While weight loss can certainly be accelerated by exercise and eating certain healthful foods, you will absolutely have to avoid eating certain unhealthy fatty foods on a daily basis if you are going to reach your fitness goals. Foods that are high in saturated fats and sugar should be eliminated from your diet, regardless of what your fitness goals are. You should be aware of which foods will be counterproductive to your goals and avoid them.
Fast Food
Fast food is the epitome of unhealthy fatty food. According to the University of California at Berkeley, the availability of fast food is directly linked to obesity in children. Foods such as cheeseburgers, fried chicken, milk shakes, French fries and pizza are all foods that should not be part of your diet. Aside from being high in calories, most fast food has a considerable amount of trans fat. Trans fat, according to MayoClinic.com, poses serious risks to your heart health. For example, trans fat can lower your good cholesterol and increase your bad cholesterol.
Desserts
Most desserts, especially commercial desserts, are another unhealthy fatty food group that you should avoid. Like fast food, most desserts and baked goods have considerable amounts of trans fatty acids, according to the Pennington BioMedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La. Cookies, cakes, brownies, pastries and doughnuts are specific high-fat and high-sugar desserts that you should eliminate from your diet. Look for and avoid "partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil" if it is in the list of ingredients. Try to avoid the typical "three-meal-a-day" protocol and try to eat more often so you are less likely to binge by the time you eat. Eating more often will increase your metabolism, allowing you to burn more calories between meals.
Snacking Foods
High-fat snack foods can add a significant amount of calories to your diet, especially if they are readily available for you to consume in large portion sizes. Unhealthy fatty snack foods include potato chips, ice cream, candy and regular Greek Yogurt. Unhealthy snacking foods with large amounts of fat can be easily identified by their nutrition labels. Greek yogurt has significantly more saturated fat than the non-fat and low-fat versions. Vicky Newman, director of the Healthy Eating Program at the University of California Cancer Center in La Jolla, notes that you should only buy the lower fat version of Greek yogurt. Regular Greek yogurt can contain up to 16 g of saturated fat per serving. Eating fresh fruit or vegetables as a snack is much more healthful option.
High-Fructose Corn Syrup
Although they may not appear to be unhealthful and fattening, foods that contain high-fructose corn syrup can add inches to your waistline. According to a study at Princeton University led by Bart Hoebel, high-fructose corn syrup can encourage your body to store significantly more fat when compared to regular sugar. Many seemingly low-fat food options such as breakfast cereal contain high-fructose corn syrup. Many regular sodas are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. MayoClinic.com suggests that you avoid processed, packaged and frozen foods that tend to have high-fructose corn syrup. Although these foods may not have as many calories as other foods that have a higher fat content, your body is more prone to stockpiling calories when you consume high-fructose corn syrup.
References
- University of California - Berkeley: Linking Fast Food to Obesity
- Mayo Clinic: Avoid This Cholesterol Double Whanny
- Pennington BioMedical Research Center: Trans Fats
- Princeton University: A Sweet Problem: Princeton Researchers Find That High-Fructose Corn Syrup Prompts Considerably More Weight Gain
- The Los Angeles Times: High-Protein Greek Yogurt Gains In Popularity
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