today I finally wanted to expand this series with something that I think can benefit both those that are new and experienced in the realm of nutrition when you listen to enough different people talk about healthy foods you start to hear a lot of the same examples unfortunately there's a fair amount of foods out there that are considered healthy that are really not helping as much as you'd think or even at all and possibly more importantly there are a good amount of foods out there that are great nutritious and un fattening that are prepared in a
way that prioritize flavor over Health many of these are presented as healthy until you actually start digging into how they're made and what they're made of in the nutrition World these are often referred to as trap Foods today I want to go over 10 of the most common foods that many people believe are healthy that in reality are only good for at best expanding your waistline when I think trap Foods the very first thing that comes to mind is yogurt and this is quite possibly the most important one because yogurt is generally agreed upon to
be a top-of-the-line dairy product one of the healthiest foods out there and one of the most accessible ways to include protein in your diet but I would be willing to bet that every single person who's eaten yogurt has at some point fallen for the Trap the problem is when I'm browsing through the yogurt section the actual healthy protein dense per calorie variant seems to be actively hidden among an ocean of different flavors and names of fruit at the bottom and Blended yogurts seriously next time you're at the grocery store see for yourself the overwhelming majority
of the time fruit at the bottom yogurt is just the worst because it's basically false advertisement granted most of it is fairly standard yogurt but at the bottom is a ton of corn syrup and a little bit of fruit juice that hardly contains any of the nutrients you'd hope to get from fruit anyway your usual size cup of Fruit at the bottom yogurt which is about 150 g typically contains anywhere from 15 to 30 gam of sugar and 5 to 10 g of protein you know what else has that ratio a Reese's cup Blended yogurts
are a bit better typically a 150 g cup contains 10 to 20 g of sugar and 10 to 15 g of protein simply put this is still not good for something that you are most likely relying on as a healthy protein Source if you're eating yogurt for health purposes plain Greek yogurt is what you're looking for it's going to have 15 to 20 gr of protein in the same amounts and 5 gr of sugar at the very most with none from added sugars then you could add what you want for flavor from there if you
want to add some fruit good because you can control it you know you're including fresh fruit containing a controlled amount of more complex sugars and nutrients and antioxidants you'd actually expect to get from Fruit untainted by some company who is trying to Market it or preserve it and just a personal recommendation cinnamon tastes great in yogurt but again it all comes down to control and with fruit at the bottom yogurts and Blended yogurts it's tough to do that staying in the realm of breakfast foods the next trap you're likely to encounter is oatmeal but specifically
flavored prepackaged oatmeal now oatmeal itself is great it's nutritious it's fibrous it's satiating and it allows for plenty of variety realistically oats are probably the best grain and because of this it's one of the first additions to many people's diets when they decide to make a change oatmeal for breakfast getting the day started right it's not a bad call the problem is people tend to go for the flavored prepackaged oatmeals and those are just loaded with sugar your average serving size for oats is half a cup anywhere from 40 to 50 g your typical flavored
packet of oatmeal will contain 12 to 15 gam of sugar in that amount to put things in perspective that's about as much sugar as there is in a glazed donut now I understand maple syrup brown sugar they're great I like them too but eating that every morning is going to add up and not help if health or weight loss are your goals fortunately the solution is going to sound pretty familiar it's the exact same as yogurt make it yourself oats themselves are pretty cheap and easy and for flavor again you're in control of the quantities
it doesn't take much maple or brown sugar to taste good though I personally prefer honey cinnamon some peanut butter or better yet fruit berries bananas stuff like that again it's all about control and getting the first meal right can really set the tempo for the rest of the day especially if you're trying to lose fat making your opening meal a sugar bomb is probably not going to help this next one breaks my heart a lot because one of the most hidden perceived as healthy trap Foods out there is Sushi now don't get me wrong fish
is amazing we've been over this several times on top of sushi you typically have Sashimi of salmon tuna Yellow Tail shrimp eel octopus Etc and they're all phen phenomenal they are truly some of the most nutritious Foods on the planet with highlights being low calorie protein and Omega-3s the problem is as with a lot of things the ratio in standard Sushi fish on rice at least in the US you're getting at best oneir fish and in rolls you're getting much less on top of usually some kind of sugary sauce and what's taking up the rest
