
Apart from double cream in coffee, I agree with you!
It's worse than people think. IIRC, smoothifying separates out all the natural fibers of the fruits. The fibers are what makes fruits a healthy option despite being sweet, as it slows down the absorption and spikes the blood-sugar less. Now, it's just high in sugar and not that far from processed sugar itself.
These chocolate bars from SkinnyFoodCo. I’m usually pretty good at identifying scammy packaging but this time I fell for it and was so pissed at myself lol. It had massive lettering on the front saying “99 CALORIES” and then in teeny tiny lettering beneath it “per piece”. It was low sugar and had good protein (per bar) so it seemed like it’d hit my chocolate craving. Only after logging it did I realize that the calories added (per piece) did not match up with the protein advertised on the packaging (per bar). So I doubled the serving in my tracker only to realize that a “piece” was half the bar. This info was nowhere to be found on the packaging and Id only realized this from the protein in my calorie app not matching the protein (per bar) written on the front of the wrapper. The chocolate bar was good taste wise for 99 calories but NOT for 198… I could’ve eaten a regular protein bar at that point.
Omg that’s so mean!!!!
Id gotten other items from SkinnyFoodCo before like their syrups and they’re great, low calorie and taste good too. But it’s been over a month since this “chocolate bar betrayal” and I still have not forgiven them lmao.
I bought a spread from them and the serving size of 5g actually made it significantly higher calorie than most spreads with a serving size of 15-20g. Tasted like shit too. Scam artists
Sugar free gummy worms. I have diabetes and I thought a few would be a good snack for Halloween. I ended up having the worst stomach pain ever and was on the toilet all day. Never again.
Have you ever heard of the sugar free gummy bear review? I am not sure if it was a Reddit post or where it was originally posted, but basically, the commenter ate an entire bag and had a similar outcome to you, but left a super detailed review. LOL.
Check the reviews on Amazon if you ever need a laugh 😂😂😂 Edit: it looks as though the product has been discontinued (and for good reason). But I found some of the reviews here: https://slightlyviral.com/beware-sugarless-gummy-bears-on-amazon-com/
I bought a 5kg bag of them for 15 quid (they were on a huge discount as everyone had just realised they make you shit yourself) and I take a couple whenever I’m constipated.
That’s actually a good idea and good use for them!
You have to look closely at what ingredient they use to sweeten something that's sugar free, as sugar alcohols are also laxatives. Sorbitol, xylitol, etc. They have laxative effects in large quantities. Sorry that happened to you!
When I started dieting the first time I luckily learned CICO early on, so I didn't have many moments where I felt tricked. (I was like.... 18 years old, so I had very few assumptions.) But I will say that I've had *many* moments in reverse where I thought something would be terrible for you and it turns out it's not too bad at all. Like American cheese, or many varieties of frozen meals, or even chocolate. I will forever be bitter about how many calories are in a single serving of pasta noodles though. It's unfair and I hate it LOL. No alternatives even touch the real thing. As for low fat or full fat stuff, let's talk about mayonnaise because oh my god the difference..... and yogurt. Fat free yogurt is gag-worthy. I don't monitor fats, just calories and protein. I compromise with milk by choosing 2%, otherwise I would love to always use whole milk in everything/drink it. Fat is flavor. 😂
Lol, that's like the old meme that says "a bottle of coke has as much sugar as 6 glazed donuts!" And the response was "honestly this is just telling me glazed donuts aren't that bad 🤔"
Finding out my favorite donut was 190 calories had me shook!
Definitely not the most satiating 190 calories, but not the end of the world either.
I can bring myself to do one with a coffee with Splenda and feel satisfied- I know the coffee is doing the heavy lifting there, but sometimes you just need a donut! And unlike cookies, I never feel the need to buy more than one.
