3.13.07

I recently mentioned some of the healthy foods that I couldn't live without. Now I'm pondering the most unhealthy foods possible. Deep-dish pizza, fried chicken, donuts all come to mind. While unhealthy, they don't really take the cake. And neither does cake. Here is my list of worst foods:

3a/3b: French Fries/Ice Cream
You'll notice a trend on my list. As opposed to say fried chicken, it at least is a meal. It fills you up. Sure it might have 700 calories instead of the 200 in baked chicken, but at least it provides a dinner. French Fries makes the list because it doesn't fill you up, full of the worst fats (likely trans fats but at least saturated fats) and because they only accompany other bad options. If you served french fries with a whole-grain turkey sandwich it might be a different story. (Not really, but you get the point.)

And ice cream is definitely not a meal, or at least it shouldn't be. It's empty calories after you've already eaten. And it usually packs in candy or chocolate syrup or something else. We can get by just fine without dessert.

Replacement Options:
Make your own french fries at home - cut potatoes, season with salt and pepper and even garlic powder, cooking spray and an oven. Because it's the oil, not the potato that's terrible. And they have low-calorie single serve ice cream bars/sandwiches. For under 150 calories you can satisfy your sweet tooth while maintaining portion control.

2. Coke (and any other regular soda)
Soda? A 150-calorie drink worse than deep-dish pizza? Yeah. While we may think of it as pure Americana, there's nothing pure about it. It's high fructose corn syrup and food coloring. It's not even real sugar. And it provides 0 fulfillment. It's a waste of calories. You can drink yourself fat and not even realize you had anything at all. And once you stop drinking it, you realize that it tastes too sweet anyways. It manipulates your taste buds.

Replacement Options:
Of course water is the best, but I think it's fine to have a zero-calorie soda.

1. Beer
This is bad for so many reasons. For one, a Bud "Light" still has 110 calories per 12 ounces. Hardly a light drink. And you're more likely to drink 6 than you are to stop at one. While 6 of them might fill you up, it's the same filling as food provides. In fact, from my own experience, it makes me even hungrier for greasy, unhealthy foods, compounding the badness.

Replacement Options:
If you can drink just one good beer, say a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale at 200 calories, and savor it, then you wouldn't have to swear beer out of your life.