maybe some fruits and vegetables but usually a heap of white rice now in the past a lot of people got on to me about putting white rice down one of the most common points Point people made was many people especially from Asian countries eat a ton of white rice and they're among the healthiest on Earth and you can't tell me with a straight face that this is a causation instead of a correlation because let's take a look at everything else they eat plenty of seafood full of protein full of essential fats nutritious fresh plant Foods
loaded with micros and all of it untainted by processing and harmful nutrients like added sugars trans fats excessive omega-6s and preservatives and they walk everywhere there average citizen puts the average American to shame in terms of health and diet and I think they can afford to let white rice slide white rice is by nature a simpler carbohydrate it lacks a complex nutrient profile and is thus very quick to be broken down and absorbed into the bloodstream to be stored as fat if not used quickly now you'll often find athletes and bodybuilders use this to their
advantage eating it before a workout for energy or using it to refill their glycogen stores much like sugar white rice is basically just fuel your body needs fuel your body doesn't need this much fuel especially since I've never seen someone eat sushi and then go exercise right after so eat sushi and enjoy Sushi I know I sure do appreciate the fish because that's what everybody's actually there for anyway but just please acknowledge that Sushi as we know it is a trap food and more than anything appreciate Ginger over the last couple years I've talked a
lot about beans and they're pretty great unfortunately I personally grew up on baked beans they were quite possibly my family's go-to side dish and they are without a doubt a trap food as I said beans themselves are great nutritious cheap accessible versatile it's really hard to go wrong with them when people start including them the natural train of thought is that it doesn't really matter what type and for the most part they're not wrong so they tend to go for the most well advertised the one with the fancy label and the promise of a hearty
home style dish and wait is that bacon yeah they're trapped what's labeled as baked beans in most stores contains roughly 25 g of sugar per about a 250 g cup that is basically gram for G the equivalent to most sodas now yes underneath that sugar coating is typically navy beans one of the more nutritious kinds providing protein fiber and a lot of essential vitamins and minerals but it's still not really a worthwhile deal and to me a big part of it is again control and awareness when you drink a soda you expect sugar and you
can account for that but for the novice individual who hears beans are good for you and they think oh well baked beans are my favorite and then they're not even aware of the potential detriment the fact that they might as well be eating a cup of beans with a glass of soda please if your goal is healthy weight loss like I know a lot of people's is make the switch it'll make things a lot easier for a lot of people when they start on the nutrition Journey they're told to prioritize protein and for many people
the easiest most accessible protein is meat unfortunately in their search for easy meat many fall into the Trap of deli meats now meat itself is a protein dense micro dense allar around pretty safe and healthy food F group that being said there are a few known exceptions to this most people are aware that processed meats are not worth it and higher fat Meats aren't going to do you that much good past a certain point but deli meats seem like such a weirdly innocent gray area because the problem with deli meats isn't necessarily traditional processing or
excessive fat or a lack of nutrients the problem is chemicals preservatives additives many of which I can't even pronounce properly these are artificial they exist purely for the intentions of taste and preservation and definitely not human consumption because they are associated with a ton of problems not least of which being carcinogenic and what's so annoying is that this one is such an easy fix just get real meat real chicken breast real turkey breast if cost becomes an issue buy it in bulk and freeze it just don't be thinking this borderline rubber-like material is a good
choice for a lean protein Source you will regret it next up we've got a popular childhood favorite fruit juice now fruit is amazing we've been over this many times fruit juices on the other hand are a problem because of something that we've talked about before they're liquid calories especially from sugar are so much easier to consume when they're liquid first off fruit juices lack a lot of the nutrient appeal of fruits you lose a lot of fibers and a lot of beneficial micros and plant compounds in the skin nutrients are Stripped Away little by little
until eventually you might as well just be drinking a fruit flavored glass of water with granulated sugar now most fruit juices you'll find don't go that far but they'll often make up for it with added sugars in my personal experience all of Apple orange grape grapefruit pomegranate cranberry pineapple and Cherry juices more often than not contain added sugars added in after the juicing process much like yogurt it feels like they make an active effort to hide fruit juices that don't contain added sugars and their quantities always blow me away if you drink fruit juices to
try to avoid other sugary drinks they're hardly helping you and if health or weight loss is your goal please just eat real fruit the next trap food we've got is another common childhood favorite hazelnut spread now nut Butters are generally considered to be a safe nutritious Middle Ground of a treat barring hydrogenation they're generally dense enough in protein and healthy fats to make up for potential pitfalls hazelnut spread though takes it a bit too far it really doesn't even deserve to be in these same sentence as nut Butters in a 40 G serving size of
