Now that I’m editing the health & food pages of Glamour, I’m learning a lot about foods I thought were good for me. As it turns out, many of them are not. Here’s a piece I edited for our November issue (page 140—or you can read it here); these are some of the surprising offenders. (And I'd love to know what foods you thought were healthy (or low-cal) but then discovered aren't so much!)
Smoothies
THE NOT-SO-HEALTHY FACTS
A 16-oz. Jamba Juice Berry Topper Smoothie has 490 calories and 10
grams fat—that’s almost a sundae’s worth!
HEALTHY ALTERNATIVE
Jamba Juice’s Jamba Light Berry Fulfilling Smoothie has 150
calories, 0.5 gram fat.
Stir-Fry
THE NOT-SO-HEALTHY FACTS
A 2-cup serving of chicken with eggplant and mushrooms can have 800
calories and 60 grams fat. (When you use 4 tbsp. of olive oil,
that’s 477 calories and 54 grams fat from the oil alone.)
HEALTHY ALTERNATIVE
Use just 1 tbsp. oil and your meal is under 500 calories.
Bran Muffins
THE NOT-SO-HEALTHY FACTS
One from a popular chain has 430 calories and 18 grams fat.
HEALTHY ALTERNATIVE
A multigrain English muffin with jam (145 calories, 1.5 grams fat).
Even a strawberry frosted doughnut (240 calories, 10 grams fat) is
lower-cal!
Frozen Yogurt
THE NOT-SO-HEALTHY FACTS
Plain vanilla has 200 calories and 4.5 grams fat—if you can
stop at just half a cup.
HEALTHY ALTERNATIVE
Edy’s Slow Churned Vanilla Light Ice Cream has 100 calories
and 3.5 grams fat.
Veggie Chips
THE NOT-SO-HEALTHY FACTS
A serving has approximately 150 calories and 9 grams fat—made
from vegetables or not, most are still fried like potato chips.
HEALTHY ALTERNATIVE
Baked chips for 110 calories and just 1.5 grams fat.
Do you eat any of the above, thinking you're making good
choices by not picking a doughnut or fries? And what other
healthy-sounding foods do you now know you're better off eating in
moderation?
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