Snack Attack

It can be difficult to figure out which foods should be in our daily diet, and with all the trendy diets doing the rounds at the moment, the list of healthy foods can be especially deceptive.  So, what foods are sneakily sabotaging our carefully put together diets and what should we be replacing them with?

Dried Fruit
Oh those pearly gems of dried cranberries, apricots and sultanas may seem to be nothing but good old-fashioned diet food, but they are actually much worse for you than fresh fruit. When fruit is dried, there is less water, and so the sugar becomes more concentrated.

SWAP FOR
Fresh fruit, every time

Sweetcorn
The staple of dieters al desko, when mixed with tuna and a smidgen of no-fat mayo – it seems like the lunch of champions. However, these golden nuggets have a really high carbohydrate count, and should be thought of in the same bracket as bread and potatoes.

SWAP FOR
Cucumber cubes add crunch without the calories.

Granola

Billed as the ultimate healthy breakfast choice, because granola is often laced with honey and maple syrup, it actually works out as much less nutritious in the long run. Calorie for calorie, you can eat twice as much healthy cereal as you can granola.

SWAP FOR

High fibre, low sugar cereal.

Avocados

Packed with good fats, and undeniably good for you, we can be fooled into thinking that avocados should be eaten with abandon. Rather, keep portions small, and don’t eat more than half an avocado in a portion.

SWAP FOR

Hummus made with water instead of oil.

Smoothies

They may seem super healthy because of the nutritious ingredients like yoghurt, berries and bananas, but shop bought versions often contain lots of calories and are loaded with four times the daily limit of sugar.

 SWAP FOR

A glass of freshly squeezed juice.

Cereal Bars

The ultimate breakfast on the go for so many of us, be sure to check the calorie label on your bar of choice. Limit it to 200 calories, and you should be right as rain.

SWAP FOR

A small handful of nuts and seeds.

Flavoured yoghurts

Yoghurts with lots of fruit mixed in, and particularly those with fruit lining the bottom are filled with sugar and corn syrup.

SWAP FOR

Mixing fresh fruit into your daily yoghurt pot.

 

Wholewheat bread

The typical carb count suggests one slice of bread per serving, which makes it very hard to make a sandwich… The two slices amount to 40g of carbs which shockingly, is the same carb count as 4 bottles of beer.

SWAP FOR

Once or twice a week, wrap your sandwich fillings in lettuce leaves for an Asian-inspired lunch.

Bran Muffins

Whether plain or mixed with fruit, the fibre certainly fills you up, but these little morsels are packed with sugar. So much so that a bran muffin is basically a big slice of cake.

SWAP FOR

Ryvita with banana discs on top.

Baked Crisps

Look, we wanted to believe they were good for us as much as you did, but the truth is, baked crisps are still packed with oil and all kinds of fat-making stuff.

SWAP FOR

Popcorn or a small handful of almonds.