CHAPTER SEVEN
You’ve heard these inspirational mantras a million times. Anybody who makes money motivating others, from politicians to business leaders to the trainers at the gym to whoever is featured in the latest Nike commercial, is probably spouting some variation of these clichés. But when it comes to controlling your weight, this is just about the worst advice imaginable.
How about this approach: Don’t get hungry. Don’t feel pain. And for heaven’s sake, don’t rely on willpower for anything. In fact, if you want to lose weight, do something that every hard-nosed weight-loss guru will tell you not to do:
Snack. A lot.
Now, wait: Before you assume that the Eat This, Not That team is on the take from Little Debbie, hear me out. There’s a scientifically sound rationale for noshing between meals.
Our bodies are, for the most part, incredibly lazy. While our minds want to roam free and do great things—climb Everest, invent the new iPad, play third base for the Red Sox, and star alongside Ryan Gosling in his new action thriller—our bodies just want to lay down on the couch and keep up with the Kardashians. (In fact, if the show were called Slacking Off with the Kardashians, its ratings would probably be even higher.)
The reason is simple: For most of human existence, food has been scarce. So we’re programmed to conserve energy, especially when we get hungry. That means that when we skip meals, or don’t snack between meals, our metabolisms slow down and we burn fewer calories throughout the day. Then, like greedy bank CEOs, our bodies demand even more food at mealtime. In fact, studies show that people who don’t snack between meals actually eat more calories during the course of the day, because their bodies tell them to load up on energy in case another bout of famine comes. To make matters worse, our bodies then horde all those calories in our butts and bellies instead of loaning them out to needy but qualified applicants like our muscles and brains. The result: A bloated network of fat cells, weakened muscles, and less energy.
The solution: More regulation. Not bank regulation, but energy regulation. Snack regularly so you don’t run short of calories during the day, shuttle all your available energy into your love handles, and make up for it by overeating at night.
Oh, but what about willpower? Can’t you just muster up your inner General Petraeus and order yourself to resist the extra food at dinnertime? Well, no. Willpower comes, of course, from your brain, and your brain runs on glucose, the blood sugar our bodies create from food. When you’re short on food, you’re low on glucose—so you literally have less willpower when you’re hungry than you do when you’re full.
Damn, our bodies are tricky little buggers! No wonder weight loss is so challenging.
But the snacking solution is not only easy (and delicious), it’s super-effective too. A study conducted by the National Weight Control Registry looked at more than 5,000 men and women who have lost an average of 70 pounds and kept it off and found that most of them reported eating frequently throughout the day, instead of limiting themselves to three meals. And here’s a mind-blowing little chart, taken from a 2010 government study of 5,800 US teenagers who reported their own snack intakes.
That’s right—the more you snack, the less likely you are to be overweight!
But in weight management, as in banking strategy, investing wisely is critical to maintaining a healthy bottom line. And Americans don’t seem to be very good at making smart investments—with our finances, or with our snacking. While plenty of banks have gotten in trouble by buying into shaky institutions (like Greece, for example), our bodies get in trouble by investing in shaky nutritional choices (like grease, for example). Here’s how to make sure you don’t get stuck with the food equivalent of junk bonds.
The American Heart Association recommends that men eat no more than 9 teaspoons of sugar a day, and women, no more than 6. Well, that ought to be easy, right? When was the last time you ate 6 or 9 teaspoons of sugar in 1 day? Answer: Probably yesterday. And, if it’s after noon, probably today as well. In fact, Americans now eat, on average, 33 teaspoons of sugar a day, according to the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A third of that sugar comes from sweetened beverages (you’ll read more about this threat in Chapter 9), but even if you eliminate sodas and sweetened teas altogether, you’ll still be way over your allotment: Snacks and sweets provide another 29 percent of our intake, or more than 9.5 teaspoons. The information on the following pages will show you how to dramatically strip sugar calories from your snacking.
ONLY SNACK WHEN YOU’RE HUNGRY.
Just because snacking is good for you doesn’t mean you should overdo it. French researchers found that when people who weren’t hungry ate a snack a few hours after lunch, they did not eat fewer calories at dinner.
Another study found that high-protein snacks help people feel fuller longer and eat less at the next meal. Study participants ate 200 calories of protein or of carbs or nothing at all. Those who ate high-carb snacks were hungry again just as quickly as those who didn’t snack at all.
A study in the journal Obesity found that women who eat nuts just twice a week are about 30 percent less likely to gain weight than people who rarely eat nuts. Similar research found that dieters who ate a few ounces of almonds every day lost 6½ inches from their waists in 24 weeks, 50 percent more than dieters who ate the same number of calories, but not as fiber- and protein-rich nuts.
Snacking 4 times a day can cut your obesity risk nearly in half!
Salted almonds, on the other hand, could blow your whole strategy. A study published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension found that kids who eat salty snacks get thirstier—duh—but they’re also more likely to reach for sugary drinks to tame their thirst. Just 12 percent of all the sodium we take in daily occurs naturally; another 11 percent comes from our salts-hakers. The additional whopping 77 percent comes in the form of salt added by food manufacturers.
A study from Denmark found that men who ate dark chocolate consumed 15 percent fewer calories at the next meal and were less interested in fatty, salty, or sugary foods. And research shows that people who eat 30 calories a day of dark chocolate—that’s just a small piece, of course—can improve heart health, lower blood pressure, reduce LDL cholesterol, decrease the risk of blood clots, and increase bloodflow to the brain.
British researchers conducted MRI scans and found that a single spoonful of ice cream triggers the pleasure centers in the brain. Plus, just half a cup of vanilla ice cream gives you 17 milligrams of choline, which recent USDA studies show lowers blood levels of homocysteine—an indicator of potential heart trouble—by 8 percent.
The Science of Serving Vessels
FOUR COUNTERMOVES AGAINST THE FORCES OF FAT
1. Downsize your dishes
Unless you’re eating off decades-old dishes, you probably have the newer, plus-size plates—the kind that cause your eyes to override your appetite. Give them to Goodwill, and pick up either the 16-piece Santiago set by Dansk (10½-inch dinner plates, 8-inch salad plates, and 7-inch soup bowls, $80) or the 20-piece Platinum Band set by Majestry (10⅝-inch dinner plates, 7¾-inch salad plates, and 7¾-inch soup bowls, $60). Both are sold at bedbathand beyond.com.
2. Be small-minded about snacks
In a recent experiment at the Cornell University food and brand lab, researchers gave study participants either a single bag containing 100 Wheat Thins or four smaller bags holding 25 Thins each, waited for the munching to subside, then did a cracker count. The tally: Those given the jumbo bag ate up to 20 percent more. Outsmart your snack habit by sticking with the tiny 100-calorie packs now being used for everything from Doritos to Goldfish.
3. Raise your glasses
Since even experienced bartenders pour more into short, wide glasses than they do into tall, narrow ones, you’ll need to be creative when you play mixmaster at home. Start by using highball glasses to replace the squat tumblers you use for scotch and brandy. Next, put away your pint beer glasses and buy the pilsner kind. Finally, if you own balloon wine glasses, switch them with regular wine glasses. Just watch the red: Cornell researchers found that people inadvertently pour more red wine than white into the same-size glass.
4. Divide and dine
Until all restaurants become BYOP (bring your own plate), you’ll need to shrink your serving in a different way: When your entrée arrives, dive in and eat half, then wait at least 10 minutes before coming out for round 2. While you chat and sip water, your stomach will have a chance to digest and decide whether you’ve had enough—no matter what the plate’s saying.
Your hunger is a sleeping beast, and as long as you keep it fed, it will continue sleeping. We created this scorecard to help you identify the perfect snacks for keeping the beast at bay. We analyzed 50 common snacks and snack combinations, and we tallied what percentage of those calories came from protein, fiber, and healthy fats, the sultans of satiety. Then we docked points for sodium and trans fats. Snacks with the highest scores are best at fighting hunger, while snacks with the lowest scores are little more than fast-burning, nutritionally hollow calories. Pack two of the highest-scoring foods on this list into your day—one in the late morning, another in the long hours between lunch and dinner—and you’ll fight hunger, energize your body, and watch the body fat melt away.
| SNACK FOODS | Grade | Score | Calories | ||
| Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Original (1 oz) | A+ | 6.50 | 80 | ||
| Cottage Cheese 1% (1 cup) + strawberries (1 cup) | A+ | 5.58 | 216 | ||
| Fage Total 2% Greek Yogurt Plain (1 cup) | A+ | 5.33 | 150 | ||
| Avocado (½) | A | 4.01 | 161 | ||
| String Cheese (1 piece) | A | 4.00 | 80 | ||
| Orange | A | 3.79 | 62 | ||
| Pistachios, unshelled raw (1 oz) | A | 3.54 | 159 | ||
| Triscuits (1 oz) + deli turkey (2 oz) | A | 3.51 | 186 | ||
| Lärabar Peanut Butter & Jelly | A- | 3.29 | 210 | ||
| Planters Mixed Nuts (1 oz) | A- | 3.12 | 170 | ||
| Triscuits (1 oz) + Tribe Hummus (2 Tbsp) | A- | 3.09 | 170 | ||
| Cheerios (1 cup) + fat-free milk (½ cup) | A- | 3.00 | 140 | ||
| Apple | B+ | 2.98 | 95 | ||
| Kozy Shack Pudding Chocolate (1 cup) | B+ | 2.92 | 110 | ||
| Jolly Time Better Butter Microwave Popcorn (4 cups popped) | B+ | 2.75 | 140 | ||
| Peanut butter (2 Tbsp) + celery (1 large rib) | B+ | 2.73 | 196 |
| SNACK FOODS | Grade | Score | Calories | ||
| Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt Strawberry | B | 2.50 | 80 | ||
| Baked! Tostitos Scoops! (1 oz) + guacamole (2 Tbsp) | B- | 2.25 | 180 | ||
| Sunsweet Apricots Mediterranean (6 pieces) | B- | 2.20 | 100 | ||
| Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars, Apple Cinnamon (1 bar) | B- | 2.17 | 120 | ||
| Food Should Taste Good Multigrain Chips (1 oz) | B- | 2.14 | 140 | ||
| Sun Chips Original (1 oz) | C+ | 1.86 | 140 | ||
| Dark chocolate (1 oz) | C+ | 1.77 | 164 | ||
| Ore-Ida Bagel Bites Supreme (4 pieces) | C+ | 1.72 | 180 | ||
| Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars, Oats 'n Honey (1 pack) | C | 1.47 | 190 | ||
| Baked! Tostitos Scoops! (1 oz) + salsa (4 Tbsp) | C | 1.43 | 140 | ||
| Quaker Chewy Granola Bars Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip (1 bar) | C | 1.40 | 100 | ||
| Carrot sticks (1 cup) + Hidden Valley Ranch Original (2 Tbsp) | C | 1.27 | 190 | ||
| Smartfood Popcorn White Cheddar (1 oz) | C- | 1.25 | 160 | ||
| Wheat Thins Original (1 oz) | C- | 1.18 | 140 | ||
| Stacy's Pita Chips Simply Naked (1 oz) | C- | 1.13 | 130 | ||
| Nabisco 100 Cal Chips Ahoy! Thin Crisps (1 pack) | D+ | 1.00 | 100 | ||
| Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Cheddar (1 oz) | D+ | 0.89 | 140 |
| SNACK FOODS | Grade | Score | Calories | ||
| Lay's Classic Potato Chips (1 oz) | D+ | 0.88 | 160 | ||
| Quaker Rice Cakes Caramel Corn (1 cake) | D+ | 0.80 | 50 | ||
| Rold Gold Pretzels Sticks (1 oz) | D | 0.65 | 100 | ||
| Oreos (34 g, 3 cookies) | D | 0.63 | 160 | ||
| M&M's Milk Chocolate (1.69 ounces) | D | 0.58 | 240 | ||
| Twix Caramel Cookie Bars (1 pack) | D | 0.56 | 220 | ||
| Cheez-It Original (1 oz) | D | 0.55 | 150 | ||
| Nabisco 100 Cal Mr. Salty Yogurt Flavored Pretzels (1 pack) | D | 0.40 | 100 | ||
| Totino's Pizza Rolls Combination (6 rolls) | D- | 0.06 | 210 | ||
| Fruit Roll-Ups Blastin' Berry Hot Colors (1 piece) | F | 0.00 | 50 | ||
| Jell-O Cups (1 cup) | F | 0.00 | 70 | ||
| Doritos Nacho Cheese (1 oz) | F | -0.07 | 150 | ||
| Fig Newtons (1 oz) | F | -0.09 | 110 | ||
| Snickers Bar | F | -0.21 | 280 | ||
| Nilla Wafers (1 oz) | F | -0.71 | 140 | ||
| Cheetos (1 oz) | F | -0.75 | 160 | ||
| Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies (1 pie) | F | -0.76 | 170 |
Say anything nasty about sugar and folks will swallow it. Sugar caused the recession. Sugar makes your nipples grow. Sugar keyed your car. Sugar’s crazy—it knifed my cousin down at the corner bar last Saturday night. Somebody should drop a safe on sugar.
Well, maybe. It’s true that sugar is insidious—diabolical, even—and hidden in countless processed foods. It certainly contributes to the obesity crisis. It makes people fat and sometimes even diabetic. These claims are correct—to a limited and oversimplified extent. But sugar doesn’t point guns at our heads and force us to eat it. It’s only as big a bogeyman as we make it out to be.
We need some truth about sugar. It’s too important. The sugar in our bodies, glucose, is a fundamental fuel for body and brain, says David Levitsky, PhD, a professor of psychology and nutritional sciences at Cornell University.
The health threat to the vast American public arises at a very personal level, Levitsky says: “It’s that sugars taste good. Sweetened foods tend to make us overeat. And that threatens the energy balance in our bodies.”
Read this and learn a few facts about the sweet stuff hiding in some of your favorite meals and drinks. Then, the next time some uninformed punk says sugar’s out of line, you won’t be tempted to drag sugar behind a dumpster and kick the crap out of it. The fact is, you may be the one who’s out of line.
SUGAR DOESN’T CAUSE DIABETES
Too much sugar does. Diabetes means your body can’t clear glucose from your blood. And when glucose isn’t processed quickly enough, it destroys tissue, Levitsky says. People with type 1 diabetes were born that way—sugar didn’t cause their diabetes. But weight gain in children and adults can cause metabolic syndrome, which often leads to type 2 diabetes.
“That’s what diabetes is all about—being unable to eliminate glucose,” says Levitsky. “The negative effect of eating a lot of sugar is a rise in glucose. A normal pancreas and normal insulin receptors can handle it, clear it out, or store it in some packaged form, like fat.”
What matters: That “normal” pancreas. Overeating forces your pancreas to work overtime cranking out insulin to clear glucose. Eric Westman, MD, an obesity researcher at the Duke University Medical Center, says that in today’s world, “it’s certainly possible that the unprecedented increase in sugar and starch consumption leads to pancreatic burnout.”
Your job: Drop the pounds if you’re overweight, and watch your sugar intake. Research has shown for years that dropping 5 to 7 percent of your body weight can reduce your odds of developing diabetes.
Sugar and High-Fructose Corn Syrup
SIMPLY AVOIDING HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP WON’T SAVE YOU FROM OBESITY
In the 1970s and 1980s, the average American’s body weight increased in tandem with the food industry’s use of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which has become a staple because it’s cheap. But it’s not a smoking gun. “This is a correlation, not a causation,” says Levitsky.
“Obesity is about consuming too many calories,” says Lillian Lien, MD, the medical director of inpatient diabetes management at the Duke University Medical Center. “It just so happens that a lot of overweight people have been drinking HFCS in sodas and eating foods that are high on the glycemic index—sweet snacks, white bread, and so forth. The calorie totals are huge, and the source just happens to be sugar based.”
Dr. Westman notes that the effect of a high-glycemic food can be lessened by adding fat and protein. Spreading peanut butter (protein and fat) on a bagel (starch, which becomes glucose in your body), for example, slows your body’s absorption of the sugar.
What matters: We can demonize food manufacturers because they produce crap with enough salt and sugar to make us eat more of it than we should—or even want to. But it comes down to how much we allow down our throats. “A practical guide for anyone is weight,” says Dr. Lien. “If your weight is under control, then your calorie intake across the board is reasonable. If your weight rises, it’s not. That’s more important than paying attention to any specific macronutrient.” Still, skinny isn’t always safe. (Keep reading.)
TOO MUCH SUGAR FILLS YOUR BLOOD WITH FAT
Studies dating back decades show that eating too much fructose, a sugar found naturally in fruits and also added to processed foods, raises blood lipid levels. And while the relatively modest quantities in fruit shouldn’t worry you, a University of Minnesota study shows that the large amounts of fructose we take in from processed foods may prove especially nasty: Men on high-fructose diets had 32 percent higher triglycerides than men on high-glucose diets.
Why? Your body can’t metabolize a sweet snack as fast as you can eat it, says Levitsky. So your liver puts some of the snack’s glucose into your bloodstream, or stores it for later use. But if your liver’s tank is full, it packages the excess as triglycerides. The snack’s fructose goes to your liver as well, but instead of being deposited in your bloodstream, it’s stored as glycogen. Your liver can store about 90 to 100 grams of glycogen, so it converts the excess to fat (the triglycerides).
What matters: By maintaining a healthy weight, most people can keep their triglycerides at acceptable levels. “If you’re over-weight or gaining weight, however, they’ll accumulate and become a core predictor of heart disease and stroke,” Levitsky says.
If you’re one of those overweight people, your first step is to lay off sugary and starchy foods, beer, and sweet drinks. Your body wasn’t built to handle all that sugar. Considerthis: You’d have to eat four apples in order to ingest roughly the same amount of fructose that’s in one large McDonald’s Coke.
FEWER BLOOD SUGAR SPIKES HELP YOU LIVE LONGER
If you live large—big meals, lots of beer, little moderation—you may be shortening your life even if your weight is okay. Repeated blood sugar spikes stress the organs that make up the metabolic engine of your body. That takes a toll.
And you might not notice. “People can live symptom free for years in a prediabetic state even though they’ve lost as much as 50 percent of their pancreatic function,” says Dr. Lien. “And they don’t even know it.” People with prediabetes share the same health risks, especially for heart disease, that haunt people with full-blown diabetes.
What matters: Moderation. It’s simple, yet difficult. Think about what you put in your mouth. Sugar is diabolical; it tastes great and is less filling. Back off on the high-impact glycemics: beer, sugary soft drinks and sport drinks, potatoes, pasta, baked goods, pancakes. “The less sugar stress you put on your system, the longer it will function properly,” says Levitsky. And stop blaming sugar for all the world’s problems. Even if it is diabolical.
—Additional reporting by Men's Health
FLAVORED DIP
Mission’s tagline is “The Authentic Tradition.” So how does the company get away with casting a jar of oil, food dyes, and herpes medication as guacamole? By tacking on the words “flavored dip.” Read labels closely and you’ll see that Mission isn’t the only one guilty of this sleight of hand. In fact, it’s just one more euphemism in the growing cocktail-ization of our food industry. “Juice drinks” are often fractionally fruit and pre-dominately lab-engineered sugars. “Bacon-flavored” bits are artificially flavored oil and flour chunks. Regardless of their snake-oil natures, these foods are adhering to federal guidelines, according to the FDA. Other than peanut butter, which the government mandates be at least 90 percent peanuts, most products aren’t required to contain the ingredients those foods would customarily be made out of. Scary, huh?
