New Year, New You: Diet Smart By Avoiding Food Traps

Some seemingly healthy foods will actually hurt your diet.

ByABC News via logo
January 11, 2010, 3:04 PM

Jan. 11, 20111 — -- Dieting is tough, especially when the supermarket shelves are loaded with dozens of products that promise weight loss. Is it better to eat sugar free or fat free? Low calorie or low fat? Dr. Howard Shapiro has taken a hard look at which foods will sabotoge your diet and compiled a list of the biggest offenders.

Food Offenders

Sugar Free Cookies

You might think you're making the healthy choice when picking up the sugar-free cookies but six of them have the equivalent of three pats of butter worth of bad fat and six teaspoons of starch.

Granola seems like one of the healthiest foods out there. Don't be deceived -- 1 ½ cups of low fat granola has 525 calories and 11 teaspoons of sugar.

One fat-free muffin has 500 calories, 16 teaspoon of starch and 11 teaspoons sugar. You could have two "Vans" waffles, three veggie sausage links, along with fruit and sugar free syrup for a total of 300 calories, half the amount of the fat-free muffin.

For the calories in one tablespoon of premium ice cream you can eat four Tofutti Fudge Treats.

Click here to check out Dr. Howard Shapiro's healthy peanut butter cookies

Click here to learn more about Dr. Howard Shapiro's diet.

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