Crunchy, salty, and tasty, potato chips are ideal snack food. Unfortunately, these divinations are deep-fried in trans fats. Trans fats come about during the processing of vegetable oil, called hydrogenation, to increase its shelf life. But, consumed by humans, the outtake causes high LDL cholesterol and all the baddies that come with it: obesity, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and even cancer.
There is virtually no nutritional value left in the potato chip by the time it’s processed. So, those 154 calories by eating less than 20 chips are empty, save for sodium and fat
Milkshakes
If you’re not careful, you may hit your daily calorie requirement before your food even arrives, with just a beverage. At Sonic, a large Oreo cheesecake shake is laden with 1,470 calories! And while a small shake at In-n-Out will only run you about 580 calories, that caloric intake represents what a nutritious meal might contain.
To put it in perspective, a double cheeseburger at Sonic contains 570 calories. Yet calories are only half the problem. Of the 1,470 calories in the Sonic shake, 650 come from fat. To top it off, the decadent beverage has 119 grams of sugar.
Energy Drinks
Despite the fact that energy drinks are marketed as a healthy alternative to soda and contain natural herbal extracts, the reality is that these beverages contain loads of harmful ingredients as well. You’ll find glucose, sucrose, and heavy doses of caffeine. Consuming a single can causes blood sugars to soar.
Worse yet, a new trend mixes in alcohol. It’s wildly popular, but it’s also extremely dangerous. One problem is that people consume much more alcohol. Deaths and other medical problems triggered the FDA to force companies to remove stimulants from cocktails.
Fried Wontons
It’s tempting to go for the fried wontons. You arrive at the restaurant half-famished, and these sumptuous treats are less pricey and more tempting than other appetizer options. But wait! If you eat just a few, you’ve already consumed enough to constitute a dinner, and the requisite sweet and sour dipping sauce only makes them an even more unhealthy dish.
Stuffed with cream cheese and imitation crab or shrimp, in general, each is also packed with over one hundred calories and 19 grams of fat. Perhaps a fresh vegetable spring roll will better tide you over.
French Fries
French fries are a no-brainer, right? Perhaps we should have left them off the list. Everyone knows they are crispy little trans fat sticks. On top of that, the fry metabolizes very quickly into carbs, ergo the dreaded sugars that spike insulin production flood your system. But, did you know french fries also contain a significant amount of acrylamide?
What’s acrylamide? The substance is formed by high-heat reactions while cooking starchy foods. The EPA says it is “likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”