Everyone wants to be healthy to some degree or another. Even if you want to eat nothing but pizza and beer every day, you’d still probably like to maintain your weight and an overall sense of good health when you do it. But the world doesn’t work that way. In fact, the world works against us in a lot of ways. Even things that seem like they’re supposed to be healthy aren’t as healthy as we like to think. Some of them are even worse than the unhealthy choices.
10. Grape Juice Has 33% More Sugar Than Soda
Dieticians and doctors have been fairly vocal about the dangers of drinking soda for a while now. Not that a Pepsi is going to make your arms fall off, but it does have a lot of sugar, caffeine, acid and more and that can contribute to things like tooth decay, obesity, and even hair loss.
For many people, a reasonable alternative would seem to be fruit juice. It’s sweet like a delicious can of Dr. Pepper but it’s all natural and that means good. In theory, at least. But the truth is that some juice is arguably worse for you than drinking a soda. Grape juice, for instance, has 33% more sugar in it than an equivalent amount of soda. Welch’s grape juice is arguably worse for you, in terms of sugar and calories, than a Mountain Dew and no one has ever accused Mountain Dew of being healthy.
9. Movie Theater Popcorn Has More Calories Than Whole Meals
Part of the ritual of going to the movies is to get a snack, and that is, most stereotypically, a big bucket of popcorn. Popcorn and movies have gone hand in hand for decades now. But it’s not always the best choice on the menu, even if popped kernels of corn seem healthier than M&M’s or a hot dog.
Because of the butter topping and oil that popcorn is popped in, it often has a staggering amount of hidden fat. As in, you may get more calories and fat in your popcorn than you’ll find in a whole meal. Or several whole meals.
The worst perpetrator is potentially the 85 ounce AMC cheddar crunch gourmet popcorn. This thing has 4,550 calories and 341 grams of fat. A Big Mac from McDonald’s has 550 calories and 30 grams of fat. So if you ate this whole bucket of popcorn as many people do over the course of a movie, you’d be consuming the fat equivalent of 11 Big Macs and the calories of 8 Big Macs.
8. Campbell’s Tomato Bisque Has Almost as Much Sugar as a Coke
Soup is one of those foods we equate with wholesomeness and comfort. Campbell’s really leans into this with their marketing and it’s true, lots of people really enjoy a hot bowl of soup, especially on a cold day. But not all soups are created equal and some are less healthy than others. Usually we consider more plain soups to be healthier. Simple brother, or tomato soup, are considered good, healthy choices with maybe sodium being the only thing we need to worry about. But that is not always true.
Campbell’s Tomato Bisque soup, for instance, is jam-packed full of sugar, which you might not expect. There’s 37.5 grams per can, in fact. The thing is, you need to take a second to figure this out because Campbell’s labels their cans of condensed soup with the caveat that each can represents 2.5 servings. Now whether or not you get 2.5 servings out of a can of soup is debatable, but that means if you eat one can in a sitting, as many people do, you need to multiply all of their numbers by 2.5.
For some sweet perspective, that means a can of Tomato Bisque Soup is nearly equal in sugar to a can of Coca-Cola. That also equals out to about 8 Oreo cookies. So, while the soup may be tasty, you may want to keep it away from diabetics.
7. Unfrosted Pop Tarts Have More Calories Than Frosted Ones
If you’re trying to eat healthy, there’s a good chance you’re not reaching for Pop Tarts. But for the sake of argument let’s say all you have on hand is Pop Tarts. One box of frosted Pop Tarts and one box of plain, unfrosted Pop Tarts. Which one is going to be healthier? If you’re this far into the list, you can probably guess the answer.
Even though it seems like a frosted Pop Tart has to be unhealthier, it’s literally coated in sugar frosting, that’s not the case. Unfrosted Pop Tarts have more fat and more calories because they make them thicker. The frosting on a normal Pop Tart makes them bigger, so an unfrosted Pop Tart has a thicker crust to make up the difference. That’s pure carbohydrate and fat content.
The difference is small, just 10 calories, but it’s still noteworthy to anyone who might think giving themselves a treat by having an unfrosted Pop Tart is doing better than having a frosted one.
6. Campbell’s Chicken Noodle has Double the Sodium of a Big Mac
Let’s head back to Campbell’s soup for a moment, but for a new reason. We know some tomato bisque has too much sugar now, but what about the classic chicken noodle soup? This is the one that has comforted countless victims of the common cold for generations. What could it be hiding? Salt. Lots of salt.
To start, there’s something to be said for sodium content in soup. You do need sodium in your diet, but it’s recommended you limit it to 2,300 milligrams. And, lucky for us, that means you can safely eat one can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle per day because it contains 2,225 milligrams. This is, again, because Campbell’s labels their cans under the assumption you’re getting 2.5 servings out of each one. If that were accurate, then, you’d be consuming 890 milligrams per serving.
