UNHEALTHY FOOD

If you are on a diet, it may not mean you have to give up certain "unhealthy" foods for "healthier" ones since not all "health" food is really healthy. Given the choice between the two which would you think would be better - yogurt or a waffle for breakfast? Salad or baby back ribs for dinner? The answers may surprise you.

Surprisingly, the waffle turned out to be lower in calories and fat than the yogurt. The catch? The type of waffle and yogurt compared. Comparing an Eggo low fat nutri-grain waffle (one waffle had 70 calories/1.25 grams of fat/14 grams of carbohydrates) made it better than the yogurt (one 14 ounce container of Yoplait Whips! Strawberry Mist yogurt had 140 calories/ 2.5 grams of fat/ 25 grams of carbs).

Just as you can't just go through the motions of exercising and see results, you can not just eat something that you think is healthier and expect it to be healthy.

"The majority of people think that if I have a salad and chicken it is healthy, but if it is fried chicken it is not really," FSU grad student Trimmel Gromes said.

There is good news for people that love unhealthy foods. Using balance and moderation (along with exercise) you can include those naughty foods in your diet also.

"We take the approach that there are no bad foods," Thagard health promotion director and registered dietician Amy Magnuson said. "You can include anything in a well balanced diet."

Paying attention to serving size is a key element in keeping healthy foods healthy. A glass of orange juice in the morning is a great way to get one of the recommended daily five servings of fruit, but a serving size is typically six to eight ounces, which may not be the amount that you pour in your glass naturally. Drinking more than the serving size easily increases your calorie and sugar intake, which is not the best way to start off the day.
As much of a hassle as it may be, reading the nutritional information on food can help you learn the recommended serving size and can aid you in learning what food really is good for you and what you should try and consume in moderation.

"I do pay attention to the nutritional information of food," FSU freshman Lauren Murphy said. "If there is a lot of fat or calories in something I probably wouldn't eat it."

Sometimes what it comes down to is that there are not really unhealthy foods, but more unhealthy portions of foods.

"Watching how much you eat is one way students can eat healthier," Murphy said. "I live in a dorm so I have the meal plan, and while I don't always know the nutritional facts of the foods there, I try and just watch my portion size."

Portion size is an important thing to remember when eating out. Often the portion size of a restaurant meal is actually two or three servings, so that doggy bag is not a bad idea if you are trying to watch what you eat.

If you are concerned about the nutritional information of food when eating out, ask your server if the restaurant has a guide you can reference; most do have one available in the restaurant and many also have the nutritional information online so you could peruse before you even get there.

Comparing two dinner entrees from Chili's, the chicken Caesar salad (1,010 calories/ 76 grams of fat/39 grams of carbs) turned out to be higher in calories and fat than the baby back ribs (970 calories/66 grams of fat/33 grams of carbs). The Caesar dressing on the salad is the main offender.

Again, moderation is the key. If you go out to eat every now and then, it is not as big of a concern if your daily routine consists of to go boxes and fast food wrappers.