Hey its Selena and I am home very bored, so I am searching for food (been there?) so I am looking for a healthy snack … Now I really do love this healthy snack, but unfortunately I must admit its actually one of the worst snacks for your waistline. Im talking about trail mix, even the organic, super-healthy varieties that you find at the health food stores. Why is it so bad? Here are just a few reasons: 1. Trail mixes—which almost always include raisins, cranberries, or some other dried fruit—are LOADED with sugar. Add in chocolate via chocolate-covered almonds, yogurt-covered nuts and raisins, and youre in even worse shape. (May as well go for the plain old M&Ms :() For instance, its not uncommon for a mere 1/2 cup of trail mix to contain upwards of 30 grams of sugar! (thats 6 teaspoons). And yes, that includes organic trail mix! Organic sugar is still sugar, ya know... 2. Trail mix is also very high in calories. This is partly due to the sugar content, but when you also add in the high fat content from the nuts, that same 1/2 cup of trail mix easily packs in over 300 calories per 1/2 cup. Thats more fat, sugar, and calories than ice cream! 3. Beyond that, trail mix commits the cardinal sin of combining loads of fats and carbs (in this case the worst kind - sugar) with very little protein content. Because carbs give rise to your storage hormone insulin, and because ingestion of fat obviously increases the fatty acid content in your bloodstream, combining high-glycemic carbs and high-fat content together is a troublesome recipe for fat storage. That said, when protein is introduced in substantial quantities the insulin release is combatted to a degree, but unfortunately most trail mixes only contain a few grams of protein if that. So, if youre looking to get a flat belly fast, and youre relying on high sugar, high fat snacks with little protein (like trail mix), Im afraid youre only going to be slowing your results dramatically. Instead, just go with raw nuts (sometimes I roast them :)) for a healthy snack without all that added sugar. Or the tried and true natural yogurt and berries... and sip on something like an iced tea or homemade lemonade (using stevia for sweetness!)...Mmmm :)
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 21:09:48 +0000
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