For some contrast, 28 grams of Lay’s original potato chips have 170 milligrams of sodium. A large bag is 280 grams or 10 servings, which is 1,700 milligrams of sodium or about three quarters of a can of soup. A Big Mac, on the other hand, has 1,010 milligrams of sodium, or about 45% of a can of soup.
5. Bud Light Still Has More Calories Than Coca-Cola
Some people like the idea of eating and drinking light but still enjoying themselves and that’s where light beer comes in. It’s arguably a healthier option than regular beer as it has fewer calories and less alcohol. But light beer, it needs to be remembered, is only relatively light. It’s light compared to non-light beer. That doesn’t necessarily mean healthy.
Alcohol has seven calories per gram. Fat has nine calories per gram and carbohydrates have just four, so alcohol is remarkably high calories which many people don’t realize. The result is that even a 12 ounce can of Bud Light beer is going to have 146 calories. That’s six more calories per can than a Coke.
4. A KFC Chicken Pot Pie Is Loaded with Fat and Calories
If you like fried chicken, chances are you’ve had KFC at least once in your life. But it’s no secret that fried chicken is not a healthy food. It has fried right in the name. All things in moderation though, right? And, if you like KFC, there are alternative menu options. For instance, you could try the chicken pot pie instead of the fried chicken.
While KFC isn’t claiming the pot pie is a healthy option in lieu of fried chicken, it is a clear alternative and it seems like it might be better for you at first glance. It’s not fried, for one. And it’s full of vegetables.
The truth is a pot pie from KFC is loaded with fat and calories. One pie has 720 calories, and 41 grams of fat. A keel piece from KFC, that’s the breast without the ribs, has 290 calories and 13 grams of fat. A drumstick is 140 calories with just eight grams of fat. That means one pot pie has as much fat as five drumsticks or three breasts.
3. A Cup of Banana Chips Has Almost as Much Fat as a Quarter Pounder Hamburger
The quest for a healthy snack has taken many people down a long, arduous and often disappointing road. The best snacks are often the unhealthiest and that’s simply because all the unhealthy things like fat and salt and sugar taste really good. So finding something tasty but also healthy can take some time.
Fruit is usually looked at as a great alternative to most processed snacks and even if it has higher sugar, its natural sugar and not nearly as bad within reason. But sometimes even fruit can throw us a curveball, like when you take a closer look at banana chips.
On the surface a banana chip seems ideal. It’s crunchy and sweet and checks off a couple of your snack cravings boxes right there. But you need to get the right chips. Many banana chips are made by frying the banana slices in oil. The result is one cup of banana chips which can have 24 grams of fat and 374 calories. That’s almost as much fat as a Quarter Pounder from McDonalds and three times the calories of an equivalent amount of potato chips.
2. A Cup of 1% Milk Has More Calories Than a Coke
Milk does a body good, we’ve all heard that. But milk is also a remarkably high calorie drink, all things being equal. It shouldn’t be a secret, it’s meant to nourish babies and help them grow so it needs to be packed with calories. That said, the dairy industry has offered up degrees of milk with varying levels of milk fat and that has convinced a lot of people that milk is maybe a lower calorie beverage than it really is.
A cup of whole milk has 150 calories, and that is definitely fairly high. But 1% milk, which is just a step above skim and seems like a lower calorie option, still has 110 calories. That makes 1% milk higher calorie than Coca-Cola. Coke has 140 calories per 12 ounces, and 12 ounces of 1% milk would equal about 165 calories.
1. Meatless Burgers Are Higher in Saturated Fat and Sodium Than Beef
Meatless burgers continue to struggle to find their place in the market with some degree of success. When Impossible burgers first appeared they were a bit of a fad and their popularity has since declined.
Part of the problem with meatless burgers is that they’re not necessarily a healthy alternative to meat. They may meet people’s moral requirements, but their nutrition is a mixed bag. You can get good protein and vitamins from a meatless burger, but also a lot of saturated fat. Both Impossible Burgers and Beyond Meat burgers have more saturated fat than just regular ground beef. They also have four to five times the sodium.
Meatless burgers are not advertised as healthier than real meat necessarily, but they benefit from that perception and don’t actively try to convince consumers of the alternative, either. It’s kind of like how sugary cereals can say they’re part of a complete breakfast without acknowledging that you need a lot of extra nutrition to make that claim true. It’s not a lie, it’s just an omission.
There’s also the fact that, with all the processing that goes into a meatless burger, they may not actually be all that good for the environment when compared to real beef, either.