Carbohydrate-Guide

Here’s a list of foods you should stick your nose in the air and walk right on by! On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being bad these foods are all 10’s. Soda

One can of soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar, 150 calories, 30 to 55 mg of caffeine, and is loaded with artificial food colors and sulphites. I can’t think of any good reason to ever have it. The diet varieties are also problematic as they are filled with harmful artificial sweeteners like aspartame.

Studies have linked soda to osteoporosis, obesity, tooth decay and heart disease, yet the average American drinks an estimated 56 gallons of soft drinks each year. Plus, drinking all that sugar will likely suppress your appetite for healthy foods, which pave the way for nutrient deficiencies.

Soft drink consumption among children has almost doubled in the United States over the last decade, which is not surprising considering that most school hallways are lined with soda-filled vending machines.

Schools often make marketing deals with leading soft drink companies such as Coca-Cola from which they receive commissions–based on a percentage of sales at each school–and sometimes a lump-sum payment, in exchange for their students’ health. School vending machines can increase the consumption of sweetened beverages by up to 50 or more cans of soda per student per year.

If you routinely drink soda–regular or diet–eliminating it from your diet is one of the simplest and most profound health improvements you can make.

French Fries (and Nearly All Commercially Fried Foods)

Potatoes are bad enough when consumed in their raw state, as their simple sugars are rapidly converted to glucose that raises insulin levels and can devastate your health. But when they are cooked in trans fat at high temperatures, all sorts of interesting and very unpleasant things occur.

Anything that is fried, even vegetables, has the issue of trans fat and the potent cancer-causing substance acrylamide.

Foods that are fried in vegetable oils like canola, soybean, safflower, corn, and other seed and nut oils are particularly problematic. These polyunsaturated fats easily become rancid when exposed to oxygen and produce large amounts of damaging free radicals in the body.

They are also very susceptible to heat-induced damage from cooking. What is not commonly known is that these oils can actually cause aging, clotting, inflammation, cancer and weight gain. You can read the article “Secrets of the Edible Oil Industry” for more information.

It is theoretically possible to create a more “healthy” French fry if you cook it in a healthy fat like virgin coconut oil. Due to its high saturated fat content, coconut oil is extremely stable and is not damaged by the high temperatures of

Quaker 100% Natural Cereal.

This overrated granola cereal contains almost 4 grams of saturated fat per half-cup serving. That’s 18 percent of your daily maximum. That’s as much saturated fat as you’d get from a hamburger at McDonald’s!

A much better choice would be a low-fat, whole-grain cereal like Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Wheat, Post GrapeNuts, General Mills Wheaties, or Nabisco Shredded Wheat. Or look for low-fat granola by Quaker and Kellogg’s.

Kung Pao Chicken.

One average dinner-size take-out order has 76 grams of fat. That’s as much fat as 17 teaspoons of oil! It also averages more than a day’s worth of sodium (2,608 mg). The same size order of Szechuan Shrimp or Stir-Fried Mixed Vegetables contains one-fourth as much fat and a little less sodium.

Dunkin’ Donuts Plain Cake Doughnut.

Thanks to the Hydrogenated shortening in which these doughnuts are fried, a single plain cake doughnut winds up with as much cholesterol-raising fat as a McDonald’s Big Mac! If you want good-tasting pastries without the fat, give Entemann’s fat-free line a try.

Doughnuts are fried, full of sugar and white flour and most all varieties contain trans fat. Store-bought doughnuts are made up of about 35 percent to 40 percent trans fat.

An average doughnut will give you about 200 to 300 calories, mostly from sugar, and few other nutrients.

It’s too bad that Americans view doughnuts as a breakfast food as, nutritionally speaking, eating a doughnut is one of the worst ways to start off your day. It will throw off your blood sugar and won’t stay with you so you’ll be hungry again soon.

Nissin Shrimp Cup Noodles.

This soup will give you a surprisingly strong shot of fat (about 3 teaspoons’ worth) and almost as much sodium (1,550 mg) as you should ideally eat in a whole day. Try Fantastic Foods Only A Pinch soups instead. A serving averages just half a teaspoon of fat and 140 mg of sodium — a much healthier alternative.

Movie-theater Popcorn Popped in Coconut Oil.

A large bucket of unbuttered popcorn at theaters (like United Artists) that pop in coconut oil has almost three days’ worth of artery-clogging fat! Add butter and you’ll boost the cholesterol-raising fat to almost four days’ worth! That’s like eating eight McDonald’s Big Macs.

Even a small portion contains almost a day’s worth of saturated fat. What to do? Choose a theater that uses air-popped popcorn, or at least one that pops its corn in a heart-healthy oil like canola or corn.

Oscar Mayer Lunchables.

It would be hard to invent a worse food than these combos of heavily processed meat, artery-clogging cheese, and mostly-white-flour crackers. The average line averages 5 1/2 teaspoons of fat (that’s 60 percent of calories) and 1,734 mg of sodium.

Haagen-Dazs Extraas.

Haagen-Dazs has managed to make its line of gourmet ice cream extra fatty by adding ingredients like fudge, peanut butter, peanuts or brownies to its already-fatty ice cream. Eat a cup of Extraas Triple Brownie Overload or Peanut Butter Burst and you’ve downed 44 grams of fat…almost as much as half a stick of butter.

