Unfortunately some of the most appetizing foods are also the most calorific. If you want to avoid weight gain here are some of the foods you must avoid.
Worst Foods to Eat That Pile on the Pounds and Cause Weight Gain
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There’s nothing complicated about weight gain. It only happens when you consume more calories per day than you can burn.
Calories are not a bad thing. You need them. One the easiest diets to follow is the CICIO diet – calories in, calories out
Your body uses them for fuel. It’s only when you get too many that problems arise. There are low calorie foods that fill you up and can satisfy the most insatiable appetite
Although one of the reasons people gain weight is eating too much, it’s not just about quantity.
The food choices you make can also help you pile on the pounds. Admittedly it is some times hard to resist a burger and choose a healthier food that helps the fat burning process than works against it
Even if you don’t snack and stick to just three meals per day, if those meals contain food that’s loaded with too many calories it’s still easy to get fat.
The worst foods for making you fat tend to be the ones that are high in fat or contain too many simple carbs and the fact that some foods are pumped full of extra sugar doesn’t help.
This includes options you wouldn’t normally associate with sweetness so you need to pay close attention to what you eat.
Let’s take a look at some of the prime offenders. Some of these foods you may eat on a regular basis and maybe one of the reasons why you can’t lose weight.
5 Foods You Need to Avoid (Unless you Want to Gain Weight)
1. Fast Food
One of the attractions with fast food is eating it gives you an excuse not to cook.
You may have to wait while it’s being prepared but ordering a take-away pizza or sitting in a snack bar eating fried chicken can be easier than making a sandwich.
The big problem with fast food is you often have no idea how many calories the meal you are eating contains.
Even when fast food outlets make this information available, they often encourage you to have a larger helping or order additional food items. Seriously, how many times have you been asked if you’d like “go large”?
When you prepare your food at home it’s easier to stick to healthy food choices and avoid sugars and saturated fats.
2. Ready Meals
It doesn’t matter whether you call them ready meals or TV Dinners, it’s best to avoid this type of food.
As with fast food, ready meals are popular because they are quick. The only preparation is tearing open the box and peeling back the film on top of the tray.
There might be exceptions but if you examine the food information panel you may be surprised to see your meal contains more calories than you thought.
The other thing to remember about ready-made meals is the price.
They are always more expensive than the kind of healthy meals you can prepare yourself.
Research from Luxembourg is highly supportive of avoiding this type of pre-prepared food.
All the study participants were aged 18-69 years and 1,352 people took part. The data shows a definite association between increased consumption of ready-made meals and abdominal obesity.
In addition to showing regularly eating such meals increases the chance of obesity, the data also shows people eating ready-made meals are less likely to obtain an adequate balance of nutrients.
3. Alcoholic Drinks
Drinks may seem a strange addition to a list of foods that pile on the pounds but, like food, they enter the body via the mouth.
More importantly, each gram of pure alcohol provides seven calories.
That’s nearly double what you’d get from a gram of carbohydrate or protein and very close to the number of calories you’d get from a gram of fat.
You also have to remember it’s a lot quicker and easier to drink calories than it is to eat them. No chewing is required.
Admittedly, wines, spirits, and beers are not pure alcohol but they contain other ingredients that provide calories too.
Alcohol also increases appetite. Recent research reveals this is because alcohol causes the brain to go into starvation mode.
4. Soft Drinks
Soda and other sugar-sweetened soft drinks are another thing to avoid if you are trying to lose weight.
You also need to tread carefully if you want to avoid gaining weight in the first place.
Although we call them soft drinks, when it comes to providing useless calories such beverages are strictly hardcore.
They dump a lot of calories in your body, do it fast, and offer little or no nutritional benefits.
Twenty ounces of soda often contains 15-18 spoons of sugar and may provide over 240 calories. Some of the canned drinks you can buy provide considerably more.
5. Processed Meat
Processed meat products such as sausages, burgers, and canned hams are also very good at helping you to pile on the pounds.
As with ready meals, part of the attraction is meals that include processed meats tend to be quite quick to prepare.
The problem with processed meat products is they contain more fat than most non-processed meats.
Try cooking some sausages in the oven sometime and take a look at how much fat escapes into the tray.
Other High-Calorie Foods to Avoid
The list above shows some of the prime offenders but there are many more.
Other foods that can cause you to gain weight fast include:
- Potato Chips
- Pasta products
- White Rice
- White Bread
- Pizza
- Cookies and confectionery
Some Special Considerations for Dried Fruit
Although dried fruits such as peaches and raisins are often seen as a good option for healthy snacking, great care is required.
There is no doubt about their nutritional value but dried fruit contains a lot of calories as well.
The problem with dried fruit is it’s so easy to keep popping it into your mouth.
Before you know it, the packet is empty and all the dried fruit is gone.
It’s a nutritious snack but unless you have the will-power to eat a few pieces and then stop, it may be better to munch on some carrot sticks or pieces of celery instead.