Don’t Let This “Health Food” Make You Fat by Shin Ohtake
With food makers jumping on the health craze like never before, you really have to read between the lines to get the truth on what’s healthy and what’s not. Everywhere you turn, there are “healthy” versions of just about everything. Here’s what happened to me when I didn’t pay attention to the nutrition labels…
There’s a small grocery store chain in California called Trader Joe’s that my wife and I absolutely love. That’s pretty much where we get the majority of our foods from on a weekly basis. It’s small but carries pretty much everything we need and stocks many foods and brands not carried at major supermarket chains. One of my favorite aisles is the nut mix aisle. They carry every possible kinds of nuts and nut mixes that you can think of! But what always catches my eye are the premium trail mixes that have all sorts of goodies in them. The problem is that they’re all too good. And I mean taste wise, not calorie wise.
The premium trail mixes have all sorts of dried fruits, nuts, chocolate chunks, chocolate covered nuts and fruits…well, you get the idea. So I always sit there, pick up the various packages, look at the nutritional contents, then put them back on the shelf. Sadly, I do this every time we go shopping - as if magically the nutritional components are going to change and I can buy a dozen different packages and eat them without guilt. Well to tell you the truth, it wasn’t long ago that I would do that.
Way back when, I somehow had it in my mind that nuts and fruits were healthy snacks so I could eat them “sparingly” and not feel guilty about it. Well these “sparing” consumption ended up not being so sparing since I pick it at it every 5 - 10 minutes, and before I knew it I’d eaten a whole bag. But nuts and berries are supposed to be healthy, right? Well imagine my surprise when I looked at the back of the bag to see the nutritional facts. And let me tell you, your clothes don’t lie. What used to be a rather roomy waistband was definitely a little too snug for my liking (or anyone else that has to look at me for that matter). Well at 2,000 calories per bag it wasn’t a surprise that my waist line ballooned up! No matter how healthy a snack is, a calorie is still a calorie at the end of the day.
Shin Ohtake is the author of the world-famous fitness program, MAX Workouts. To learn more about how you can get ultra lean and toned with shorter workouts, visit http://www.MaxWorkouts.com
