The Worthless Zone: Healthy Deceivers

We, Europeans, are literally being baked this week. In Spain it’s +45°C (113°F), in Portugal +47°C (117°F). Even my country, Lithuania, is pretty much melting under +35°C (95°F) sometimes (but please don’t judge me, I ain’t a crybaby, we have, like, -30°C (-22°F) winters, so even tho I’m partly Italian, it’s pretty hard to survive such heat).

And, as the summer break for students (or vacation for adults, ya truly deserved it♥) in most of the countries and the heat blasts are hitting our mother Earth, fave thing to do these weeks is to stay home. This one consists of netflix, power naps (siesta time, fellas), snapping/tweeting out of the boredom, cute instagram pets and, of course, snacking.

And here’s why it all goes wrong. And your home scale causes pretty much similar feelings as the horror film does. Because bite after bite we take more and more calories which lead us to those ‘I’m on a diet, HOW. COULD. IT. HAPPEN!?’.

So I listed here few snacks, that are usually considered as ‘healthy’ ones, but no matter which way consuming them – either while snacking out of boredom or a eating cause of the real hunger – those will be absolutely worthless or even make you gain weight.

• Granola, especially granola bars. The ingredients in most of them should give you a hint about their true nutritional value: chocolate, sugar, syrup and the sweetened cereal. And even if it claims to be sugarfree, it still has hella many calories. So definitely not a thing for a summer body started pack.
• Non raw yogurt. Unless you are eating plain Greek yogurt, most commercially bought yogurts are loaded with sugar and contain very little protein. And if the natural one is ‘too tasteless’ for you, add some fruits in and enjoy.
• Dried fruits. Oftentimes dried fruit has added sugar, but even if it doesn’t, it is still a concentrated source of sugar naturally. So I’ll repeat myself and recommend you to choose em raw ones over processed specifics.
• Rice cakes. May be generally low in calories, but their toppings can turn them into junk in an instant, thanks to a combo of sugar, fructose, and maltodextrin. Even the ‘nothing added’ ones have worthless nutritional value.
• Açai bowls. Don’t waste your money on açai bowls —they might not be the healthy food you’d hoped for. Many açai bowls are high in calories, and some even use sugary, belly-bloating frozen yogurt. Exception – home made ones!
• Peanut butter. Nuts already have so damn many calories in themselves, and ,any brands ‘improve’ the flavor of your PB with tons of extra sugar and salt, while reducing the amount of heart health-promoting monounsaturated fat.
• Low fat foods. First of all, these ones usually have no nutritional value – again taken away monounsaturated ones – and are fulfilled with sugar instead.

 

Maybe after such judgmental statement a question popped up for you: GIRL, ARE U INSANE?? WHAT TO SNACK THEN!?’

And, as I’m so boring, I’d say – fruits and vegetables:))))

But seriously – there are so many recipes with them! Also, there are many sorts of meat or cheese to have with. Why not to try?

The easiest I-don’t-have-time-for-cooking-but-want-a-cold-healthy-snack recipe is to cut a nectarine or a pear into pieces, leave in the fridge for half an hour and enjoy them fully guilt free!

And about the whole snacking thing. I’m not completely against it. I sometimes snack myself as I’m not only sugar+gluten free, but also holding on on that not eating after 6pm policy (which is sometimes called intermittent fasting, tho I wouldn’t say so, but about it – maybe next time).

But snacking out of boredom usually leads to overeating, even when not having small bites. So the best advice in this case – go and do something! Don’t let the boredom make you snack. Just distract your attention from those ‘I’m full, but few bites won’t be bad’ thoughts and everything will be alright!:))

So yeah, guys, I hope this heat goes away soon and we in Europe won’t be baking anymore. Dunno how it’s in the USA, how is it all there with the weather?

And, if you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask!

Have the nicest week possible!:))

With love,

Maria♥