Exposed: 13 Snack Foods That Are Doing You More Harm Than Good!

Ever get that mid morning or mid-afternoon craving?

You’re searching for something healthy, as well as a snack that will satisfy your sweet tooth or salt craving. The problem is the two usually don’t go hand-in-hand, so you are most likely to settle for something in the middle. Think somewhere between a pear and an oreo…

It is all too likely that you have been convinced by the marketing of the food advertisers that the snack you choose is fairly healthy for you. After all, you’re trying to watch your weight and not overindulge, especially when it’s only supposed to be a snack.

Manufacturing and marketing companies are intelligent and savvy. They want to sell you a product that appeals to the side of you that wants to be good, but is also looking for a cheap and tasty snack. As a result, they take a product that starts out healthy for you and then strip it of its fiber and nutrients, or add sugar to it to make everything taste better.

When a carbohydrate is shucked of its fiber, the benefit of slow time-released digestion is lost. What you are now left with is a more potent product that is sure to create an insulin spike due to its now high glycemic effect. Adding sugar to a snack food only increases this effect. As a result, these foods not only create highs and lows during your day, but are stored as fat. The worst of these culprits is high-fructose corn syrup, which creates an exceptional spike in insulin levels.

Here are some classic examples of snacks that you may think are smart choices for you. You can purchase any of these products in convenience stores, grocery stores, and vending machines. They may be billed as a healthy choice on the go, but they are far from it.

 13 Snack Foods That Are Doing You More Harm Than Good: 

Granola Bars

Marketed Benefit: Touted as a great snack made from whole grain oats.

Reality: Almost 50% of the carbohydrates of most granola bars come from sugar and contain 1 gram or less of fiber, usually in the form of high fructose corn syrup.

NutriGrain Bars

Marketed Benefit: Multi-grain snack

Reality: The first ingredient listed is high fructose corn syrup! It also contains less than 1 gram of fiber.

Prepackaged Fruit Cup

Marketed Benefit: It’s fruit!

Reality: These products usually add lots of preservatives to keep the fruit fresh. They also list added sugar as one of their first three ingredients.

Pretzels:

Marketed Benefit: A light snack made from wheat.

Reality: Sodium aside, pretzels are an enriched snack with little, if any nutritional value. They are very high glycemic and get digested almost as fast as table sugar!

Wheat Thins

Marketed Benefit: They are made from wheat, which is a grain

Reality: While it’s true that wheat thins started out as a whole grain, the end product doesn’t even resemble its former self. Wheat thins are enriched, contain high-fructose corn syrup, oils, and artificial additives. Also, there’s hardly any fiber, so they are digested quickly and will definitely spike your sugar levels.

Saltines

Marketed Benefit: A quick, low calorie, light snack

Reality: No nutritional value. They are digested faster than spooning sugar into your mouth! Did I mention they are enriched, contain high-fructose corn syrup and have hydrogenated oils in them?

Trail Mix

Marketed Benefit: Nuts and other healthy treats all mixed together

Reality: Unless you are making the trail mix yourself, most store bought varieties contain candy pieces and are loaded with sodium. They also tend to have hydrogenated oils and food coloring dyes added to the m&m’s, or other candy inside. Also, just 1 small handful contains 160-210 calories… and most people eat at least 4 handfuls.

Graham Crackers

Marketed Benefit: Light, whole grain snack

Reality: This enriched cracker contains little if any fiber and also lists hydrogenated oil as one of its ingredients.

Fruit Yogurt

Marketed Benefit: Yogurt is good for you!

Reality: While plain yogurt and other low fat/sugar varieties are healthy, most fruit ones are not. More than 75% of the calories come from sugar.

Energy Drinks!

Marketed Benefit: Quick energy boost.

Reality: You can purchase either the regular or sugar-free versions, which both contain the same amounts of caffeine. They usually pack 28-56 grams of sugar in a bottle if you opt for the regular version. When you add the 120 – 300 grams of caffeine (equal to 1-3 cups of coffee) to the mix, you send your adrenal glands on overdrive, which can not only lead to crashes later in the day but constant use can lead to adrenal deficiency, as well as other fatigue and hormone issues.

Fruit Juice

Marketed Benefit: It’s made from fruit… isn’t it?

Reality: Most fruit juices contain less than 100% juice. Even those that do still cause an insulin spike from ingesting a liquid packed with over 40 grams of sugar. The difference between real fruit and juice is that the fiber has been removed during the juicing process… along with a lot of the natural vitamins.

SnackWell Cookies

Marketed Benefit: A healthy cookie treat!

Reality: Everybody loves cookies, so we try to justify ways of sneaking them into our diet without feeling any guilt. These SnackWell crème sandwich cookies are no different. They still contain 38 enriched grams of carbs with 18 grams of high-fructose corn syrup spiked sugars. Top that off with the added hydrogenated oil and this healthy snack becomes an artery clogger.

Pre-Packaged Peanut Butter Crackers

Marketed Benefit: healthy benefits of peanut butter in an on-the-go package.

 Reality: Yes, peanuts are good for you, but when they are transformed into peanut butter most companies use hydrogenated oils and high-fructose corn syrup. The crackers are about as good for you as saltines…

I hope I didn’t ruin anyone’s favorite snack-time treat, but it is better to be in the know. This way you are now able to make more informed decisions when it comes time to getting in shape for the summer.

Now that you know what healthy snacks aren’t so healthy, you’re probably wondering what you can eat to fill these voids… next week I’ll be back with some sure-fire ways to keep your metabolism going strong all day long with five of my favorite foods for snacking.

Eat well, live well!

Committed to your success,

Stephen Cabral, CSCS, CPT, NS

Stephen Cabral is a national health correspondent with over 10 years of credentials. He holds national and international certifications in strength & conditioning, personal training, yoga and nutrition.

Steve's column, Trim, Tone & Tighten Thursdays, published every Thursday to Gather Essentials: Health

Trim, Tone & Tighten Thursdays gives you an all access pass to an array of health & fitness information that you can't find anywhere else. It would take you hours each day to read and sift through the massive amounts of information (and advertising) in the health related fields to actually get any worthwhile information. Lucky for you, I do that everyday and I am more than willing to share my findings after the information has been verified to be true.