Excess of everything is bad, and the same age-old theory applies for “healthy food” as well. There’s no doubt that clean and healthy eating is the foundation of a good weight loss strategy, but the point is to remain within calorie deficit even with the healthiest of foods. No food is calorie free; there’s some amount of calories that come attached with healthy food as well, and without mindful eating, they can put you into calorie surplus and lead to weight gain instead. There’s a wrong notion that there’s no need to count calories with healthy food, but absolutely not, you need to practice portion control with every food that’s on your plate! In this post, we list down 14 healthy foods you are probably overeating and might be the reason you are gaining weight.
1. Peanut Butter: This delicious treat is packed with protein, healthy fats, monounsaturated fat, minerals, and other nutrients and is a healthy replacement for jam and chocolate spreads, but make no mistake, this is still a calorie-dense treat and more than 2 tbsp in a day can quickly spike your calorie count. Most peanut butters are highly processed and loaded with sugars and trans-fatty oils, so make your own peanut butter or pick ones with no added sugar. Also Read (Almond Butter or Peanut Butter – Which One is Healthier)
2. Almonds: It’s not easy to gain weight with almonds and there are so many health benefits attached to these nuts, they have vitamin A, vitamin E, healthy fats, essential minerals and can replace unhealthy snacks in your diet; however, 100 gm of almonds has 50 gm of fats which can lead to weight gain if not consumption restricted to 10 or 12 almonds.
3. Protein Bars: Of course a protein bar is considered a “better option” than digging into a piece of raspberry cheesecake and with the nutrition that they claim to provide, they are healthy treats. But many protein bars have sugar and added flavours, and it’s best to keep away from them if you want to lose weight.
4. Spinach: Yes, you read it right! Spinach with high amount of vitamin A, C, iron, folate is an awesome and inexpensive superfood, but too much spinach in the diet can build up oxalate that with calcium can cause kidney stones. Try a variety of vegetables instead of just sticking to one vegetable just because it is extremely low in calories.
5. Dry Fruits: Cashews, pistachios, walnuts – are full of nutrients and heart-healthy fats, but without portion control, their calorie dense content can creep up the numbers on the weighing scale.
6. Multigrain Bread: We often switch to brown bread or multigrain bread, and try to butter both sides of these breads (pun intended), but most brown breads are not 100% made of whole grain, and might have empty calories and unhealthy, so make sure your bread is 100% whole wheat.
7. Trail mix: This is a snack that has gained popularity as a replacement for unhealthy snacks such as potato chips, and was a food combination developed to be taken along on hikes. It’s a mixture of nuts, seeds, dry fruits, and sometimes even candy. But since all these items are calorie dense, if not careful, they can push you into calorie surplus.
8. Avocado: There’s so much buzz around avocado being a super healthy fruit to include in diets, and rightly so, with their amazing healthy fats, it’s good for overall health too. But it’s also a fruit that can help one gain weight quickly because one large-sized avocado can supply around 320 calories.
9. Olive oil: This oil is the healthiest cooking oil you can find as it has healthy fats with monosaturated fatty acids, that if used without measurement, can quickly raise calories. Limit cooking oil to two tablespoons for each dish.
10. High-Glycemic Fruits: All fruits are nutrient dense and come packed with vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals, but some fruits like grapes, banana, dates, watermelon with their high glycemic index can spike insulin sharply and lead to weight gain (without portion control that is).
11. Chia Seeds: If you have been using generous quantities of chia seeds in everything, then it might lead to weight gain instead of weight loss. Check the weight loss diets on the Rati Beauty app to find out how to use chia seeds properly to shed extra pounds.
12. Quinoa: Just like how it can help with weight loss with its high protein and fiber content, not measuring quinoa can cause weight gain because it has around 220 calories per serving!
13. Protein Powder: A high-protein diet is believed to accelerate the pace of weight loss, but too much protein through protein powder will eventually get converted to fat. So, do go slow on those protein shakes.
14. Prunes: Dried plums or prunes is a good way to relieve constipation, improve bone health, and to curb appetite as well because it has high fiber content, but too many prunes in a day with its calorie-density can ruin your weight loss goals.
Summing up, do practice moderation and portion control even with the healthiest of foods because as we have mentioned above, every food has certain amount of calories, and would add up at the end of the day.
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