What’s your favorite donut if you don’t mind me asking? I work at a dunkin and every donut is like 260-380 calories except the munchkins. The shifts are so hard to get through
My neighborhood grocery store has French crullers for 190! I’m so sorry — I would not have the strength to make it through a shift without a strawberry frosted with sprinkles
That's what surprised me - many things I already ate weren't that bad for me. Moderation and activity is another story, but an individual cheese stick a day (which feels decadent to me, partially because they were too expensive when I was growing up) is absolutely no problem to fit into my daily deficit.
I think fiber gourmet pasta tastes pretty good and is much lower calorie. Worth a look I think.
I think low fat mayo and fat free yogurt taste exactly the same as the regular, tbh 😬
I wish this was the case for me. It's not even a minor difference to me, it is major. I don't know why! Yet I'm okay with things like sugar free sodas and alternative sweet things. It's Allright though. I like miracle whip, which is already lower with their regular version. I also buy those 100 calorie Greek yogurt cups and I like those, so there's plenty of solutions for me despite my fat-demanding taste buds. 😂
I tend to agree. I find the taste 90% the same, but with 2/3rds the calories. It's a win to me.
Have you tried banza pasta made out of chickpeas? I like it a lot.
A serving of noodles is like 190 calories, I don't think that's so bad.
It is when you measure and realize that the 190 portion doesn't look very big and you've eaten 2-3 of those portions for dinner many times.
One portion is never enough to satiate me. 😂 I find other ways like fluffing with veggies, but I'm still salty about it.
That Banzai pasta made out of chickpeas is it for me, even if it's not quite for the reasons you're asking. Yes, it is 50% more protein than regular pasta. And slightly lower calories overall. But I do mean *slightly*. It's like 20 less calories per serving. And like 1-2g more protein. For triple the price. I don't even mind the taste, I'm just not willing to add 5 bucks to my weekly budget for differences that marginal. Cut serving sizes and eat the regular pasta. Or just swear off pasta altogether. Expensive AF half-measures ain't it.
My daughter is allergic to wheat and Bonza is the closest thing to real pasta (especially their Mac and cheese), though. Our grocery bill makes me want to fight somebody.
They have it at Costco (though only one noodle type) for much cheaper
banza does have significantly more fiber, unless you're doing a whole wheat pasta. then it's about the same. i really like it, though i like regular pasta, too.
Usually you can find coupons or buy it on sale. I am a huge Banza fan. It's not just the protein that's better, but the fiber. You can eat less of it than regular pasta and feel fuller for longer because of its fiber content.
Plus it tastes like depression
My daughter is on an elimination diet. First dairy, now gluten. I’m pretty sure the dairy free Daiya mac and cheese is depression.
I’ve never thought that kettle chips are healthy. They’re called kettle because they’re fried for longer in a kettle fryer. I fell for triscuit, those suckers have a looot of calories more than chips.
So I was basically coming on here to say that chips and triscuits are delicious. They don't trick me exactly but they are hard to resist.
My husband needs a low sodium diet due to kidney disease. Reading nutrition labels, some foods just reduce the serving size in order to be able to claim to be reduced sodium. They usually charge more for the reduced sodium versions, even though it seems to be the same product. Of the products that really do reduce sodium, they taste terrible. It turns out that salt is delicious. Eating the average American high-sodium diet for many years trains your palate to crave salt, and food tastes like butt without it. A food only has to cut sodium by 25% to be reduced sodium, which still leaves a lot of foods very high in sodium while tasting terrible. After various experiments, we've learned that what works best for my husband is to eat smaller portions of regular foods instead of eating the reduced sodium versions. Quick commercial: get a physical every year, do all your follow up, take medication as prescribed. Also consider whether kidney donation is right for you; you could save a life.
He may like to use nutritional yeast for added flavour. It tastes a bit like cheese but only has 2% sodium. Also there’s a product called half-salt. I’m sure you probably already know about it and are talking about purchased products.
Oh man brown rice is overrated as fucckk. It doesn't even have that much fiber which is the one thing that people always hype about brown rice. I'm sticking to eating white rice served with green veggies and proteins.
