10 Weight Loss Blockers

When trying to lose or manage our weight, we are told to cut back on certain foods. Some of us take this advice to mean "eat less" of a certain food, while others take it to mean "don’t have it at all anymore." The problem with most diets is that the feeling of deprivation triggers cortisol. We are anxious and stressed that we won’t have the dessert, the dip, or the foods that once were part of our day. When a choice is limited or taken away, the compromise feels unfair, even when it is for the purpose of an important health goal we have created. The following list contains some of the items that can keep you from losing weight and can cause your scale to creep upwards (this list is not in any specific order):

1. Fruit Juice: Sometimes claimed to be made from “real fruit juice,” many times this is hardly true. Be aware, in many juice products the bulk of the ingredients are sugar, corn syrup, and water. The bottle might read 100% orange juice, but it could still contain up to 25 grams of sugar and carbohydrates in one cup (consider that the average 12 oz soda contains about 27 grams of sugar!). Most bottles are 16 oz, but be it at that 8 oz is a single serving, drinking only half the bottle becomes the challenge. This example of orange juice, if part of our daily morning routine, could accumulate over time to entirely too much sugar and even calories (about 100 calories in an 8 oz cup).
2. Salad dressing: Depending on the type, ingredients mostly consist of creamy, oily, or high sodium components. Many salad dressings, believe it or not, contain corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup. One tablespoon is one serving, which usually means just a drizzle over the salad. Pouring from a bottle usually means you'll end up with more than one serving and more of the bad ingredients.
3. Condiments: Pick your flavor be it ketchup, barbeque, honey, or any special sauce that is usually mayonnaise based. BBQ sauce for example is about 1-2 tablespoons per serving which consists of somewhere near 15 carbohydrates and 15 grams of sugar. Top the meat or dip the fry, it’s hard to stick to just a tad for each bite.
4. Creamer: An extra 20 calories per day and chemicals that make the fat amount less probably aren’t doing us any favors. Variables include sticking to 1 tablespoon and how many cups of coffee you are consuming. If by the end of the week you have had 200 calories just from coffee creamer that is 1,400 per week which is about a ½ pound that could be lost.
5. Refined grains: Portion distortion is the name of the game. Rice seems to run the show when it comes to just having ½ cup and stopping. These grains and even flour have been chemically modified. This isn’t good for our digestion.
6. Muffins & baked breads: So much damage is done when starting the day or having one of these for a snack. Fresh baked and with a cup of coffee is more like a dessert than a nutritious choice. They can have up to 450 calories, 10 grams of fat, 36 grams of sugar, and 60 carbohydrates.
7. Red meat: Depending on how lean the cut, 10-15 grams of fat per 4oz serving is the norm. Compare that to chicken which has closer to 0-2 grams of fat. The body also takes longer to digest this meat.
8. Granola: ¼ cup is one serving, but those acai bowels sure do drown the fruit in granola. Some have a whole bowl for breakfast thinking this is healthy. Granola bars can be even worse with the added sugar. Having ½ cup equates to about 250 calories, 40 carbohydrates, and 15 grams of sugar. A lot for such a small entity that’s a topper.
9. Bagels: A bagel can have close to 350 calories and 70 carbohydrates. Size matters, but these just fill our bellies with empty calories.
10. Nuts: If ¼ servings or 22 nuts is one serving, well those additional handfuls far exceed what we should be having.

Eating can be a psychological warfare, filled with temporary moments of satisfaction that do last on the body shape. The will power to eat in moderation, adhere to portion control, and leave extra on the plate, is a challenge that we readily encounter. We have to eat to live, but we also have to eat to live healthy.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200003233421206

https://cola.unh.edu/sites/cola.unh.edu/files/student-journals/CelyanOzberak.pdf

https://www.princeton.edu/news/2010/03/22/sweet-problem-princeton-researchers-find-high-fructose-corn-syrup-prompts

http://www.nber.org/papers/w14721