your typical hazelnut spread about 20 G of that will be sugar guys that's 50% this is literally diabetes in a jar then they add typically some unnecessary High omega-6 oils like palm oil and at this point you're barely getting any of the hazelnut or even cocoa advertised under no circumstance can your typical hazelnut spread ever come even remotely close to being considered a health food don't fool yourself into thinking that this is an apt replacement for a healthy meal sometimes with trap Foods it's not even about the quality of nutrients but the sheer quantity of
calories that you can eat in a tasty snack and to me nothing exemplifies this better than granola granola by definition is just fine it's really just oats nuts and seeds it's very fibrous it's full of healthy fats and it's overall a great snack in reasonable amounts the problem is that no one eats it in reasonable amounts an ounce of your typical granola is over 100 calories and the stuff can be quite addictive and let's face it nobody ever has granola without dressing it up a little bit extra sugars extra oils chocolate dried fruits and if
you buy it from the store preservatives you honestly might have a stroke reading the ingredients list like most things in this video there is a way to make it just fine but nobody's going to go out of their way to do that and anyone already struggling with their weight is fairly likely to splurge on something like this even when made properly this is a calorically dense food that passed a certain very easy to pass point is going to contribute little but extra calories something that most people either don't want or as I keep harping on
would at least like to be aware of now this next one for the longest time I didn't actually actually know was a problem for people but I definitely now think it fits in the Trap definition that being sports drinks now sports drinks do have their place they are designed for athletes during athletic events what a concept they're a quick and simple way to replenish your electrolytes and glycogen stores after some intense physical activity where you burn through those but when you drink them casually there's no need for these nutrients they're just sugary water and I
can't tell you how many people especially kids choose these over sodas thinking it's a healthier option I mean I guess technically it is but 99% of the time they're just beta sodas in 12 fluid ounces roughly 360 ml popular sports drinks will contain about 20 to 25 gram of sugar while your typical soda will have about 30 to 35 gram in the same amount it's kind of the equivalent of changing from a double chocolate chip cookie to just a regular chocolate chip cookie except in this case it's liquid so not satiating and it's glorified by
the whole Sports World yeah they're a much bigger trap than I initially realized and the last food that I consider to be a trap food that I want to talk about today is dark chocolate now proper dark chocolate pushing 80% cocoa does have its Merit it's quite nutritious definitely not low calorie but very nutrient dense gram for gram it contains more protein than eggs more fiber than pretty much every vegetable in existence and a very impressive microc content including copper iron magnesium phosphorus and zinc cocoa is also full of flavonoids that have antioxidant properties and
are shown to help heart health how however these in reality should be a nice bonus to a treat you're already enjoying in moderation because calling dark chocolate health food is still a bit of a stretch even in that 80% cocoa chocolate the other 20% is still mainly sugar and that is the best case scenario because most Foods advertised as dark chocolate don't even make it that far many brands have chocolate variants that go by some other name with the word dark in it because it doesn't actually pass as dark chocolate there's not enough cocoa and
too much sugar but most people just browsing the shelves are not going to notice if dark chocolate is something that you see yourself indulging in at least make sure you check the amounts that are in it and there you have it 10 foods that you may have once thought were healthy that you'll never get trapped by again I feel the need to reiterate that I am fully advocating balance in your nutrition fats have their place carbs have their place sugar has its place enjoy your food and keep a good relationship with it because if your
perfect diet makes you miserable you're not going to follow it anyway with many of the foods I've talked about today I believe I've made it clear that there is a better alternative literally just right around the corner but more importantly I just wanted to bring awareness to some of the most common pitfalls people have hit after they've already made the decision to make a change in their life I have full sympathy for people who actively try to work on themselves and struggle due to a lack of information or Worse straight up deception hopefully videos like
this can make the road on that Journey a little smoother now if you enjoyed the video or at the very least learned a little something I encourage you to subscribe to let me know to make more like this go ahead and let me know down in the comments what other topics you think could fit in a format like this and remember that all I ask is that you do your own research and advocate for your body you only get the one
