Stupid foods

My definition of "stupid foods" are foods which contain a high number of calories with little or no nutritional value. For dieters these foods should almost always be avoided -- The trick to good nutrition while dieting is to make every calorie count!

1. Regular soft drinks & sweet tea with sugar

With no nutritional value, a single 12 oz can of soda has over 140 calories and 35 grams of sugar. Worse, soda manufactures use high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener. High fructose corn syrup is a cheap sweetener which chemically blocks the "I'm full" signal released by your the brain. So, sodas are not only high in calories, they also cause you to eat more! Stupid food #1 !

2. White Bread

White bread is bread that has been made from refined flour. Refined flour is flour stripped (or as they say "refined") of most nutritional value and fiber.

3. Donuts -- Dessert for breakfast

Donuts are loaded with calories and containing large amounts of trans fat (the worst kind of fat). These sugary and fattening desserts spike blood sugar levels and will leave you feeling hungry again in no time.

4. Bagels. Bagels are very high in calories and are generally topped with cream cheese -- adding even more calories and fat.

5. Buttered Popcorn - Obviously high in butter (100% fat) and extremely high in sodium. Try reduced fat light popcorn or popcorn cakes instead. Popcorn cakes are like rice cakes but taste much better!

6. French Fries

Fried in artery clogging saturated and trans fat, french fries contain many many calories and very little nutritional value.

7. Muffins

Muffins derive more calories from butter (100% fat) than anything else. Most muffins are made from refined white flour which is nutritionally empty as well.

8. Hard candy (peppermints, after dinner mints, mike and ike, jolly rancher, etc)

It's all just sugar. Try sugar free hard candies instead!

To chocolate, or not to chocolate

Notice that chocolate is not on my "stupid food" list. While I don't recommend you eat it daily because of the fat content, small amounts of chocolate (especially dark chocolate) are good for your heart. Chocolate contains nitric oxide, a chemical that increases blood flow, and heart healthy flavanoids.