Carrots, Diet Bars, and Other Snacks That Make You Fatter Instead of Thinner

If you’re trying to lose weight, you are no doubt familiar with what’s healthy and what’s not. You may also be aware that one primary key to weight loss is cutting carbs. However, what I’m about to tell you will go against everything you’ve ever heard about dieting and nutrition. One of the biggest reasons so many diets fail is that some so-called “health foods” actually cause you to gain weight, instead of lose it.

Perhaps the most surprising culprit here is vegetables -- specifically, the ones that grow underground. Did you know that underground or root vegetables are high in carbohydrates? Carrots are supposed to be good for you, but they contain high amounts of carbs, sugar, and calories. Onions, potatoes, beets, and turnips also fall into the category of high carbohydrate content vegetables to avoid, if you want to actually lose weight.

Another health food category that isn’t as healthy as you think is beans. Green beans are fine (as long as they’re fresh, and not frozen or canned, since pre-packaged vegetables contain a lot of sodium), but any other vegetable with the word “bean” in its name -- lima beans, garbanzo beans, red beans, and kidney beans, for example -- have to go.

What about fruit? As a general rule, anyone trying to lose weight should stick to fresh food, and that includes fruit. Many dieters believe drinking a glass of fruit juice, or eating a serving of something made primarily with fruit (such as applesauce) is interchangeable with a serving of fruit. This is definitely not the case.

As an example, let’s look at the humble apple and its associated alternatives:

1 medium apple, cut = 19 carbs

1 serving unsweetened applesauce = 28 carbs

8 oz. apple juice = 29 carbs

See the difference? It’s easy to assume all these food items are good for us, since they have been categorized as health foods since our grade school days when we learned the food pyramid. Unfortunately, these assumptions represent the strong possibility that you won’t be able to lose weight, because you’ll be taking in far more carbs than you realize.

Finally, there is the myth surrounding diet bars. What could be better for a diet than these tasty meal substitutes with “diet” right in the name? Personally, I see no need for them. I lost a significant amount of weight without resorting to diet bars. The problem is not that they’re inherently bad for you -- it’s a matter of quantity over quality. Since diet bars are easy to eat, they make it easy to cheat. They are low in carbs, but high in calories and fat. If you eat more than one of them at a sitting, you’re not going to lose weight.