Men's Health Article

This article was brought to my attention by the California Wellness Taskforce. I liked it, and wanted to share it with you...just in case you haven't picked up the latest issue of Men's Health.


March is National Nutrition Month: Think About Your Food

I pick a wrap over a burger, a snack of dried fruit instead of chips, and a bran muffin instead of that delectable raspberry scone calling my name through the glass casing. I'm doing good, right? According to Eat This, Not That co-authors David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding,we've been tricked into thinking some foods are healthy when they are not! So I'm not making good choices. Are you? In honor of Nutrition Month, let's re-evaluate our food options to make the best choices.


Here are 14 surprisingly healthy alternatives to 14 startlingly unhealthy foods.

Bran muffin (420 calories, 20 g fat)Eat this instead: Ham, egg and cheese on an English muffin (300 calories, 12 g fat)Authors say: "Bran muffins are comprised of two things your body doesn't want in the morning: sugar and refined flour." Read more on why.



Chicken Caesar salad, dinner-size portion (900 calories, 60 g fat)Eat this instead: Grilled chicken on mixed greens (400 calories, 20 g fat)

Tuna melt (900 calories, 50 g fat)Eat this instead: Roast beef or ham sandwich (500 calories, 15 g fat)"Plain tuna out of the can is healthy; tuna doused in mayo, shrouded in melted cheese, and slicked with another layer of dressing is not."


Chicken wrap (700 calories, 35 g fat)Eat this instead: Grilled chicken sandwich (375 calories, 15 g fat)"The wrap itself is the real offender here... It's a tortilla shell pumped with a bunch of modified starch and fat."

Turkey burger (850 calories, 50 g fat)Eat this instead: 7 oz sirloin steak (350 calories, 20 g fat)"Who wouldn't want to make this swap?"


Fruit smoothies (600 calories, 120 g sugars)Drink this instead: 100 percent fruit smoothie (350 calories, 75 g sugars)" The key here really is in the name: A 100 percent fruit smoothie made with plain yogurt instead of ice cream or sherbet will contain nearly half the calories and significantly less sugar."

Granola bar (200 calories, 15 g sugars)Eat this instead: 1 oz cheddar cheese with Triscuits (150 calories, 5 g sugars)"Ever wonder what keeps a granola bar together?"


Pasta salad (300 calories, 20 g fat)Eat this instead: Egg salad (200 calories, 14 g fat)"...The egg salad replaces those troublesome carbs with healthy protein, which helps fill your belly faster and keeps your metabolic fires effectively stoked."

Yogurt with fruit on the bottom (190 calories, 30 g sugars)Eat this instead: Plain yogurt with fresh fruit mixed in (110 calories, 15 g sugars)

Bagel with cream cheese (700 calories, 40 g fat, 13 g saturated)Eat this instead: Cheese omelet (425 calories, 18 g fat, 6 g saturated"...tack on the liberal cream cheese schmear and your "harmless" breakfast snack just got worse than a Whopper."

Pasta primavera (800 calories, 40 grams of fat, 12 g saturated)Eat this instead: 2 slices veggie pizza (400 calories, 20 g fat, 6 g saturated)

Dried fruit (175 calories, 45 g sugars)Eat this instead: Fresh fruit, like an apple or a peach (70 calories, 15 g sugars)

Fish sandwich (600 calories, 30 g fat, 11 g saturated)Eat this instead: Chicken sandwich (300 calories, 13 g fat, 4 g saturated)"It's not about the star ingredient, but the supporting cast-in this
case a cadre of fat-bearing miscreants."

Stick margarine (1 Tbsp) (100 calories, 11 g fat, 2.5 g saturated, 2.5 g trans fat)Eat this instead: Whipped butter (1 Tbsp) (50 calories, 6 g fat, 1.5 g saturated)"By whipping air into the butter, manufacturers decrease the caloric density of a tablespoon of butter, plus it makes for easier spreading."

Courtesy of Men's Health article "14 Healthy Foods That Aren't."