The healthier foods that are worse than full fat options!

If we are trying to be healthy, or watch our weight, then it may seem like the most sensible option to choose the ‘reduced fat’ or ‘light’ option of our usual products because we are led to beleive they are better for us. However, this is not always the case.

In fact, it has been revealed that many of these ‘healthier’ options aare in fact no better than the naughtier version they are meant to substitute.

Dietition Dr Sarah Schenker told The Daily Mail: ”Buzzwords such as “skinny” and “wholegrain” mean it’s very easy for the consumer to be misled into thinking something is healthier than it is.’

Three recent studies from the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University found that putting low-fat labels on snack foods encouraged people to eat up to 50 per cent more than those who were given the exact same food without these labels.

According to the Daily Mail, items can be labelled ‘light’ or claim a reduced content of calories, sugar or fat only if it is 30 per cent lower in the component than the standard version of the product. But this doesn’t necessarily mean it is low in fat or calories overall, or that it won’t have more sugar to make up for the fat content.

The three ‘diet’ items Dr Schenker reveals aren’t as helpful as you think are:

Muller light Yoghurt, Rasperry & Cranberry:

This lower-calorie yoghurt contains just 91 calories, but because it’s only 4 per cent protein it’s unlikely to fill you up as much as a higher-fat and protein natural yoghurt, despite the large-ish pot.

‘Pick a smaller 100g portion of full-fat Greek yoghurt (95 calories) and add sweetness with berries, which is much more nutritious and filling,’ says Dr Schenker.

Special K

This cereal is pitched at slimmers – they even have a diet plan on the website – yet Special K has marginally more calories than Bran Flakes (173 versus 167 calories in a 30g bowl with semi-skimmed milk) and with only 1.4g filling fibre per bowl, compared with 4.5g in Bran Flakes.

There’s also more than a teaspoon of added sugar per bowl. ‘You’ll get more lasting satisfaction from a bowl of porridge oats, which release energy slowly, keeping you fuller, or a couple of high- protein poached eggs, for only marginally more calories,’ says Dr Schenker.

Go Ahead Red Cherry Crispy Slices

‘These biscuits demonstrate everything that’s wrong with so much food that seems “healthy”,’ says Dr Schenker.

‘They say “low in saturated fat” and have pictures of fruit, hinting at goodness. Yet three slices contain 4 tsp of sugar (16.2g), most of which will be the unhealthy “free” or added type, of which we should have no more than 25g a day.

Tesco healthy living french dressing and Weight Watchers salmon and broccoli wedge melt was also on the naughty list.

CLICK HERE to read full article over  on the Daily Mail.