DATEM
If avocados aren’t really in here, what is? Datem, to name one odd ingredient. An emulsifier often derived from genetically modified soybean oil, it’s largely utilized to strengthen dough in bread. In this jar, it helps retain gas, pumping up the volume to give this otherwise flat, oily paste a guac-like texture.
AVOCADO POWDER
The most striking thing about this ingredients list is what’s not included: avocados. Standing in for what should be guacamole’s base is something called “avocado powder,” which itself accounts for less than 2 percent of the bulk. Mission is mum on this substance, but many Web sites selling the powder say it contains partially hydrogenated oils, sweeteners, and a preservative called BHT (butylated hy-droxytoluene), which either increases or decreases cancer risk depending on the study you read and has been used to fight, of all things, herpes. Consumers have not responded well to avocado-less guac, filing class-action lawsuits against Mission and Kraft.
PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL
The food industry hydrogenates oils to make more-solid forms of fat. The problem is that partial hydrogenation produces some really dangerous stuff called trans fats. A review of trans fat studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that “trans fats appear to increase the risk of coronary heart disease more than any other macronutrient.” The same review attributed up to 100,000 cardiac deaths in America each year to trans fats. While Mission uses partially hydrogenated oils in this guacamole dip, the company lists 0 grams of trans fats on the label. What gives? Well the FDA only requires disclosure of 0.5 grams of trans fats or more per serving. A product containing 0.49 grams of trans fats could still be listed as trans-fat free. But eat 2 servings of such a food, and you’d consume nearly half of what the American Heart Association warns should be a 2-gram daily limit.
YELLOW 5
Without avocados, Mission has to combine Yellow 5 food coloring with Blue 1 to imbue this dip with guacamole’s normal green color. In 2008, the United Kingdom’s food-safety agency to begin phasing out six food colorings, including Yellow 5. In contrast, the FDA says the dye is safe for consumption, and consequently you can find it in everything from cereals to pickles to, well, guacamole-flavored dip.
POTATO CRISPS
Pringles’ maker Procter & Gamble, hoping to avoid a mandatory potato chip tax in England, actually went to court to argue that these oblong vessels don’t qualify as real potato chips (we’ve always found the “crisps” language on the package a bit suspicious). The foundation of its case was that Pringles contain only 40 percent potato flour. The other 60 percent is rice, wheat, corn, and other additives. The British court disagreed, forcing Pringles to pay a snack tax of $160 million.
DRIED POTATOES
Consider the classic potato chip: a slice of potato fried to crispy perfection and dusted with salt. By no means is it healthy, but it is relatively straight-forward. And Pringles? They’re modern foods’ Frankensteinian equivalent. Comparing a Pringle to a real russet potato chip is like comparing a Slim Jim to a New York strip steak. The fresh ingredients are gone, and in their place we have dehydrated potatoes pressed into a chiplike mold alongside rice flour, wheat starch, and maltodextrin.
NATURAL FLAVORS
“Natural flavor” may be one of the biggest misnomers in the food industry. Think about it: If a flavor were truly “natural,” then why would it need to be artificially added in a factory? And why do they then list “Artificially Flavored” on the front label? The FDA essentially considers a natural ingredient to be any plant- or animal-derived product used for flavoring—as opposed to nutritional—purposes. Perhaps no company takes advantage of the FDA's many vagaries better than Pringles. After all, this is the manufacturer responsible for the most outrageous flavors in the snack industry: prawn cocktail, seaweed, chili cheese dog, and, of course, the ever-popular soft-shell crab. Were these snacks made from ground up crustaceans and dehydrated Ball Park franks? Of course not. But since the FDA allows the company to hide behind a vague term, we’ll never know for sure. It could be made from sperm whale blubber, an exotic fungus, or the fingernail shavings of the Dalai Lama. More than likely, it's a complex and proprietary combination of chemicals and fillers that Pringles' scientists handcraft in a laboratory for every canister of crisps.
Salty food may seem like the least of your worries, especially if you’re among the 40 percent of people who mindlessly shake salt on every dish. An extra dash here, a few sprinkles there—what’s the big deal?
A lot, when you consider some of the shocking stats and shady food industry practices we've uncovered. Daily salt consumption is on the rise in the United States, from 2,300 milligrams in the 1970s to more than 3,400 milligrams today—more than double what the American Heart Association recommends we consume.
And according to Monell Chemical Senses Center researchers, 77 percent of that sodium intake comes from processed foods and restaurant fare. The makers’ motivation: Pile on the salt so we don't miss natural flavors and fresh ingredients. Studies show that a high-sodium diet (especially when your potassium intake is low) is linked to a host of maladies, including high blood pressure, stroke, osteoporosis, and asthma. To protect your heart, your bones, your muscles, and your taste buds, we scoured the aisles to expose the 10 saltiest supermarket foods in America. No need to take the information with a grain of salt. These packages provide plenty.
10. Cheez-It Snack Mix Double Cheese (30 g, ¾ cup)
470 mg sodium
130 calories
5 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
If the sodium count itself doesn’t scare you, how about this: The word “salt” appears in the ingredients list 11 times.
Eat This Instead!
Cheerios Snack Mix (29 g, ⅔ cup)
240 mg sodium
120 calories
3 g fat (0.5 g saturated)
9. Rold Gold Tiny Twists Cheddar (28 g, ≈20 pretzels)
490 mg sodium
110 calories
1 g fat (0 g saturated)
Pretzels are salt magnates regardless of brand, but Rold Gold regularly packs in twice the sodium as its competitors. Each individual Tiny Twist has about 25 milligrams.
Eat This Instead!
Snyder’s of Hanover Mini Pretzels (30 g, 20 minis)
250 mg sodium
110 calories
0 g fat
8. Oscar Mayer Shaved Ham (50 g, 4 slices)
760 mg sodium
50 calories
1.5 g fat (0.5 g saturated)
Deli meats are notoriously high in sodium, and none are worse than ham. In hopes of boosting the flavor and extending the shelf life of deli cuts, manufacturers will inject a sodium solution directly into the meat, turning a few slices of lean protein into a vessel that, in the case of this Oscar Mayer folly, delivers more than half of your day’s sodium intake.
Eat This Instead!
Applegate Black Forest Ham (2 oz, 57 g)
480 mg sodium
50 calories
1.5 g fat (0.5 g saturated)
7. Evol Burritos Egg & Sausage (227 g, 1 burrito)
870 mg sodium
490 calories
17 g fat (5 g saturated)
We commend Evol for using cage-free hens’ eggs and pork from pigs raised without antibiotics, but this burrito’s reliance on sodium-rich chorizo casts a dark cloud over an otherwise decent breakfast.
Eat This Instead!
Amy’s Light in Sodium Bean & Rice Burrito (170 g, 1 burrito)
290 mg sodium
320 calories
8 g fat (1 g saturated)
6. Campbell’s Chunky New England Clam Chowder (240 ml, 1 cup)
890 mg sodium
210 calories
10 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
Canned soups pack more salt per ounce than almost any other packaged food in the supermarket, and Campbell’s regular Chunky line is the most sodium-saturated soup brand of them all. Most varieties top a quarter of your day’s sodium with just 1 cup; this chowder chews through nearly 60 percent.
Eat This Instead!
Campbell’s Chunky Healthy Request New England Clam Chowder (1 cup)
410 mg sodium
130 calories
3 g fat (1 g saturated)
SALTIEST FROZEN ENTRÉE
5. Zatarain’s New Orleans Style Red Beans & Rice with Sausage (340 g, 1 bowl)
1,290 mg sodium
560 calories
19 g fat (7 g saturated)
The Big Easy didn’t make a name for itself by being subtle, and Zatarain's clearly didn’t pull any punches when paying homage to one of Cajun Country’s most emblematic dishes. The result is a bowl with nearly all of your day’s sodium inside.
Eat This Instead!
Amy’s Bowls Light in Sodium Mexican Casserole (269 g, 1 bowl)
390 mg sodium
370 calories
16 g fat (5 g saturated)
4. DiGiorno Cheese Stuffed Crust Pepperoni Pizza (240 g, 1 pizza)
1,370 mg sodium
670 calories
32 g fat (15 g saturated)
DiGiorno once again proves why its pizzas are the worst in the freezer. Even if you survive the onslaught of sodium you still have 75 percent of your day’s saturated fat to grapple with. This pie is wrong in so many ways.
Eat This Instead!
Lean Cuisine French Bread Pepperoni Pizza (148 g, 1 pizza)
690 mg sodium
310 calories
7 g fat (2 g saturated)
3. P.F. Chang’s Home Menu Shrimp Lo Mein (312 g, ½ package)
1,550 mg sodium
360 calories
12 g fat (1 g saturated)
It’s not enough that P.F. Chang’s serves the saltiest restaurant food in America, now it has to taint the grocery aisles with its sodium-dense sludge, too? Blame the reliance on three salt-heavy ingredients that are used to make the brackish stir-fry sauce: chicken broth, soy sauce, and oyster-flavored sauce.
Eat This Instead!
Kashi Sweet & Sour Chicken (283 g, 1 entrée)
380 mg sodium
320 calories
3.5 g fat (0.5 g saturated)
SALTIEST FROZEN BREAKFAST
2. Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls Bacon (226 g, 1 bowl)
1,590 mg sodium
460 calories
28 g fat (11 g saturated)
The eggs are salted. The potatoes are salted. The bacon is cured in the stuff, and the processed cheese has it in spades. No wonder this bacon bowl has more than your day’s allotment of sodium. You could eat 2 pounds of oil-roasted, salted peanuts and still take in less.
Eat This Instead!