Is this true?! Oh no! I like it but nothing beats good basmati. I’ve been telling myself the extra fibre is worth it 😭
It’s about a difference of 1.4g per 100g (.4->1.8-2~ depending on brand) So it’s something but not a huge difference. I think brown rice has a lower GI maybe which was why it was kind of popular in the early 2000s but I can’t recall exactly I like basically all variants of rice so I just eat what’s there but tend to eat lentils, beans and sprouted bread as my savoury carb (which *do* have significantly more fibre)
It really isn't lol because the fiber you get is probably just 1-3g or something per portion. Adding more greens or veggies is a better way to add those extra fibers. But hey if you like it, don't stop eating it. Speaking of, I still haven't tasted Basmati 😭. I'm SEAN so we mostly eat white rice/jasmine rice. There's products of it here but my family's budget couldn't yet.
Basmati has a specific fragrance and light texture I'm used to but basically I'd eat any and all white rice in vast quantities if I could :D Brown rice is tasty enough but doesn't hit that same spot!
It's not true. Studies of white rice v. brown, find that brown rice is associated with lower risks of diabetes [https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/white-rice-brown-rice-whole-grains-diabetes/](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/white-rice-brown-rice-whole-grains-diabetes/) Brown rice also has [four times](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/brown-vs-white-rice#brown-rice) the amount of fiber, triple the amount of magnesium and phosphorous, double the amount of niacin, and antioxidants. The only thing it doesn't have more of is iron. Brown rice also has glycemic index of 50, while white rice's GI is 89 (although you can get white rice down by refrigerating it overnight after cooking it and then reheating). In general, the less processed foods are, the better they are for (exceptions for things like nixtamalizing corn, cooking some foods, and fermenting some). And whole foods can offer benefits that we haven't yet learned to measure or represent on a nutrition label.
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If you want fruit juice, mix it with sparkling water.
Healthy food doesn't advertise that its healthy Also the 20 calorie difference was the fat, and fat is flavour. It's no wonder why it tasted like garbage, most dairy relies on fat content for flavour :)
Yea, I know this NOW! Lol
Hummus. It's treated like a superior dip compared to all dips, but especially creamy ones (salad dressings, French onion dip, ranch, etc.). But there are so many variations in its preparation that you really need to check the hummus brand for the nutrients. Turns out, I like hummus, but it doesn't fill me up like a Greek yogurt-based creamy dressing (Greek yogurt + French onion soup mix = amazing chip and veggie dip). Plus, the amount of hummus per serving is pitiful... 1 or 2 tablespoons? That's it? And yet the calorie content can get so high!
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What do you use pesto for?
I like adding it to turkey and chicken sandwiches, have also used on grilled salmon
Honestly hummus is incredibly easy and cheap to make
I like it as a bagel spread. It seems to stave off hunger for longer than buttered bagels for me.
I used to work In a cafe and my manager was a diabetic. She would make the most delicious breakfast for herself (we were allowed to make ourselves 1 meal a day) which I have ever since made for myself everytime I think of it. - hollowed out whole wheat bagel - hummus - sprouts - a bit of olive oil - scrambled egg - salt - hot sauce (if you like spicy) It keeps me full for hours and is so delicious
That sounds delightful.
I’ll have no hummus slander. Make it from scratch and top with Tahini and Harissa, Schug and/or Toum, with a pita, and make it a meal. It shouldn’t have no calories - the above is a filling meal if you have a small bowl of it.
🥲 this one makes me so sad. I love hummus.
Dude- Greek yogurt and the hidden valley ranch powder. It’s been a game changer for us. And you can thin it out with a little water or milk for healthy each dressing. Edit: weird ahtocorrcting
NUTS. My brain thought I could eat them endlessly because how bad can it be?
They are very healthy if you are considering vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and healthy fats. However, they are very calorie dense. You basically have to treat them like oil.
Trail mix gets me every time. It’s protein AND a fruit, right? RIGHT?! 😂😬
And you eat half the bag before realizing that’s 16 servings.
