Good Foods Gone Bad
I feel like I’m watching a VH1 special on some childhood star … "And then, after their sitcom came to an abrupt stop in 1988, it all went downhill from there. From late night partying to alcohol binges. When good girls go bad!"
In this case, though, we’re talking about foods … not celebrities.
Salads.
Sushi.
Popcorn.
These foods are often thought of as "diet friendly."
But when you hear some restaurant salads have more calories than 3 Big Macs plus a Large fries and soda, you may think again.
Or what some consider to be super healthy sushi can pack a serious calorie bomb — with a whopping 500+ calories per roll!
Of course each of those foods — salads, sushi, and popcorn — can all be great choices. Let’s take a look at just how to make them the smart choices they should be.
Cleaning Up Salads
- Swapping out the cheese, bacon, croutons, and creamy dressings for healthier fats like avocado or nuts, filling up on more veggies and less "other" toppings, and shifting from creamy dressings to an olive oil based balsamic vinagrette can not only save calories, but will seriously up the quality of the salad itself.
Sushi Swaps
- Any of the fried sushi options (look for the words tempura) will immediately take a potentially decent food and make it no different than a pile of bacon in terms of fat and calories. Similarly, the sauces like mayo (spicy tuna, for example, means spicy mayo) will make it difficult to stick to your weight loss goals.
- Instead, opt for things like Rainbow rolls, which are just fish with rice (some places even use brown rice as a filler. Sashimi is a good option too.
Popcorn
- Movie popcorn with added butter has nearly 1 day full of sodium, more calories than 3 Quarter Pounders, and more fat than most should eat in 1 entire day. In other words, skip it. And ordering without butter isn’t much better.
- Instead, pop your own — buy corn kernels, add 1tsp of canola oil to a pan, heat and add some kernels. Add some spray butter on there if you’d like and mix up the flavorings — maybe a sprinkle of parmesan and cayenne for a kick. Or try some garlic powder.
Remember that flavor doesn’t have to mean fat and calories.
And "diet foods" doesn’t always mean great choices.
Don’t fall for marketing or packaging … and when it sounds too good to be true, it is!
August 5th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Hi. I found this article very interesting. Today I made a vinaigrette recipe from the Foodnetwork that has white balsamic vinegar (I used the dark one), mustard, olive oil, shallots, maple syrup (I used honey instead), salt and pepper and I added a little pinch of minced garlic. It tastes so good! can’t wait too use on my dinner salad.
Here’s the link in case someone wants to try:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robert-irvine/baby-greens-salad-with-quail-egg-and-maple-white-balsamic-vinaigrette-recipe/index.html
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August 6th, 2010 at 5:39 am
Home-made popcorns are yummy! Movie popcorn are tempting but there’s just too much oil in them.
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