Jimmy Dean D-Lights Turkey Sausage Bowl (198 g, 1 bowl)
710 mg sodium
230 calories
7 g fat (3 g saturated)
SALTIEST FOOD IN THE SUPERMARKET
1. Hormel Chili with Beans (15 oz, 2 cups)
1,800 mg sodium
520 calories
14 g fat (6 g saturated)
Imagine all the other things you could eat that have fewer than 1,800 milligrams of sodium: 1.7 pounds of dry-roasted peanuts, 12 strips of Oscar Mayer Center Cut Bacon, 8 servings of Nacho Cheese Doritos, 39 cups of Jolly Time Better Butter popcorn. Instead, you’re going to blow more than a day’s worth of sodium on a measly plastic container of chili? We hope you’re smarter than that.
Eat This Instead!
Amy’s Organic Chili Medium Black Bean (1 cup)
680 mg sodium
200 calories
3 g fat (0 g saturated)
Way back in the mid-’90s, the American Journal of Public Health released a report indicting trans fats for causing no fewer than 30,000 annual deaths from heart disease in the United States.
More than 25 years later, many food producers still haven’t gotten the memo. Because the fats are cheap and have long shelf lives, reckless food producers continue to sneak partially hydrogenated oils, the main source of trans fats, into many of America’s most popular packaged goods. Until the government decides to outlaw them, it’s up to us to protect ourselves. Start by avoiding these dangers lurking in the supermarket.
Bisquick (40 g, ⅓ cup mix)
1.5 g trans fats
160 calories
4.5 g fat (1 g saturated)
1 g fiber
The award for Most Shocking Use of Trans Fats goes to Bisquick. Who knew that during all those years of Sunday pancake breakfasts you were consuming your limit of trans fats for a day or more every time you reached for the Bisquick? For those not looking to boost their cholesterol with every bite of pancake, there are excellent alternatives out there, like the fiber-rich mix from Hodgson Mill. Better yet, take the extra 2 minutes to make your pancake batter from scratch.
Eat This Instead!
Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancake Mix (40 g, ⅓ cup)
130 calories
1 g fat (0 g saturated, 0 g trans)
4 g fiber
Gardetto’s Special Request Roasted Garlic Rye Chips (30 g, ½ cup)
3 g trans fats
170 calories
10 g fat (2 g saturated)
320 mg sodium
For this bag, Gardetto’s has extracted only the trans-fattiest component of its grease-laden Original Recipe, and the result is a trans-fats travesty. Partially hydrogenated oil is the second ingredient, occurring even before the snack’s namesake, rye.
Eat This Instead!
Chex Mix Bold Party Blend (29 g, ½ cup)
120 calories
4 g fat
(1 g saturated, 0 g trans)
190 mg sodium
Pillsbury Grands! Homestyle Buttermilk (58 g, 1 biscuit)
3 g trans fats
170 calories
6 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
580 mg sodium
Pastry makers prefer semi-solid fats, like trans, because they provide a crispier, flakier texture. Is it worth sacrificing health for? Not to us. A full 15 percent of the calories in this biscuit come from artery-clogging oils.
Eat This Instead!
Pillsbury Grands! Homestyle Buttermilk Reduced Fat (58 g, 1 biscuit)
160 calories
4.5 g fat
(2 g saturated, 0 g trans)
590 mg sodium
Pop-Secret Butter (2 Tbsp kernels, 4½ cups popped)
5 g trans fats
180 calories
12 g fat (2.5 g saturated)
310 mg sodium
Microwave popcorn is one of the biggest contributors of trans fats to the American diet. The reason: Popcorn companies still rely on partially hydro-genated oil to pop their kernels. Shovel in this whole bag during your next movie night and you’ve just put down 15 grams of the bad stuff, 10 times what experts deem safe to consume in a day.
Eat This Instead!
Act II Butter Lover’s (2 cups popped)
50 calories
1.5 g fat
(0 g saturated, 0 g trans)
48 mg sodium
DESSERT
Marie Callender’s Cherry Pie (119 g, 110 pie)
3.5 g trans fats
370 calories
25 g sugars
17 g fat (3.5 g saturated)
The box boldly proclaims that Marie uses only “the finest ingredients,” but her surreptitious product sourcing has managed to create arguably the single most dangerous piece of food in the entire supermarket. Eat this whole pie and you’ve just consumed more than 17 days’ worth of cholesterol-spiking, heart-threatening trans fats. Marie, we know you think you make a pretty mean slice of pie, and based upon all evidence available, we can’t disagree.
Eat This Instead!
Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Turnovers Cherry (89 g, 1 turnover)
260 calories
10 g sugars
13 g fat
(7 g saturated, 0 g trans)
TRANS-FATTIEST FOOD IN THE SUPERMARKET
Celeste Pizza for One Original (144 g, 1 pizza)
5 g trans fats
340 calories
16 g fat (4 g saturated)
1,020 mg sodium
Notice how Celeste avoids calling this a “cheese” pizza? That’s because the topping isn’t cheese—it’s “imitation mozzarella.” Translation: water, partially hydrogenated oil, and a smattering of flavors and binders. Mama Celeste should be ashamed.
Eat This Instead!
Lean Cuisine Traditional Pepperoni Pizza (170 g, 1 pizza)
380 calories
610 mg sodium
9 g fat
(3 g saturated, 0 g trans)
1. Popchips Sour Cream and Onion (1 oz, 22 chips)
120 calories, 4 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 320 mg sodium
Popchips represent the perfect middle ground between the two extremes of the chip world: the crunch and character of a fried chip and the calories and fat of a baked one. What more could you want?
2. Lay's Baked! Original (1 oz, 15 crisps)
120 calories, 2 g fat, (0 g saturated), 135 mg sodium
If you eat a bag of chips per week, saving 20 calories per serving will shave off more than 2 pounds of flab over a year.
3. Popchips Sea Salt and Vinegar (1 oz, 22 chips)
120 calories, 4 g fat, (0 g saturated), 260 mg sodium
Because they're so light, a serving gives you 22 chips—which means you can do more crunching for fewer calories.
4. Baked! Ruffles Cheddar & Sour Cream (1 oz, 10 chips)
120 calories, 3.5 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 270 mg sodium
You won't find a cheese- or sour-cream-based chip with fewer calories.
5. Kettle Baked Potato Chips Sea Salt (1 oz, 20 chips)
120 calories, 3 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 135 mg sodium
Kettle finally joins the baked movement and produces a chip with 65 percent less fat.
6. Pringles Reduced Fat Original (1 oz, 16 crisps)
130 calories, 7 g fat, (2 g saturated), 135 mg sodium
In this rare case, reduced fat trumps fat free. These are still lower in calories and without the diarrhea-inducing olestra found in the Light version.
7. Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato (1 oz, 12 chips)
140 calories, 6 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 80 mg sodium
Technically, this is a hybrid chip, containing both stone-ground corn and sweet potatoes. It also contains an impressive 3 grams of fiber per serving.
1. Lay's Sour Cream & Onion (1 oz, 17 chips)
160 calories, 10 g fat, (1 g saturated), 160 mg sodium
This classic bag of Lay's punishes careless snackers with an excessive amount of calories and fat.
2. Ruffles Reduced Fat (1 oz, 13 chips)
140 calories, 7 g fat, (1 g saturated), 180 mg sodium
Reduced-fat chips might trump their ultra-oily siblings, but they still fall short when compared to the low fat content of a well-made baked chip.
3. Kettle Sea Salt & Vinegar (1 oz, 13 chips)
150 calories, 9 g fat, (1 g saturated),, 210 mg sodium
A thoroughly mediocre bag of fried potatoes.
4. T.G.I. Friday's Potato Skins Jalapeño Cheddar (1 oz, 16 chips)
150 calories, 8 g fat, (1 g saturated), 340 mg sodium
A full 40 ingredients, the first of which is not potatoes, but rather vegetable oil.
5. Lay's Kettle Cooked Original (1 oz, 16 chips)
160 calories, 9 g fat, (1 g saturated), 90 mg sodium
"Kettle" cooking seems to imply a connection to a bygone era when food was simpler. Too bad a serving of these spuds contains nearly as much fat as a small order of McDonald's fries.
6. Pringles Light Original (1 oz, 15 crisps)
70 calories, 0 g fat, 160 mg sodium
No fat here, but this crisp's olestra may flush your body of a bevy of vital fat-soluble nutrients in the loose stools it will generate.
7. Terra Sweet Potato Chips (1 oz, 17 chips)
160 calories, 11 g fat, (1 g saturated), 10 mg sodium
These chips support our stance that the healthy reputation of sweet potatoes has been somewhat overhyped.
1. Tostitos Baked! Scoops (1 oz, 14 chips)
120 calories, 3 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 140 mg sodium
No matter who makes the chip or how they make it, 120 calories per serving is about as low as it goes. Consider this the healthiest salsa scooper in the supermarket.
2. Food Should Taste Good Jalapeño with Cheddar Tortilla Chips (1 oz, 12 chips)
140 calories, 6 g fat, (1 g saturated), 190 mg sodium
These fiber-packed chips are baked before frying, which minimizes oil absorption.
3. Baked! Cheetos Crunchy Cheese (1 oz, 34 pieces)
130 calories, 5 g fat, (1 g saturated), 240 mg sodium
Baked chips require less oil to turn crispy, and less oil on your chips potentially results in less flab on your belly.
4. CornNuts Original (1 oz, ⅓ cup)
130 calories, 4.5 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 160 mg sodium
We're fans of simple foods. Here, you're literally eating a corn kernel cooked with a little corn oil and salt.
5. Guiltless Gourmet Chipotle Tortilla Chips (1 oz, 18 chips)
123 calories, 3 g fat, (0 g saturated), 250 mg sodium
Fewer calories, fewer ingredients, and half the fat of the Doritos.
