Eating a healthy weight-loss diet can be tricky—especially if you don’t have the time the cook nutritious meals every day. That’s when we grab convenient foods that are often loaded with calories and detrimental to our metabolism.
While some unhealthy snacks obviously lead to visceral fat, there are a few highly processed options out there that are often marketed as healthy. That’s why it’s important to carefully examine the calories of seemingly innocuous foods if you’re trying to shed some pounds.
To learn more about the surprisingly worst foods out there, we spoke to Heather Hanks, a nutritionist at Medical Solutions Barcelona, Lisa Richards, a nutritionist and founder of The Candida Diet, Beth Hawkes, a registered nurse of Nurse Code, and Tania Long, a nutritionist for Meal Fan. They told us that high-sugar fruit juice and processed, sweetened granola bars can slow your caloric rate. Find out more below!
1. Fruit Juice
You probably know that soda can lead to a ruined metabolism and weight gain, but why isn't there the same outrage against fruit juices? Although they may seem healthy because they contain fruit, many of the fruit juices you buy at the grocery store are loaded with artificial sugar and calories. While you may think they're a great way to get your daily fruit intake, drinking fruit juice every day may cause health issues like bloating, inflammation, a ruined metabolism, and weight gain.
Long warns that while fruit juice may seem like a healthier option than soda, "the sugar level in fruit juice might be much higher than the sugar content of soda." Fruit juices are loaded with excessive sugar while offering next to no nutritional value. "Unlike a piece of fruit, fruit juice contains no fiber to limit the body's absorption of sugar, resulting in an insulin surge," Long says.
Hawkes agrees, "Fruit juices are often packed with sugar," she notes. "For example, there are about 31 grams of sugar in a 12-ounce serving of orange juice, which is more than the 22 grams found in the same amount of cola."
Plus, Hawkes adds, fruit juice provides very little fiber. So, drinking juices too frequently can "[make] weight loss impossible." Without fiber, fruit juice won't keep you full—and can cause overeating and a slowed metabolism.
"When you consume such a quantity of the sweet stuff, your levels of blood glucose soar into the stratosphere," she says. "This tells our metabolism to slow down and thus burn fewer calories which leads us towards gaining weight instead." Instead of store-bought fruit juice, try unsweetened tea, naturally-flavored kombucha (which also provides digestive benefits), or freshly squeezed juice.
2. Granola Bars
While granola bars are a convenient, seemingly-healthy breakfast for when you're on the go, these on-the-go meals are often more damaging than they're worth. This is especially true if you're trying to lose weight.
"Granola bars are the worst 'healthy' food for weight loss because they are full of inflammatory ingredients that prevent weight loss, including refined sugars and grains," Hanks tells us. "Many food manufacturers claim that their granola bars are healthy because they contain oats."
Even though oats are definitely a good source of fiber (which is crucial for weight loss), most granola bar brands are loaded with unhealthy ingredients like added sugars, carbs, and calories. "The added ingredients in granola bars are what make them so unhealthy," Hanks explains. These ingredients are damaging to your metabolism, worsen inflammation, and cause weight gain.
"While [granola bars] may be convenient they can prevent weight loss efforts, among other negative side effects," Richards agrees, adding that "Processed foods are manufactured with refined carbohydrates that are highly inflammatory and wreak havoc on gut health."
If you're really in a rush, you don't need to reach for an unhealthy, fattening granola bar. Experts like Richards say that you can snack on fat-burning nuts and fruits—without overloading on the added sugar and calories.
The Bottom Line
So, even though they may seem healthy, experts warn that consuming fruit juices and granola bars too frequently can stall weight loss plans because they both contain unnecessary added sugars and calories. Instead of fruit juice and granola bars, you can drink unsweetened beverages and opt for nuts to increase your metabolism and caloric rate.