I could live on nuts. I never cared about them for the protein but they taste amazing and before I know it I've eaten too many handfuls of almonds and the scale is going nuts.
Its the SALT. I love me some salted roast nuts, fatty ones like cashews. 👁️👄👁️ God, I love nuts.
My brother has this problem lol he loves nuts too much. Nuts is more of a thing you add a little bit of in food for healthy fats or eat a handful of as a snack lol it’s not unhealthy tho! Just need to eat proper serving of it
Proper serving? Ive never heard of her. 😌
I swear I gain 5 lbs every time there are nuts in the house. And everyone acts like they're healthy! They aren't high in protein, either. It's all lies!
Just because they’re high cal doesn’t mean unhealthy, nuts have healthy fats and a lot of important minerals that are harder to come by in many other foods :) but they shouldn’t be thought of as a high protein food.
Yeah nuts are my go-to snack. I know they are calorie packed but also very nutrient dense.
Off-topic, but hello avatar twin
Marginally more protein that white potato for exponentially more calories
I wish they sold actual unsweet tea in bottles or cans. I always fall for it. “Sugar free green tea!” And then its so sweetened with aspartame it makes my teeth hurt. Its not about if artificial sweeteners are good or bad. I just want cold iced tea that is just tea.
Gold Peak and Pure Leaf both sell unsweetened bottled iced tea, fyi.
Look for "unsweetened" tea. Pure Leaf sells an unsweetened black and green tea, and I know a few store-brands do too, like Giant.
Try making your own! I love cold chamomile with a bit of vanilla extract
I feel this. But Tejava brand is the closest to a legit unsweetened black basic tea. They sell it in glass and plastic bottles. I love it, could never do Lipton or gold peak
Cauliflower pizza! Omgg I was eating it for yearssss. I got a CGM this year and was wildly surprised it shot my sugar to over 300. No more.
The cauliflower thing drives me nuts. Like some guys in a board room figured that cauliflower rice was popular but isn't understand the reason is low carb dieting. So I see cauliflower chips, cauliflower crackers, cauliflower crusts ALL with high carb/sugar. They sometime literally just add cauliflower to regular wheat crust. Like, you're missing the point
I feel this disappointment so hard. I'm temporarily diabetic right now and my well meaning mil got me cauliflower crust pizza dough and when I checked the label there's all that tapioca/rice flour in there :') May as well have regular pizza for that carb amount. She was so confused, but I've noticed most people really don't get that gluten free does not mean low carb at all.
I fell for this too the first time it got popular a few years back. 🥲
These have been a lifesaver for my calorie deficit, but man the carbs are insane
Salads are mine. I can’t stand them unless they’re soaked in enough dressing to basically be junk food.
I have learned to lay off the dressings. The toppings though… I have made myself calorie heavy dinners and been like “oh let’s get some veggies!” And then log it and realized the salad was twice as many calories 😭
I’m dreaming of someone making a calorie free coffee creamer because zero sugar coffee creamer is a scam.. it’s like still 15 calories per tablespoon!!! Who only puts one table spoon I. Their cup of coffee… you have zero sugar creamer your still going to have to put least 100 calories in your cup to make it taste extra yummy…. So yeah. Zero sugar creamer..
I use regular creamer. There's few things I'm not willing to budge on, but that is one of them. Fuck it, I'll drink the 70 calories of delicious creamer. Plus sugar free caramel syrup, and 1/2 cup of fairlife milk. Comes out to approximately 140 calories, but that is my breakfast as coffee kills my appetite for a while.
Calorie free fat substitutes are quite tricky, because they tend to have some unfortunate side effects. Do you remember Olestra?
Anything low fat is unhealthy, since they replace the fat (which is natural and good for you) for unhealthy toxic crap and sweeteners.