6. Funyuns Flamin' Hot Onion Flavored Rings (1 oz, 13 rings)
130 calories, 7 g fat, (1 g saturated), 300 mg sodium
The resemblance to onion rings hides the fact that these are a surprisingly moderate snack choice.
7. Garden of Eatin' Blue Chips No Salt Added (1 oz, 12 chips)
140 calories, 7 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 10 mg sodium
This is the lowest-sodium chip of any kind in the supermarket.
1. Tostitos Multigrain Tortilla Chips (1 oz, 8 chips)
150 calories, 7 g fat, (1 g saturated), 110 mg sodium
Don't fall for the "multigrain" hype. By weight, this chip contains nearly four times more fat than fiber.
2. Fritos Chili Cheese Flavored Corn Chips (1 oz, 31 chips)
160 calories, 10 g fat, (1.5 g saturated), 260 mg sodium
It takes Frito-Lay 31 ingredients to make these chips, partially hydrogenated soybean oil being the most nefarious of the lot.
3. Chester's Puffcorn Cheese (1 oz, 46 pieces)
160 calories, 11 g fat, (1.5 g saturated), 290 mg sodium
Nearly two-thirds of these calories come from the frying oil.
4. Bugles Original Flavor (30 g, 1 ⅓ cups)
160 calories, 9 g fat, (8 g saturated), 310 mg sodium
Each serving of these little horns contains 40 percent of your day's saturated fat limit.
5. Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili (1 oz, 11 chips)
140 calories, 7 g fat, (1 g saturated), 270 mg sodium
Ever wonder why Doritos are so addictive? Perhaps having MSG as the fifth item on the ingredients list has something to do with it.
6. Cheetos Flamin' Hot Crunchy (1 oz, 21 pieces)
170 calories, 11 g fat, (1.5 g saturated), 250 mg sodium
Nearly 100 of these calories come from oil.
7. El Sabroso Original Guacachip (1 oz, 28 g)
150 calories, 9 g fat, (1 g saturated), 160 mg sodium
The bag says "real avocados," but the ingredients statement says "avocado powder."
1. Kashi TLC Pita Crisps Original 7 Grain with Sea Salt (1 oz, 11 crisps)
120 calories, 3 g fat, (0 g saturated), 180 mg sodium, 5 g fiber
Kashi turns its whole-grain wisdom to crisps and turns out one with 5 grams of fiber per serving.
2. Beanitos Black Bean Chips (1 oz)
140 calories, 7 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 55 mg sodium, 5 g fiber
The chip champion! The black beans not only add 5 grams of fiber, but also, in combination with the chip's brown rice, create 4 grams of complete protein.
3. Late July Mild Green Mojo Multigrain Snack Chips (1 oz, 13 chips)
110 calories, 4.5 g fat, (0 g saturated), 210 mg sodium, 2 g fiber
Chia and flax seeds help each serving earn a potent 280 milligrams of omega-3s.
4. Mediterranean Snacks Baked Lentil Chips Sea Salt & Pepper (1 oz, 22 chips)
110 calories, 3 g fat, (0 g saturated), 250 mg sodium, 3 g fiber
This chip earns 3 grams of fiber from lentil, garbanzo, and adzuki bean flour.
5. Genisoy Soy Crisps Rich Cheddar Cheese (1 oz, 17 crisps)
120 calories, 4 g fat, (1 g saturated), 180 mg sodium, 1 g fiber
A full third of these calories are derived from protein and fiber.
6. Blue Diamond Almond Nut Thins (30 g, 16 chips)
130 calories, 2.5 g fat, (0 g saturated), 115 mg sodium, <1 g fiber
Almonds, the second ingredient in these chips, are teeming with vitamin E.
1. Ritz Toasted Chips Main Street Original (1 oz, 13 chips)
130 calories, 4.5 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 250 mg sodium, 1 g fiber
A fiberless chip such as this one will spike your blood sugar and signal your body to store fat.
2. Boulder Canyon Rice & Bean Snack Chips with Adzuki Beans Natural Salt (1 oz, 20 chips)
120 calories, 7 g fat, (1 g saturated), 130 mg sodium, 3 g fiber
Made up mostly of lackluster rice flour and modified corn starch.
3. Lundberg Rice Chips Fiesta Lime (1 oz, 10 chips)
140 calories, 7 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 270 mg sodium, 1 g fiber
When it comes to rice, Lundberg is head of the class, but its chips are simultaneously heavy on fat and light on fiber.
4. New York Style Bagel Crisps Roasted Garlic (1 oz, 6 crisps)
130 calories, 5 g fat, (2.5 g saturated), 320 mg sodium, 1 g fiber
Loaded with palm oil, which has been shown to have the same effect on cholesterol as partially hydrogenated oils.
5. Quaker Quakes Rice Snacks Cheddar Cheese (30 g, 18 mini cakes)
140 calories, 5 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 410 mg sodium, 1 g fiber
These crisps have scarcely any protein or fiber, but they do contain MSG and partially hydrogenated oil.
6. Keebler Wheatables Nut Crisps Roasted Almond (30 g, 16 crackers)
140 calories, 6 g fat, (1 g saturated), 220 mg sodium, 1 g fiber
On the ingredients list, flour, soybean oil, and sugar all appear well before almonds.
1. Chex Mix Bold Party Blend (29 g, ½ cup)
120 calories, 4 g fat (1 g saturated), 190 mg sodium
A serving from this Bold bag is actually 10 calories lighter thanChex Traditional Party Mix.
2. Snyder's Braided Twists Multigrain (30 g, 9 twists)
120 calories, 2 g fat (0 g saturated), 160 mg sodium
The 3 grams of fiber in each serving make this a snack with hunger-quashing capabilities.
3. Rold Gold Tiny Twists Honey Mustard (28 g, ≈20 pieces)
110 calories, 1 g fat (0 g saturated), 430 mg sodium
Nowhere else in the snack aisle will you find this much flavor for so few calories. Still, keep yourself to a single serving to avoid sodium overload.
4. Snyder's of Hanover Pretzel Sticks (30 g, 28 sticks)
110 calories, 1 g fat (0 g saturated), 300 mg sodium
Want to turn this into a more substantial snack? Pair it with a tablespoon of peanut butter and you can squash afternoon hunger for around 200 calories.
5. Chex Mix Dark Chocolate (30 g, ½ cup)
140 calories, 4.5 g fat, (2 g saturated), 60 mg sodium
Made with actual dark chocolate, which has been shown to decrease the risk of heart disease.
6. Cheerios Snack Mix Original (29 g, ⅔ cup)
120 calories, 3 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 240 mg sodium
Thankfully, Cheerios Snack Mix doesn't suffer from the same sugar blight that afflicts some of the brand's cereal products. Plus, each serving packs a few grams of fiber.
1. Gardetto's Original Recipe Snack Mix (30 g, ½ cup)
150 calories, 7 g fat, (1.5 g saturated,, 1.5 g trans), 260 mg sodium
The gratuitous use of partially hydrogenated oils makes this line one dangerous snack. Each serving has nearly as much trans fats as the American Heart Association recommends as the maximum to consume in a day.
2. Pepperidge Farm Baked Naturals Snack Sticks Toasted Sesame (12 sticks)
140 calories, 5 g fat (1 g saturated), 290 mg sodium
Better than a bag of standard chips, but not quite as good as pretzels or baked chips.
3. Snyder's of Hanover Honey Mustard & Onion Pretzel Pieces (28 g, ⅓ cup)
140 calories, 7 g fat (3 g saturated), 240 mg sodium
A thick application of palm oil gives this bag considerably more fat than Rold Gold's.
4. Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Baked Snack Crackers Pretzel (30 g, 43 pieces)
130 calories, 2.5 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 430 mg sodium
These fish are swimming in sodium and oil.
5. Bugles Sweet & Salty Chocolate Peanut Butter (32 g, ⅔ cup)
170 calories, 9 g fat (6 g saturated), 150 mg sodium
Four different kinds of oil give this mix as much saturated fat as six strips of bacon.
6. Annie's Homegrown Organic Snack Mix (28 g, ½ cup)
130 calories, 5 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 250 mg sodium
Organic is good, but a fiberless snack is not.
1. Orville Redenbacher's Natural Simply Salted (2 cups popped)
60 calories, 4 g fat, (2 g saturated), 130 mg sodium
In its ideal state, popcorn can be a perfect snack: low calorie, whole grain, and with a good hit of fiber. This bag takes the nutritional high road with four simple ingredients and zero trans fats.
2. Popcorn, Indiana Touch of Sea Salt (2 cups)
85 calories, 4 g fat, (0 g saturated), 125 mg sodium
Nothing but popcorn, canola oil, and sea salt. Oh, and 2 grams of fiber per serving. You won't find a more unadulterated bag anywhere.
3. Orville Redenbacher's Spicy Nacho (2 cups popped)
60 calories, 4 g fat, (2 g saturated), 100 mg sodium
Kudos to Mr. Redenbacher, who derives his nacho flavor from real jalapeños.
4. Smart Balance Deluxe Microwave Popcorn Smart N' Healthy! (2 cups popped)
50 calories, 0 g fat, 0 mg sodium
With this Smart Balance bag, you control the sodium level. Add a pinch of sea salt or a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese before diving in.
5. Cracker Jack The Original (28 g, ½ cup)
120 calories, 2 g fat, (0 g saturated), 70 mg sodium, 15 g sugars
It's not the most wholesome snack around, but it's 75 percent lower in fat than Orville's version.
6. Act II Kettle Corn (2 cups popped)
60 calories, 3 g fat, (1 g saturated), 40 mg sodium
Act II cuts calories by swapping out sugar for sucralose.
7. Act II Butter Lovers (2 cups popped)
50 calories, 2 g fat, (0 g saturated), 90 mg sodium
Act II achieves a rich butter flavor without the dangerous load of fat.
