Unhealthy Foods of Summer

Don’t let summer derail your diet! Whether you’re at a picnic, the amusement park, or walking on the boardwalk – there are some surprisingly unhealthy foods you need to know about. Here’s the run down from MSNBC.com:

  • Grilled corn. How can that be bad? It’s a whole food, unprocessed, and full of fiber right? Yes. However, boiled corn has only 80 calories and less than a gram of fat. Great! Grilled corn can be smothered in butter or oil – which can add 11 grams of fat and up to 100 extra calories per ear.
  • That tempting shrimp basket. The healthful benefits of shrimp are undone by the fat, calories and cholesterol of the breaded, deep fried version you’ll find on the boardwalk or county fair. Just seven innocent breaded shrimp can add up to 450 calories and 200 milligrams of cholesterol. What’s that? Just 66% of the total cholesterol you should have in an entire day, for a grown man, from seven shrimp. The same serving of plain shrimp? 60 calories.
  • You’re at an amusement park – what’s more refreshing than a snow cone? It’s just shaved ice right? Sure and 550 calories worth of sugar syrup! Instead, get a scoop of fruit sorbet – which is only about 120 calories. Even a frozen yogurt has less than half the calories of an innocent looking snow cone. Maybe your best bet for an icy sweet treat is a popsicle – at only 45 calories. You’d have to eat 12 of them to match the calories in a snow cone.
  • Green tea infused drinks. Something like a bottle of Passionfruit Mango Green Tea takes something inherently low-cal and sugar-free and turns it into a sugar and calorie fest with 85 grams of sugar – and 325 calories in a 20 ounce bottle! That’s nearly 100 calories more than a can of Coke! So check the label on your healthy sounding drink that claims to be green tea. Or instead, brew some green tea and pour it over ice.

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