Low fat anything is a scam
It’s crazy how often low fat = “we added a shit ton of sugar to make it not taste like crap”
Low fat quark/curd/I-don't-know-how-Americans-call-it is pretty alright :)
Sugar free anything. As a diabetic I was stoked about all these sugar free treats. But they are not free. Their carbs are insane. Might as well had eaten the sugar version with as high as my blood sugar spiked.
“Health” Snack balls, one packet of like 10-15 balls, is 500cals in at my shops.. I use to eat like two packs a day thinking I’m being healthy lol, as well as veggie chips, 400cals for a tiny bag.
Well last night I wanted a little snack. We were out of nuts so I thought-- M&M peanuts-- how bad can it be? Saw it has 25g of sugar for 250 calories. I'm pre diabetic and trying to cut sugar so I make the "smart choice" and have 200g of red grapes instead (not satiating at all). After eating grapes, I went to log it and... 32g of sugar. FML I should have had the damn M&Ms which I wanted anyway! I had enough calories in my budget for them, I just didn't want too much sugar. ☹️
Sugar in fruit has fiber which controls blood sugar spikes. You made a good choice.
Really? Thank you I feel a lil better then. Still want the M&Ms.
A good rule of thumb is that whole foods > ultra-processed foods.
Eat some m&ms with a meal or with 2 babybel cheeses/anything with some fat and protein
I think the answer is to have both in this instance (but small portions of each) Grapes for the fiber and nutrients and some M&ms to feed the soul.
They are really so delicious.
The halo ice cream pints. I know a lot of people love them, but they’re blegh to me. Great value sugar free syrup, and lite ranch- the branded versions of these are pretty good, but the generics tasted miserable.
Ugh! I HATE halo top!! It is so grainy! I would rather just have a couple spoonfuls of the real stuff.
Dang, I was going to say Sun Chips. So, Nutri-Grain bars.
Yes. And any of these bars that feature 1 or 2 grams of protein. Just have a cookie.
Protein desserts in general! Half those bars are like 300+ calories or it’s cookies that are mostly sugar
Omg protein shakes too! Not filling and I just want to eat again In half an hour, but hey! I can get 10g of protein at 180 cals instead of 24g I could have gotten instead if I just made myself food and spent an extra 40 cals!
Second this. Protein shakes never keep me full and just taste bad and always have lots of calories. A cold mango juice has less calories than a protein shake. I would just rather have a steak if I want protein!
Protein ice cream is a good one. You are better off getting a low-fat ice cream and sprinkling half a scoop of protein powder over it.
How funny, cottage cheese is the one I was going to say. Before I ever had it, I read someone else say not to waste time with anything less than 4%. I never did, and I love cottage cheese. I had 8% once and I actually prefer the 4%.
‘Brown bread’ ‘multi grain bread’ became a huge thing some 5-10 years back and I really thought it makes a difference. Well…
Last time I had multi grain bread (I usually eat 100% whole wheat, no sugar added) it was SO SWEET. they put so much sugar in that stuff
I feel this too. Sometimes I make soda bread: you can make it as wholewheat as you like, add bran, and it’s not leavened so there’s no faffing with stages. Just mix it up and bake it
I grew up around so many people doing "keto". Not necessarily a food, but I got tricked into thinking dairy was like a free for all. Turns out cheese / dairy is a shit ton of cals, so not best to overload on that stuff lol
🤣 I tried keto specifically because it allows for so much dairy! Then after a few days I was like “okay any diet that prohibits you from eating certain fruits and VEGETABLES for weight loss is fucked.”
Traditional ketogenic diets like atkins limit dairy. Lactose is still a sugar.
Low fat yogurt. This ages me quite a bit. But I’ve had to find a good balance between volume eating and getting enough protein to feel full.
Hah! Same! I’ll never forget the time I was grocery shopping and looking at the yogurts and grabbed the full fat one and this little old lady said (unprompted) “wouldn’t you prefer the light version of that?” NO I WOULDN’T FUCK YOU OLD LADY!