1. Pop-Secret Homestyle (2 cups popped)
60 calories, 4 g fat, (0 g saturated,, 2 g trans), 140 mg sodium
The reckless use of partially hydrogenated oils imbues each bag with 12 grams of trans fats, which have a firm link to heart disease. Pop-Secret should be ashamed of itself.
2. Smartfood White Cheddar (2 cups)
183 calories, 11 g fat, (2.5 g saturated), 331 mg sodium
Smart? Hardly. This bag earns a heavy glut of fat from oils, cheese, and buttermilk.
3. Jolly Time Blast O Butter (2 cups popped)
90 calories, 6 g fat, (2 g saturated,, 2 g trans), 170 mg sodium
Jolly Time isn't shy about pouring on the partially hydrogenated oils. One serving has more trans fats than you should consume in a day.
4. Newman's Own Popcorn Light Butter (2 cups popped)
70 calories, 2 g fat, (1 g saturated), 97 mg sodium
Not a terrible choice, but if you're looking for a "light" popcorn, there are better bags to buy.
5. Orville Redenbacher's Poppycock Original (31 g, ½ cup)
160 calories, 8 g fat, (2 g saturated), 120 mg sodium, 13 g sugars
The heavy application of glaze puts this one in the candy category.
6. Jolly Time Kettle Mania Kettle Corn (2 cups popped)
90 calories, 6 g fat, (2 g saturated,, 2 g trans), 80 mg sodium
"Mania" is correct. You'd have to be a maniac to eat this much trans fats in one sitting.
7. Orville Redenbacher's Pop Up Bowl Movie Theater Butter (2 cups popped)
70 calories, 5 g fat, (2 g saturated), 80 mg sodium
Don't let a gimmicky "Pop Up Bowl" influence the quality of the popcorn you eat.
1. On the Border Salsa con Queso (34 g, 2 Tbsp)
45 calories, 3 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 260 mg sodium
Cheese dips, by nature, tend to be heavy with calories, but On the Border lightens the load by blending in tomatoes, peppers, water, and nonfat milk.
2. Newman's Own Chunky Bandito Mild Salsa (32 g, 2 Tbsp)
10 calories, 0 g fat, 65 mg sodium
We balked when Ronald Reagan tried to turn ketchup into a vegetable, but if someone did the same for salsa, a legitimate nutritional superpower, we'd throw our support behind it.
3. Wholly Guacamole Guaca Salsa (30 g, 2 Tbsp)
35 calories, 3 g fat, (0 g saturated), 110 mg sodium
Avocados are the first of only seven ingredients, all of which you likely keep stocked in your kitchen.
4. Tribe All Natural Hummus Sweet Roasted Red Peppers (28 g, 2 Tbsp)
40 calories, 2.5 g fat, (0 g saturated), 125 mg sodium
Based on chickpeas and sesame seeds, hummus makes for an incredible vegetable dip and sandwich spread.
5. Athenos Hummus Original (27 g, 2 Tbsp)
50 calories, 3 g fat, (0 g saturated), 160 mg sodium
Made with real olive oil, which lends an authentic flavor and more heart-healthy fats.
6. Desert Pepper Black Bean Dip Spicy (31 g, 2 Tbsp)
25 calories, 0 g fat, 300 mg sodium
This jar contains a trio of nutritional A-listers: black beans, tomatoes, and sweet green peppers.
1. Pace Mexican Four Cheese Salsa con Queso (30 g, 2 Tbsp)
90 calories, 7 g fat, (1.5 g saturated), 430 mg sodium
After water, soybean oil is the number-one ingredient in this jar. If you're going to blow 90 calories on a cheese dip, you should at least be eating, you know, actual cheese.
2. Herdez Salsa Casera Mild (31 g, 2 Tbsp)
10 calories, 0 g fat, 270 mg sodium
Be on the watch for elevated sodium in salsa. By the time you finish this jar, you'll have taken in 3,780 milligrams, more than double the daily limit for most people.
3. Mission Guacamole Flavored Dip (31 g, 2 Tbsp)
40 calories, 3 g fat, (0 g saturated), 150 mg sodium
"Flavored" is the key word. This imposter is made mostly of water, oil, and cornstarch.
4. Marzetti Dill Veggie Dip (29 g, 2 Tbsp)
110 calories, 11 g fat, (3 g saturated), 200 mg sodium
This dip is mostly sour cream. The only "veggies" are dehydrated onion and garlic, and they're buried deep in the ingredients list.
5. Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus (28 g, 2 Tbsp)
80 calories, 7 g fat, (1 g saturated), 125 mg sodium, 4 g carbohydrates
Instead of the traditional olive oil, Sabra's ingredients statement lists "soybean and/or canola."
6. Tostitos Zesty Bean & Cheese Dip Medium (33 g, 2 Tbsp)
45 calories, 2 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 230 mg sodium
Contains more than 25 ingredients, including corn oil, monosodium glutamate, DATEM (an emulsifier), and two artificial shades of yellow.
1. Bare Fruit Bake-Dried Cinnamon Apple Chips (12 g)
29 calories, 0 g fat, 7 g sugars, 1 g fiber
Dried fruits and vegetables have been flooding the supermarket of late, which can be a great thing if you choose carefully. Bare Fruit apples have no added sweeteners or artificial anything. Just organic apples and a pinch of cinnamon.
2. Planters NUTrition Digestive Health Mix (32 g, ¼ cup)
150 calories, 8 g fat, (1 g saturated), 40 mg sodium, 5 g fiber
The fiber and healthy fats in nuts squash hunger.
3. Blue Ribbon Orchard Choice Mission Figlets (40 g, ¼ cup, 5 figs)
110 calories, 0 g fat, 20 g sugars, 5 g fiber
Loads of fiber and no added sugar.
4. Bare Fruit Bake-Dried Cherries (36 g)
108 calories, 0 g fat, 16 g sugars, 2 g fiber
Bare Fruit specializes in slow-cooked fruit with zero added sugars. This is one pristine fruit snack.
5. David Pumpkin Seeds Roasted & Salted (30 g, ¼ cup)
160 calories, 12 g fat, (2.5 g saturated), 10 mg sodium, 1 g fiber
Among the most magnesium-rich foods on the planet.
6. Sunsweet California Pitted Prunes (40 g, ¼ cup)
100 calories, 0 g fat, 15 g sugars, 3 g fiber
Diced prunes mixed with mandarin oranges, baby spinach, and feta make for a tasty salad.
7. Stretch Island Fruit Co. All Natural Fruit Strip Summer Strawberry (14 g, 1 strip)
45 calories, 0 g fat, 9 g sugars, 1 g fiber
Just fruit purees and juice.
8. Emerald Cinnamon Roast Almonds (28 g, ¼ cup)
150 calories, 13 g fat, (1 g saturated), 40 mg sodium, 3 g fiber
Cinnamon can help ease blood sugar spikes.
1. Seneca Crispy Apple Chips Original (28 g, 12 chips)
140 calories, 7 g fat, (1 g saturated), 12 g sugars, 2 g fiber
"Snack healthier," Seneca implores eaters on the label (then proceeds to dip its apples in oil and corn syrup).
2. Planters NUTrition South Beach Diet Recommended Mix (28 g, 18 pieces)
170 calories, 15 g fat, (2 g saturated), 50 mg sodium, 2 g fiber
3. Sunsweet California Grown Dates Chopped (40 g, ¼ cup)
120 calories, 0 g fat, 27 g sugars, 3 g fiber
The sugar coating pushes these dates dangerously close to candy status.
4. Mariani Vanilla Flavored Yogurt Raisins (30 g, 2 Tbsp)
150 calories, 7 g fat, (6 g saturated), 17 g sugars, 1 g fiber
The yogurt is really partially hydrogenated oil.
5. David Sunflower Kernels Roasted & Salted (30 g, ¼ cup)
190 calories, 15 g fat, (2 g saturated), 220 mg sodium, 3 g fiber
Doused in partially hydrogenated oil.
6. Mariani Philippine Mango (40 g, 6 slices)
130 calories, 0 g fat, 27 g sugars, 1 g fiber
Mangoes natural sugars intensify in the drying process, which makes the added sugar all the more puzzling.
7. Fruit Roll-Ups Strawberry (14 g, 1 roll)
50 calories, 1 g fat, (0 g saturated), 7 g sugars, 0 g fiber
Made from 14 ingredients including partially hydrogenated oils. The one ingredient missing? Fruit.
8. Blue Diamond Natural Oven Roasted Almonds Butter Toffee (28 g, 24 nuts)
160 calories, 12 g fat, (1 g saturated), 35 mg sodium, 3 g fiber
Three of the first four ingredients are forms of sugar.
1. Chips Ahoy! Chewy (27 g, 2 cookies)
120 calories, 5 g fat, (2.5 g saturated), 85 mg sodium, 10 g sugars
This cookie isn't just the best of the Chips Ahoy! line, it's also one of the lowest-calorie cookies on the shelf.
2. Keebler Baker's Treasures Soft Oatmeal Raisin (32 g, 2 cookies)
130 calories, 4.5 g fat, (1.5 g saturated), 105 mg sodium, 10 g sugars
Keebler's newest creation displaces some of the oil calories with applesauce, a strategy we'd like to see applied to more cookies in the elves' catalog.
3. Kashi TLC Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Soft-Baked Cookies (30 g, 1 cookie)
130 calories, 5 g fat, (1.5 g saturated), 65 mg sodium, 8 g sugars
Thanks to oats barley, and buckwheat, Kashi's cookie has more fiber (4 grams) than a standard slice of whole-wheat bread.
4. Nabisco Fig Newtons Original (31 g, 2 cookies)
110 calories, 2 g fat, (0 g saturated), 130 mg sodium, 12 g sugars
Yes, it's made with real figs. That doesn't make it "healthy," but it's nice to have some real fruit to offset the processed sugar.
