What foods to avoid to prevent obesity

Just because a food is healthy on its own, it does not mean it will still be once fried, sweetened or drizzled in sauce. Know which foods to avoid to keep you from the dangers of obesity.

• If nuts are good for your health, then pecan pie should be healthy too, shouldn't it? Well, no: a handful of pecans contains 200 calories, compared to 700 in a piece of pie.
• Similarly, sweet potato is wonderfully healthy, but just add some butter and brown sugar, and it becomes harmful.
• Breaded and fried, fish loses its properties, as does spinach in cream.

Solutions:

• When you go to the restaurant, think "natural." Ask them not to put butter on your meat or your fish, or sauce on your vegetables.
• And if you really must have dessert, go for the pumpkin pie, without whipped cream.

Eat fewer products from industrial bakeries and patisseries, junk food and processed foods with high fat and sugar content. Foods made from refined flour and high in sugar (including potatoes) make blood sugar levels shoot up and then crash. We then find ourselves even hungrier after eating than we did before.

• In a survey, it was found that on days when young people consumed junk food — cheeseburgers, fries and soft drinks — they ingested an average of 187 calories more than the days they didn't eat it, resulting at the end of one year in a weight gain of 2.7 kg (five pounds).
• As for cookies and other similar low-fat products, it is better to avoid them, because manufacturers compensate for the lack of fat with sugar.
• Sugary foods, even the lean ones, have the effect of increasing insulin production, which is now in excess in the blood. Normally, this hormone acts as an appetite suppressant.
• However, some researchers believe that among overweight people, its relationship with other hormones that influence appetite is altered and that, in high levels, it encourages overeating and storage of fat.

In a study conducted at Harvard University, researchers found that women whose soft drink consumption had increased from one or fewer per week to one or more a day gained an average of five kilograms (11 pounds) in four years.

• Even fruit juice can be harmful if not consumed in moderation. Better to stick to fresh fruit.
• Coffee lovers should also be wary of drinks offered by the big chains. Add sugar and whipped cream to a latte, and you just upped your nutritional intake by 250 calories.
• As for the whole milk latte, it provides twice as many calories as its skimmed milk equivalent.

In short, to maintain a healthy diet, don't transform health foods into a calorific feast and eat fewer processed sugary products.