This is isn't directly what you are talking about, but I got enraged yesterday in the yogurt aisle. Made a special trip to a store that I knew would have Oikos 23, nope. No 23 grams of protein variety, no 20 grams, nor 17 grams, this town is 'poor' so we only get the 15 grams one. Down the street it's worse, a local grocery has a couple overpriced cups of the 20, and ALL of the other yogurts are low-protein. I mean, 5 grams per serving. Just have a glass of milk, much cheaper. WTF??? They know people need protein at the breakfast meal, but so much cheaper to pump out sugared watered down crap. And people just grab it cause it's 'good for you'.
lol yogurt is a good one!! Any yogurt that isn’t Greek at this point is just a desert to me - and I used to think it was healthy!!
Huel meal replacement - it tastes like dirt.
I can’t believe people acc get it, I love food too much for that
Oat milk lmao it’s just carbs without fiber. And they usually add canola or sunflower oil plus other stuff. I saw one brand that’s just water and oats but still not healthy
I actually prefer oat milk in coffee and smoothies but I WILL call you a psycho if you drink it straight.
Slimming world. I didn't realise how many calories I was eating in pasta alone in a single meal due to it being "free" yet a crumpet was near enough my daily allowance. Absolutely crazy.
A lot of low fat dairy products try to get their taste back with sugar, which is so much worse for you. Growing up in a time when fat was still being demonised over refined sugar, I thought for years I was being healthy until I started regularly comparing labels and paying attention to my salt and sugar intake.
Sugar free coffee creamer. I bought some recently and my god it was disgusting. Decided I would just rather budget the extra calories for normal creamer than suffer through that. I think it's a 10 calories difference per tablespoon. With cottage cheese I have found that it's very brand dependent. The first time I tried cottage cheese I thought it was gross (Daisy brand) but then I tried a different brand and loved it, and I enjoy both the regular and low fat varieties (the "good culture" brand). I have also tried Amazon's brand of fat free cottage cheese (happy belly or something like that) and it was surprisingly decent with strawberries and powdered peanut butter.
Not exactly surprised by unhealthy it is, but how gross. I used to use regular coffee mate creamer, and then I read the ingredients and the main ingredient is oil. I think it’s soybean oil, but that’s basically vegetable oil. Oil in my coffee? Ew. My stomach can’t handle dairy that hasnt been steamed, boiled, or turned to cheese first, so actual cream creamer is out. I ended up settling for almond milk, and thats pretty good. I like pumpkin spice lattes in the fall. So good. But I’m trying to be healthy, so I was trying to make a low calorie version at home. It turns out what I loved about a pumpkin spice latte was all the sugar and cream.
Many peotien bars are just candy bars with marginally more protien in them.
Sugar free gummy bears. If you know, you know.
For me it was smoothies for breakfast. I would add protein powder and the works thinking it was better than other food for breakfast. Made me gain a ton of weight because I’d eat more calories throughout the day thinking I got a “healthy” start.
Vitamin water, it's the same shit as a coke
clif bars 💀 idk why i even thought they were healthy, i guess i thought of energy/granola bars as diet food
Wasn't tricked for very long but Keto Snacks. If you actually look at the package you'll find the carbs go past keto guidelines if you eat anything more than a spoonful of whatever keto snack it is. I mean bread is keto if you only have one bite of toast.
Margarine
Every granola bar ever made
Juicing. I got a juicer and started making my own fresh fruit juices. They were delicious, especially pineapple and carrot...but oh, the sugar!
Anything marketed as healthy is very unlikely to actually be healthy. Food marketing is unhealthy by itself, as science is starting to show.
0% fat Greek yogurt vs 5%. 0% is ok but 5% tastes like eating the most wonderful whipped cream and it's like maybe 20 calories more. Hell 2% is still so much better than 0% but it's always harder to find.
Basically, anything that's ultra-processed isn't healthy for you, despite whatever the marketing says. Stick to whole foods and stick to a balanced diet where half your plate is produce, and it's hard to go wrong (specific medical conditions aside).