5. Newman's Own Newman-O's Chocolate Crème Filled Chocolate Cookies (28 g, 2 cookies)
130 calories, 5 g fat, (1.5 g saturated), 110 mg sodium, 11 g sugars
Compared with Oreo, Newman takes a moderate approach to oil and sugar.
6. Nabisco Ginger Snaps (28 g, 4 cookies)
120 calories, 2.5 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 190 mg sodium, 11 g sugars
Small cookies are a good strategy—they can help you feel like you're eating more than you actually are.
1. Keebler Soft Batch Chocolate Chip (32 g, 2 cookies)
160 calories, 7 g fat (3 g saturated), 110 mg sodium, 12 g sugars
This cookie has more fat, more sodium, and more sugar than the same cookie from Chips Ahoy!
2. Keebler Chips Deluxe Oatmeal Chocolate Chip (31 g, 2 cookies)
150 calories, 7 g fat, (3 g saturated), 105 mg sodium, 10 g sugars
Add just one of these 75-calorie Keebler cookies to your daily diet and you'll gain nearly 8 pounds this year.
3. Mrs. Fields Milk Chocolate Chip (34 g, 1 cookie)
160 calories, 8 g fat, (4 g saturated), 160 mg sodium, 15 g sugars
The dearth of fiber ensures that this will pass straight through your belly, spike your blood sugar, and convert quickly to flab.
4. Newman's Own Fig Newmans Low Fat (38 g, 2 bars)
140 calories, 2 g fat, (1 g saturated), 170 mg sodium, 13 g sugars
Surprisingly enough, the Fig Newmans low-fat cookie has more calories than the original Newtons. Blame the extra rush of refined carbs.
5. Nabisco Chocolate Creme Oreo (30 g, 2 cookies)
150 calories, 7 g fat, (2.5 g saturated), 110 mg sodium, 13 g sugars
And the regular Oreos are even worse—they deliver an extra gram of sugar and 10 extra calories per serving.
6. Keebler Sandies Simply Shortbread (31 g, 2 cookies)
160 calories, 9 g fat, (4 g saturated), 90 mg sodium, 7 g sugars
We applaud the low sugar count, but not the heavy deposits of soybean and palm oils.
1. Hostess Twinkies (43 g, 1 cake)
150 calories, 4.5 g fat, (2.5 g saturated), 18 g sugars
There's nothing nutritionally worthwhile about any ingredient listed on this package, but a Twinkie does a decent job of delivering sweet, squishy indulgence without inflicting too much damage.
2. Little Debbie Star Crunch (31 g, 1 cookie)
150 calories, 6 g fat, (3.5 g saturated), 13 g sugars
Star Crunch's puffed-rice approach keeps the cake sufficiently light and airy.
3. Nabisco SnackWell's Fudge Crème Brownie Bites (39 g, 1 pack)
150 calories, 5 g fat (2 g saturated), 14 g sugars
We're not huge fans of many of SnackWell's products, but we'll take their low-calorie line over Entenmann's and Little Debbie's any day.
4. Hostess CupCakes (50 g, 1 cake)
180 calories, 7 g fat, (3.5 g saturated), 20 g sugars
One of these is permissible. Two are likely to sabotage your weight-loss efforts.
5. Little Debbie Pecan Spinwheels (30 g, 1 roll)
100 calories, 3.5 g fat, (1 g saturated), 7 g sugars
This is one of the lowest-calorie products in the entire Little Debbie catalog.
6. Hostess SmartBakes Streusel Cakes (43 g, 1 cake)
150 calories, 4.5 g fat, (1 g saturated), 3 g fiber, 15 g sugars
Hostess's SmartBakes line represents a change we can get behind. It's made with whole-grain wheat, which helps give this cake 3 grams of fiber.
1. Hostess Ding Dongs (40 g, 1 cake)
180 calories, 9 g fat, (7 g saturated), 18 g sugars
Each Ding Dong has double the fat of the Twinkie, and because it comes in a two-pack, you have to practice restraint to avoid bingeing.
2. Little Debbie Fudge Rounds (Big Pack) (67 g, 1 round)
310 calories, 12 g fat, (4.5 g saturated), 30 g sugars
Little Debbie's Big Packs are woeful not just for the content of their cakes but also for the Flintstonian portion size. This one has more calories than 8 strips of bacon.
3. Entenmann's Little Bites Fudge Brownies (62 g, 1 pack)
270 calories, 14 g fat, (4 g saturated), 25 g sugars
Entenmann's brownies are only slightly better than its doughnuts.
4. Hostess Suzy Q's (57 g, 1 cake)
220 calories, 9 g fat, (4.5 g saturated), 24 g sugars
One Suzy Q has 50 more calories than a Wendy's Jr. Original Chocolate Frosty.
5. Little Debbie Oatmeal Crème Pies (38 g, 1 pie)
170 calories, 7 g fat (2 g saturated), 12 g sugars
Don't be fooled; the oatmeal is nothing more than the vehicle for fat and sugar.
6. Little Debbie Strawberry Shortcake Rolls (61 g, 1 roll)
240 calories, 9 g fat (3 g saturated), 27 g sugars
The only reference to fruit in the ingredient list is to "artificial strawberry," i.e., an additive engineered in a lab to look and taste like the real thing. No thanks, Debbie.
1. Snack Pack Pudding Caramel Sugar-Free (99 g, 1 pudding cup)
60 calories, 3 g fat, (1.5 g saturated), 0 g sugars
Given the choice between sugar free and fat free, we'll take sugar free every time.
2. Jell-O Sugar Free Chocolate Vanilla Swirls (106 g, 1 snack)
60 calories, 1.5 g fat, (1 g saturated), 0 g sugars
Concern yourself less with a pudding's fat content than its sugar load.
3. Jell-O Cook & Serve Banana Cream (½ cup prepared with 2% milk)
140 calories, 0 g fat, 15 g sugars
Not the lightest pudding on the market, but made with low-fat milk, this makes for a reasonable (and decadent) dessert.
4. Royal Flan with Caramel Sauce (19 g dry mix, ½ cup prepared with 2% milk)
130 calories, 1 g fat, (0 g saturated), 18 g sugars
You can control your sugar intake by reducing your use of the caramel sauce.
5. Kozy Shack No Sugar Added Pudding Tapioca (113 g, 1 snack cup)
70 calories, 0.5 g fat, (0 g saturated), 5 g sugars
Chicory root powder pads this cup with 4 grams of fiber, which is as much as you'd find in a bowl of Quaker Quick Oats.
6. Mousse Temptations by Jell-O Sugar Free Dark Chocolate Decadence (65 g, 1 snack)
60 calories, 2.5 g fat, (1.5 g saturated), 0 g sugars
Half the calories and fat of Jell-O's box version.
7. Temptations by Jell-O Lemon Meringue Pie (111 g, 1 snack)
100 calories, 2 g fat, (2 g saturated), 15 g sugars
Not all of Jell-O's Temptations are equally commendable, but this one finds the middle ground between prudence and indulgence.
1. Snack Pack Pudding Butterscotch (92 g, 1 pudding cup)
110 calories, 2.5 g fat, (1 g saturated), 14 g sugars
Unless they're sugar free, Snack Pack puddings are not to be trusted.
2. Jell-O Fat Free Chocolate Vanilla Swirls (113 g, 1 snack)
100 calories, 0 g fat, 17 g sugars
Beware the bait and switch: Fat-free products are frequently saddled with egregious amounts of sugar and salt.
3. Jell-O Instant Pudding Cheesecake (½ cup prepared with 2% milk)
160 calories, 0 g fat, 20 g sugars
It's no surprise that one of the worst desserts also is the star of one of the worst puddings in the supermarket.
4. Kozy Shack Restaurant Style Flan Crème (113 g, 1 flan)
150 calories, 4 g fat, (2 g saturated), 20 g sugars
Every tablespoon packs nearly 3 grams of sugar and 18 calories.
5. Kozy Shack Original Rice Pudding (113 g, 1 snack cup)
130 calories, 3 g fat, (2 g saturated), 14 g sugars
White rice is a nutritionally subpar grain, so anything made with it (milk, pudding) is likely to be something you should avoid.
6. Temptations by Jell-O Chocolate Truffle Indulgence (box) (½ cup prepared with fat-free milk)
130 calories, 6 g fat, (4 g saturated), 9 g sugars
Two of the first three ingredients are oils.
7. Snack Pack Lemon Pudding (99 g, 1 cup)
130 calories, 2.5 g fat, (1.5 g saturated), 20 g sugars
Sugar accounts for nearly two-thirds of these calories.
1. Kashi GoLean Roll! Caramel Peanut (55 g, 1 bar)
190 calories, 5 g fat, (1.5 g saturated), 6 g fiber, 14 g sugars, 12 g protein
Kashi folds whey and soy proteins into a blend of seven whole grains to give this low-calorie bar a phenomenal nutritional profile.
2. Pure Protein S'mores (50 g, 1 bar)
180 calories, 5 g fat, (3.5 g saturated), 0 g fiber, 2 g sugars, 19 g protein
You won't find another bar with so much protein for so few calories.
3. Lärabar Apple Pie (45 g, 1 bar)
190 calories, 10 g fat, (1 g saturated), 5 g fiber, 18 g sugars, 4 g protein
Made from just six ingredients, and all of them whole foods you might have in your pantry.
4. Nature's Path Optimum Rebound Banana, Nut, Matcha & Flax (56 g, 1 bar)
190 calories, 4 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 4 g fiber, 20 g sugars, 10 g protein
5. Atkins Advantage Caramel Chocolate Nut Roll (44 g, 1 bar)
170 calories, 12 g fat, (4.5 g saturated), 8 g fiber, 2 g sugars, 8 g protein
6. Journey Bar Coconut Curry (50 g, 1 bar)
220 calories, 11 g fat, (4 g saturated), 5 g fiber, 10 g sugars, 5 g protein
All of Journey bars are long on fiber and short on added sugars.
