The five foods that are sabotaging your diet

YOU know to avoid ice-cream, chocolate and chips, but not all of the foods that sabotage your diet are quite so easy to spot.

CHANCES are you know that ice-cream, chocolate biscuits and potato chips are not likely to be your friends when weight control is the goal but what about the other silent saboteurs that slip into your diet regularly?

There are plenty of them out there and here are the most common ones we indulge in without necessary knowing the calorie consequences.

Rice Crackers

We have all done it — demolish an entire packet of these seemingly innocent crackers with a tub of dip before dinner. The issue with this is that rice crackers are a concentrated source processed carbohydrate and just 10 rice crackers (or a single row) is the carbohydrate equivalent of two slices of lower carb bread. So if you eat the entire packet you are looking at 100 plus grams of carbs, or almost your entire daily fuel requirement in a simple packet of crackers. The carbohydrate in rice crackers is also high GI carbs, meaning that they significantly increase blood glucose levels and a number of flavoured varieties also contain added MSG (621). The take home message this party season is give the rice crackers a miss in favour of cut up vegetables or thin waferthins.

Smoothies

Smoothies can be sneaky.

Unfortunately when it comes to nutrition more is not better and smoothies that contain a mix of fruit, yoghurt, ice cream and honey can contain more calories than a meal and as much as 12 teaspoons of sugar. The other downside to drinking your calories is that the body does not compensate for liquid calories. This means that any liquid calories tend to be ‘extras’, extras that many of us do not need.

So if you love a fruity refreshing drink over summer, best to stick to just two or three ingredients, remember it is at least a snack if not a small meal worth of calories and that adding almond milk, coconut water and honey will be adding extra calories.

Sourdough bread

Sourdough has its issues.

Yes sourdough bread is a better choice than plain white bread thanks to its extended fermentation process which leaves it with a lower GI than regular white bread but the key issue when we swap to sourdough is its size. Two average sized slices of Sourdough bread served at cafes and in food courts will be significantly larger than small and reduced carb slices of bread. Choosing white sourdough also means that you miss out on the nutritional benefits that are associated with eating wholegrains. So, if you love sourdough, remember, one larger slices is the carb equivalent of two slices of bread, choose grain options where possible and slice thinly if you serve it at home.

Dips

Dips can be devious.

You may love hommus, or French onion or even a chunky pesto but have you ever checked the nutritional panels of your favourite dip? In general the serving size of a dip is just 20g, or a tablespoon. Seriously, who eats that little? And most of our favourite dips, including hommus are relatively high in fat thanks to the addition of extra oils, nuts and cheese. So before you add dips as a regular to your party platters, look for varieties with less than 10g total fat per 100g, keep serving sizes controlled by not putting out the entire tub or better still make your own vegie-rich varieties of beetroot, cucumber or chic pea dip so you can control the ingredients.

Your daily coffee (or coffees)

The calories from coffee can sometimes be overlooked.

If you love a long black there is no need for alarm, but if your coffee order is anything larger than a small and includes plenty of added milk (Latte, Flat White, Chai Latte) your daily caffeine hit may be doing more harm than good weight wise. The issue with milk based coffee is that it contains a significant number of calories coming from the sugars found naturally in dairy and soy milk, or add in almond or other nut milks. Unfortunately we are not so good at compensating for these extra sugars which mean we end up eating more in total thanks to the extra couple of milk based coffees we consume regularly.

To put this in context, just two small Lattes adds up to almost 300 extra calories and an extra 20g of sugars every day. So if you love your coffee, always order small or piccolos and limit yourself to just one milk coffee each day.

Read more

Healthy food imposters

10 ingredient swaps for healthier cooking

10 smart snacking swaps

Originally published as The five foods that are sabotaging your diet