5 Bad Foods To Avoid In The Office
By Alex A. Kecskes for Care2
Image via: foxnews.com
What you eat (free or at a discount) at your office is often not the healthiest for you. Here’s a short list of foods to avoid from 9 to 5 — and actually beyond office hours, too.
1. Donuts & Pastries
Cleveland Clinic’s HealthHub notes that a single doughnut can easily contain anywhere from 250 to 550 calories. Add to that, a whopping 20 to 50 grams of sugar and it’s easy to see that these tasty morning morsels are among the worst foods you can eat. The sugar shoots your body with insulin, which eventually leads to a big sugar crash later. Too much sugar intake has been linked to type 2 diabetes. Worse yet, many donuts contain trans fats, which, as noted by the American Heart Association, will raise your bad (LDL) cholesterol levels and lower your good (HDL) levels. Eating trans fats also increases your risk of developing heart disease and stroke.
2. Potato Chips
Chips are typically high in fat and calories, which can raise the risk of weight gain and obesity. Read the labels: One ounce of plain potato chips, or about 15 to 20 chips, typically contains 10 grams of fat and 154 calories. A small bag of chips has about 260 calories. Then there’s all that salt. Potato chips generally have between 120 and 180 milligrams of sodium per ounce. Most chips are deep-fried, a process that creates trans fats, the most dangerous type of fat. In addition, the oils used for frying chips are often saturated fats, which also contribute to high cholesterol levels.
3. Bagels & Cheese
HealthHub also notes that most bagels load you up with 300–500 calories of starch. A high carb diet may lead to increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Even worse, it’s what most people put on a bagel that can negatively affect their health. According to Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN, a registered dietitian and consultant, regular cream cheese has a fair amount of artery clogging fat, even if you go with a fairly moderate serving. For example, according to the label, two tablespoons of regular cream cheese have 100 calories, 9 grams of fat and 6 grams of saturated fat. Best to go with a whipped cream cheese version, but it’s sometimes hard to know what you’re getting on an office table spread.
4. Energy Drinks
Energy drinks typically contain sugar, caffeine and other stimulants with caffeine-like effects. These stimulants increase nervous activity, and elevate heart rate and blood pressure. The caffeine content of energy drinks can range from 80 milligrams in an 8-ounce Red Bull to over 350 milligrams in 16 ounces of the no-calorie energy drink Bang, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. In some individuals, long-term overuse of caffeine can led to anxiety, nervousness and dehydration. The American Diabetes Association notes that drinking sugary drinks is linked to type 2 diabetes.
5. Protein Bars
You’ll often find these in office vending machines or Honor Snack tables. I used to eat these often, but after carefully reading the labels, I’ve cut way back. Many of these bars contain huge amounts of sugar. Even bars that appear healthy often have as much as 30 grams of sugar—more than what you’d find in an ordinary candy bar. Weird ingredients are another thing. Some bars have as many as 56 different ingredients—like non-organic soy protein isolate, most likely, a GMO soy drenched in pesticides. Read the nutritional facts on the back of these bars—look for bars with the least fats, carbohydrates, sodium and sugars.
What to eat instead? Here are some ideas: