You don't have to look very far to find foods to find foods containing an off-the-chart amounts of calories. Whether you are trying to safely gain weight or need of list of food to avoid while you try to lose weight, know that if it's deep-fried, coated, packaged, visibly fatty or an oil, chances are you've got a high-calorie food.
Fried Food
Frying food increases the calories of most foods because cooking them requires submerging them in a vat of liquid fat. Add to that the fact that many meats like chicken and turkey already contain lots of saturated fat. It's basically adding fat to fat. Fat is the highest calorie nutrient of all; each gram provides 9 calories. Just one fried chicken breast from a popular national fast food restaurant contains 510 calories. An order of large fries from another popular chain adds another 500 calories. A small helping of fried foods at one sitting could easily equal as many calories as you need for the entire day. Look carefully at your labels, too. It's not just meat and potatoes that have been fried. Your favorite snacks from cheese curls and tortilla chips to funnel cakes and beignets have all been deep fried. Moderate the calories you get from fried foods by choosing healthy oils like olive, canola, and safflower, and eating fried foods as an occasional treat.
Fast Food
It's not that you can't get healthy, reasonable calorie foods at fast-food restaurants, it's just that their mainstay menus are chock full of super-sized bites of very high-calorie foods. Take for example the chains advertising burgers with a full pound of meat. One restaurant has a burger with three patties on it; it weighs in at 1,140 calories all by itself --- without the French fries. In addition, you make these menu items even higher in calories when you spread on high-calorie toppings and condiments like bacon and cheese, mayonnaise, sauces and some salad dressings. Add to that a creamy shake, and you've got a high-calorie trifecta. A deliciously popular 16 ounce chocolate shake at one fast food restaurant contains 880 calories. One lunch consisting of a burger, fries and soft drink could top out at more than 3,000 calories, or close to twice the calories you need in a day.
Desserts
You may lament that if it tastes good, it's a high-calorie disaster. This is unfortunately true in the case of many dessert items. For example, a three-layer chocolate fudge cake found in most grocery store freezers contains 230 calories in a slithering, or one-eighth of the cake. A slice of a specialty flavored cheesecake at a national sit-down restaurant chain, on the other hand, contains 1,330 calories. The combination of sugar, oils, and sometimes lard conspire to boost a dessert's calorie content. You can contain the calories by making your own lower calorie alternatives, using low-calorie sweeteners or honey, or try sugar-free and low calorie desserts like gelatin, fruit with topping and some puddings.
Calorie-Dense Healthy Foods
For those who are trying to gain weight, such as bodybuilders, athletes, or even people who have suffered a debilitating illness, you can eat healthy by consuming calorie-dense foods. These include nutritionally sound foods like meal replacement drinks and protein shakes, which though small, by volume contain a fairly high amount of calories. Complex carbohydrates, especially starchy foods, like whole grains, pasta, rice and potatoes pack a mean calorie punch. They are also safer on your heart than meats with lots of saturated fat.
References
- Food and Drug Administration: Make Your Calories Count
- Medline Plus: Fat
- Robard.com: The Calorie Equation
- Weight-control Information Network: Weight-loss and Nutrition Myths
- All Women's Talk: 20 High-Calorie Foods
- North Dakota State University Extension: Even Deep-fried Foods Can Fit in a Healthy Diet
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