1. Rise and Shine
1 cup Quaker Oats Granola = 2 slices of French toast with honey = 440 calories
The next time you give yourself a pat on the back for choosing the healthy option with your bowl of granola, you’d do best to consider your options. One such alternative is two thick slices of Aunt Jemima’s French toast served with dollops of pure honey (not maple syrup!). That’s because the nuts, coconut, brown sugar, maple syrup, and occasional dried fruit in Granola add up, and if eaten recklessly, they’ll make your weight shoot up too.
2. Holey Moly
½ cup shelled sunflower seeds = 2 glazed Krispy Kremes = 400 calories
You know the feeling: you walk past a Krispy Kreme outlet only to be overwhelmed by the temptation of devouring one of those gorgeous smelling glazed doughnuts. Well think twice next time because though doughnuts’ nutritional value and fat content aren’t doing you any favours, in purely calorific terms, they’re better for you than those deceiving sunflower seeds, which may be small in size but they have a mighty ability to make us gain weight.
3. Catch of the Day
1 cup tuna salad = 1 McDonald's Filet-O-Fish = 380 calories
What could be healthier than a salad, right? Well, that depends. There’s actually a huge discrepancy in the amount of fat, saturated fat, salt and calories contained in your average pre-packaged salad. The main perpetrator is normally the dressing, which - if it’s cream or mayo based - is probably more calorific than pouring on molten chocolate! That’s why if a 200-gram tuna salad isn’t prepared carefully it could have more calories than a McDonald’s fish burger.
4. Sweetest Tabou-leh
1 cup of Tabouleh = Regular Burger King French fries = 320 calories
When you choose to eat Tabouleh rather than French-fries during your midday snack, you’re opting for the healthy choice - we wouldn’t dream of saying otherwise. But know this: in terms of calorie content those yummy little sticks of fried processed potato are actually better for you! The grains and oats found in Tabouleh have a very high carb count and that’s before we even get to the olive oil, which if used generously will add another 120 calories.
5. Winging It
2 cans of Red Bull = 1 large slice of cheese pizza = 220 calories
Like most popular soft drinks, Red Bull is largely sugar water but don't count on its glucose to ‘give you wings’. The energy part comes from caffeine and taurine, which was originally isolated from the bile of bulls but is now made synthetically. It packs in some serious calories too and if you happen to be using Red Bull as a mixer you may as well start writing your last will and testament. In short, the good old pizza proves that carbs can be your friends.