1. PowerBar Triple Threat Caramel Peanut Fusion (45 g, 1 bar)
230 calories, 9 g fat, (4.5 g saturated), 3 g fiber, 15 g sugars, 10 g protein
Of the first 12 ingredients in this bar, fully half are some form of sugar or oil.
2. PowerBar ProteinPlus Chocolate Brownie (90 g, 1 bar)
360 calories, 11 g fat, (4.5 g saturated), <1 g fiber, 30 g sugars, 30 g protein
Body builders only.
3. Quaker Oatmeal to Go Apples with Cinnamon (60 g, 1 bar)
220 calories, 4 g fat, (1 g saturated), 200 mg sodium, 5 g fiber, 22 g sugars, 4 g protein
4. Clif Banana Nut Bread (68 g, 1 bar)
240 calories, 6 g fat, (1 g saturated), 4 g fiber, 22 g sugars, 9 g protein
First ingredient: organic brown rice syrup. Sounds fancy, but it's basically sugar.
5. Zone Perfect Classic Nutrition Bar Chocolate Peanut Butter (50 g, 1 bar)
210 calories, 7 g fat, (4 g saturated), 3 g fiber, 15 g sugars, 14 g protein
6. Raw Revolution Coconut & Agave Nectar (62 g, 1 bar)
280 calories, 18 g fat, (6 g saturated), 5 g fiber, 20 g sugars, 6 g protein
Same fiber count, double the sugar.
1. Jack Link's Original Beef Jerky (1 oz, 28 g)
80 calories, 1 g fat, (0 g saturated), 590 mg sodium, 15 g protein
One of the best grab-and-go snacks around. The 15 grams of protein go a long way toward snuffing out midday hunger.
2. Chips Ahoy! Chocolate Chip Cookies (40 g, 1 package)
190 calories, 9 g fat, (3 g saturated), 13 g sugars
Nutritious? No, but the small serving size makes them safer than most packaged sweets.
3. SunChips Harvest Cheddar (28 g, 15 chips, 1 package)
140 calories, 6 g fat, (1 g saturated), 200 mg sodium
SunChips uses whole grains to add an impressive 3 grams of fiber to this bag.
4. Kraft Handi-Snacks Ritz Crackers 'n Cheese Dip (27 g, 1 package)
100 calories, 6 g fat, (1.5 g saturated), 330 mg sodium
This dip is made with Cheddar and whey protein.
5. Snyder's of Hanover Mini Pretzels (0.9 oz, 1 package)
100 calories, 0 g fat, 220 mg sodium
Pretzels are baked, not fried, making them a better choice than chips for a midday snack.
6. Emerald 100 Calorie Pack Cocoa Roast Almonds (18 g, 1 pack)
100 calories, 8 g fat, (0.5 g saturated), 1 g sugars
Two grams of fiber and a load of healthy fats make this a guilt-free indulgence.
1. Slim Jim Original (1 oz)
150 calories, 13 g fat, (5 g saturated), 430 mg sodium, 6 g protein
There's nothing slim about this product. More than 75 percent of its calories are derived from fat. By comparison, 75 percent of Jack Link's calories come from protein.
2. Oreos (57 g, 1 package)
270 calories, 11 g fat, (3 g saturated), 23 g sugars
Serving size is king in the snack world. Add just one of these packages to your daily routine and you'll gain more than 2 pounds in a month.
3. Ruffles Cheddar & Sour Cream (53 g, 1 pouch)
300 calories, 21 g fat, (3 g saturated), 440 mg sodium
There's no reason to settle for a fat-heavy chip like this.
4. Keebler Cheese & Cheddar Sandwich Crackers (39 g, 1 package)
190 calories, 9 g fat, (2.5 g saturated), 290 mg sodium
Keebler products tend to pack more calories and fat than their rivals.
5. Rold Gold Tiny Twists (1 oz, 1 package)
110 calories, 1 g fat, (0 g saturated), 450 mg sodium
Snyder's makes a similar product with half as much sodium.
6. Teddy Grahams Chocolate (28 g, 1 package)
120 calories, 4 g fat, (1 g saturated), 8 g sugars
Unlike an almond's slow-burning fuel, these are mostly blood-sugar-spiking flour.
1. Jujubes (40 g, 52 pieces)
110 calories, 0 g fat, 18 g sugars
Nearly every calorie on this page comes from sugar, so the key to mitigating the damage is to find a candy that has less-concentrated sweetness. Jujubes, containing about a third of a gram of sugar in each piece, qualifies as one of the better candy bargains.
2. Smarties Candy Rolls (42 g, 6 rolls)
150 calories, 0 g fat, 36 g sugars
Use Smarties to quell a sweet tooth and you'll likely be satisfied by the time you finish one roll. That's not too bad considering that each roll has only 25 calories.
3. Red Hots (34 g, 40 pieces)
120 calories, 0 g fat, 28 g sugars
Half the size of a Hot Tamale, so you get to munch on more for less.
4. The Ginger People Crystallized Ginger (24 g, 4 pieces)
80 calories, 0 g fat, 18 g sugars
Studies have linked ginger with a host of potential health benefits, including alleviating arthritis and fighting nausea.
5. Jelly Belly (40 g, 35 pieces)
140 calories, 0 g fat, 28 g sugars
Jelly Belly uses real fruit purees to flavor these beans. It's still candy in every sense, but it's certainly the lesser of many sugar-loaded evils.
6. Werther's Original Hard Candy (16 g, 3 pieces)
70 calories, 1.5 g fat, (1 g saturated), 10 g sugars
Hard candies make for longer-lasting treats with fewer calories.
1. Mike and Ike Original Fruits (40 g, 23 pieces)
150 calories, 0 g fat, 23 g sugars
The problem with candy is that it's concentrated sugar with no fat, fiber, or protein to slow its passage through your body. Plus the more you eat, the more you crave. That puts pounds on your body, and over time, it puts you at risk for diabetes.
2. SweeTARTS (45 g, 39 pieces)
180 calories, 0 g fat, 36 g sugars
Few producers are capable of packing so many calories into so tiny a package. You might as well eat 2 heaping spoonfuls of table sugar.
3. Hot Tamales (40 g, 20 pieces)
140 calories, 0 g fat, 25 g sugars
Advertised as "fat free," but nearly all candy is.
4. Sour Patch Kids (40 g, 16 pieces)
150 calories, 0 g fat, 26 g sugars
Eat 1 serving a day and you'll put on nearly 15 pounds in a year.
5. Skittles Original (42 g, ¼ cup)
170 calories, 2 g fat, (2 g saturated), 32 g sugars
Skittles hit all the dangers of candy: a deluge of sugar, a layer of saturated fat, and an absurd number of artificial colors—several of which have been linked to hyperactivity in children.
6. Werther's Original Chewy Caramels (19 g, 3 pieces)
85 calories, 3 g fat, (1.5 g saturated), 7 g sugars
You can put down about 10 of these in the time it takes you to get through one Werther's hard candy.
1. Pretzel M&M's (32 g, 1 bag)
150 calories, 5 g fat (3 g saturated), 16 g sugars
The latest spin on M&M's trounces everything else in the candy co.'s sugary arsenal. The original milk chocolate core has been replaced with pretzel, which is low in calories by confectionary standards. As result, you trade in a boatload of sugar for a satisfying cookie-like crunch.
2. Life Savers Gummies (40 g, 10 pieces)
130 calories, 0 g fat, 25 g sugars
The secret to the chew: gelatin. Starburst uses the same trick, but spoils it with a strange mix of oils.
3. York Peppermint Pattie (39 g, 1 patty)
140 calories, 2.5 g fat, (1.5 g saturated), 25 g sugars
For a smaller treat, go with York Miniatures. You can have three for about the same number of calories.
4. Nestlé 100 Grand (43 g, 1 package)
190 calories, 8 g fat, (5 g saturated), 30 g carbohydrates, 22 g sugars
This is an Eat This, Not That! Hall of Famer, routinely beating out more common chocolate bars by 80 or more calories.
5. Hershey's Take 5 (42 g, 1 package)
200 calories, 11 g fat, (5 g saturated), 18 g sugars
The pretzel core saves you a boatload of calories.
6. Hershey's Kit Kat (43 g, 1 package)
210 calories, 11 g fat, (7 g saturated), 21 g sugars
The wafer core is light and porous, which saves you calories over the denser bars.
1. Milk Chocolate M&M's (48 g, 1 bag)
240 calories, 10 g fat, (6 g saturated), 31 g sugars
M&M's pack in a lot of sugar even by candy-bar standards. This little bag packs in more sweetness than two Little Debbie Chocolate Marshmallow Pies.
2. Starburst Original Fruit Chews (40 g, 8 pieces)
160 calories, 3.5 g fat, (3 g saturated), 23 g sugars
The firmness of the chew owes to the third ingredient: hydrogenated palm kernel oil.
3. Andes Creme de Menthe Thins (38 g, 8 pieces)
200 calories, 13 g fat, (11 g saturated), 20 g sugars
This is one of the worst candies in the supermarket. The first two ingredients are sugar and partially hydrogenated oil.
4. Mars Twix Caramel (51 g, 1 package)
250 calories, 12 g fat, (9 g saturated), 33 g carbohydrates, 24 g sugars
This package contains nearly as much saturated fat as two Snickers bars.
5. Nestlé Baby Ruth (44 g, 1 bar)
280 calories, 14 g fat, (8 g saturated), 33 g sugars
Together, saturated fat and sugar account for more than 200 of the calories in this package.
6. Nestlé Butterfinger (60 g, 1 bar)
270 calories, 11 g fat, (6 g saturated), 28 g sugars
Nobody better lay a finger on this Butterfinger.