December 12, 2018 | Categories: Weight Loss & Nutrition
While many trainers and nutritionists live by the old adage that you can eat “everything in moderation,” and they admittedly loosen up their strict diets during the last few weeks of the year, there are some foods they still won’t touch with a 10-foot pole. Here, fitness experts and nutritionists share the foods they never eat, even during the holidays. (Sorry, pigs-in-a-blanket and fancy coffee drinks, we’re looking at you!)
Learn more about how nutritionists lose weight over the holidays.
You probably knew these party-favorite mini dogs weren’t healthy—but hey, they’re so small, they can’t be that bad for you, right? Wrong.
“These puppies come fully loaded with saturated fat and calories, especially the sausages stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon,” nutritionist Manuel Villacorta, author of Whole Body Reboot. (Admittedly, the guy is a nutritionist and knows how to show restraint.) “Just one serving is enough to add stress to your arteries and help increase your LDL cholesterol levels. I would honestly never eat these any time of year.”
“As a fitness professional, I will usually bend on some unhealthy choices as long as the ingredients are actually real food—like egg yolks, cheese, pork or ham, candied yams, or vegetables with bread crumbs,” says Gino Caccavale, fitness expert and creator of the ReZist workout. “But I draw the line at two close relatives—fruitcakes and Panettone bread! These two cousins are commercially and artificially processed in a factory and contain an overabundance of sugar, cholesterol, and sodium,” he says. “Along with the sticks of butter, giant scoops of sugar, and cups of corn syrup, the preservatives used to keep these shrink-wrapped heart attacks on the store shelves is off the charts!”
The takeaway: In times of indulgence, think about long-term effects of foods. Foods that are naturally fatty are easier to shake in the days after consuming them than artificially and chemically enhanced ones, he says.
“While I won’t say you shouldn’t have any holiday cookies, the most dangerous part of the holiday treats takeover is indulging in singular large doses of calories or fatty foods by nonstop eating during that six-hour family party,” says Derek Stratton, C.P.T., BFX Studio expert and celebrity trainer in New York City. When you find yourself sampling each of the 12 kinds of cookies (or any other dessert) on Aunt Ethel’s cookie tray in one sitting, you’re setting yourself up for an overload of calories, fat, and sugar.
“Choose foods you’re more likely to have one helping of, or put a few favorite cookies on a plate and move away from the danger zone,” Stratton says.
“I stay away from soda and don’t ever bring it into the house,” says Shawn Talbott, Ph.D., fitness and nutrition expert and author of Deadly Antioxidants. “While diet sodas aren’t much better than regular soda, the full sugar variety should be thought of as a poison leading you closer to obesity, diabetes, dementia, depression, and erectile dysfunction.”
You’ve probably been dunking chips into these dips since the preseason football started in August. But Villacorta recommends using caution around these heavy dips with mysterious ingredients. “No matter the amount of layers—three, five, or seven—I wouldn’t even dip a carrot stick in there!” he says.
More likely than not, those dips contain more fat than any other nutrient. Just one average bite can contain up to 150 calories, he says. You’re better off dunking veggies or pitas into hummus—or, if you can’t resist the chips, just eat them by themselves!
Read the full article on Men’s Journal.
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