And a cup of Extraas Cappuccino Commotion or Caramel Cone Explosion has as much artery-clogging saturated fat (20 grams) as two McDonald’s Quarter Pounders with Cheese! That’s a whole day’s quota for many people. A cup of Mattus’ Low-fat Ice Cream, on the other hand, has just six grams of fat. And only three of them are saturated. But the taste is as rich as full-fat Haagen Dazs.

Campbell’s Regular Soups.

They’re brimming with salt. Half a can contains 1,014 mg of sodium. That’s about half your ideal quota for an entire day. If you’re looking for more than salty water, check out Pritikin soups. A cup averages 160 mg of sodium and one gram of fat. That’s a bit less fat — and far less sodium — than you’ll find in Campbell’s Healthy Request or ConAgra’s Healthy Choice soups.

Taco Bell’s Taco Salad with Shell.

With the shell, this platter of beef, cheese and beans has about 13 teaspoons of fat, about 4 teaspoons of saturated fat, and 838 calories. That’s almost all the fat and saturated fat an adult should eat in an entire day. If you’re in the mood for a fast-food salad, head to McDonald’s. It’s Chunky Chicken Salad contains a single teaspoon of fat and 1/4 teaspoon of saturated fat.

Fettucini Alfredo.

An average dinner size entre? contains an amazing 97 grams of fat — or 22 teaspoons of fat. It’s like sitting down and eating an entire stick of butter! If you want a lower-fat pasta meal, try spaghetti or linguini topped with tomato sauce, red or white clam sauce, meat sauce, or meatballs.

Bugles Original

What’s so bad about Bugles? The highly saturated coconut oil that General Mills fries them in — oil that’s about twice as saturated as lard. One serving (just over a cup) of these fried wonders will give you 40 percent of your daily limit of saturated fat. If you’re looking for a low-fat snack, give Baked Bugles a shot, or try baked, low-fat tortilla chips made by Tostitos or Guiltless Gourmet.

McDonald’s Bagel Breakfast Sandwiches

It’s not the bagels in these sandwiches that will get you into trouble - it’s the fillings. The worst is the Spanish Omelet - with 690 calories, 38 grams of fat (14 of them saturated), 275 mg of cholesterol, and 1,570 mg of sodium. To your arteries, that looks like an Egg McMuffin plus a Sausage Biscuit with Egg.

The Ham, Egg & Cheese and the Steak, Egg & Cheese Bagels are just slightly better. If you want to have breakfast under the Golden Arches, try the Hotcakes with syrup or a Lowfat Apple Bran Muffin with lowfat milk or orange juice instead.

Pizza Hut’s Big New Yorker Pizza

Pizza Hut brags that the Big New Yorker cheese pizza weighs about three pounds before baking. But when it comes to pizza, bigger isn’t better. Even if you split this monster with three other people, your two slices will end up with 760 calories and almost a full day’s saturated fat (18 grams) and sodum (2,280 mg).

That’s without sausage, pepperoni, or anything else. Down an entire Healthy Choice Supreme French Bread Pizza, on the other hand, and you’ll only get 330 calories, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, and 600 mg of sodium.

Mrs Fields Milk Chocolate Chip Cookie with Walnuts

No one expects a Mrs. Fields cookie to be good for you, but who would guess that a single cookie has more than 300 calories and as much saturated fat as a 12-ounce sirloin steak? It’s also got nearly 7 teaspoons of sugar. Her brownies are even worse.

If you can’t resist Mrs. Fields the next time you are at the mall, go for the smallest bag of Nibblers (six half-ounce cookies) and share it with a friend. Or ask if you can buy just one or two Nibblers instead.

Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha made with whole milk (venti)

Don’t think of this drink as a mere cup of coffee. Think of it as a milk shake. Few people have room in their diets to accommodate the 600 calories and 15 grams (three-quarters of a day’s quota) of saturated fat that this hefty beverage supplies. Order your Starbucks drinks made with skim milk and without whipped cream and you can save as many as 200 calories.

Burger King French Fries

Burger King makes some of the worst french fries you can buy. Thanks to the salty coating that allows more oil to be absorbed, a King Size order packs 540 calories and 25 grams of fat — 16 of them artery-clogging (saturated plus trans fats). That’s almost your daily maximum for heart-unhealthy fat.

Lay’s Wow! Potato Chips

These chips, like Fat Free Pringles, are fried in Olean (olestra), the indigestible fat substitute. Olean doesn’t provide any calories, but in many people it causes gastrointestinal symptoms - some people have said they suffered such severe cramps or diarrhea that they had to go to the emergency room. Olean also reduces the body’s absorption of carotenoids.

These products won’t do much to help you lose weight or reduce your risk of heart attack, and they might cause you a lot of misery. Instead buy baked, low-fat potato or tortilla chips.

Denny’s Original Grand Slam

This belt-buster breakfast (2 eggs, 2 sausage links, 2 strips of bacon, and 2 pancakes) may seem like a great deal to your wallet, but it’s no bargain for your heart. It’ll sock you with three-quarters of a day’s total fat (50 grams) and saturated fat (14 grams), nearly a full day’s sodium (2,240 mg), one-and-a-half day’s cholerserol (460 mg) - and 800 calories.

If you’re craving a hearty breakfast, try Denny’s Slim Slam instead. It slashes the calories to 600, the fat to 12 grams, the saturated fat to 3 grams, and the cholesterol to a mere 35mg.

Source: Nutrition Action Healthletter; Center for Science in the Public Interest