foods you thought were low cal...but aren't!!

banana chips!!

holy crap i didn't know they were deep fried!!

any others you found suprising??

bagels. Once I read the labels I decided that whole wheat muffins were just fine.

Vegetable chips

http://www.iateapie.net/reviews/archives/2005 /03/terra_exotic_ve.php

Fruit smoothies (when they first became popular in mall food courts).  Now I make my own.

Fruit juices, sports drinks. 

Mozzarella sticks (like string cheese, not fried).  Okay, they're not bad, but not in the way I was scarfing them down.

Here's an old thread with the same question: http://caloriecount.about.com/eaten-something -totally-convinced-healthy-found-ft68425

Banana chips suprised me too, however, I've found that you can buy them baked or simply dehydrates at some stores, which makes them a little more manageable. I also had the bagel-shock, which was extra sad since I really just think of them as a convenient way to get cream cheese to my mouth, now I eat cream cheese on Wasa crackers for breakfast.

Honestly, mine was salad. Loaded down with all the cheese, croutons, dressing, beans, meats and crap, I can make a salad 500+ calories. Doesn't stop me from eating them : ) just makes me more thoughtful about how many toppings I really need.

Cereal, the portion sizes are so small, you end up eating 3-4 servings!

Beans. I assumed they were practically calorie-free for the longest time. I don't know why I had that in my head, but I did. I'd eat them by the can full all the time.

Also, when I first discovered avocadoes I went a little crazy and ate like three a day for weeks. :P Everyone kept saying how healthy they were, and I assumed all fruits were low cal. I had NO idea I was eating a giant calorie-bomb.  Oops.

Oh, I also thought beans were low-cal! And grapes. I never imagined how ridiculously high cal stuff like dried fruit was.. and nuts? Never in my life would I have guessed they`re practically tiny little calorie bombs.

Luckily these are all extremely healthy, but portion control is needed..

OK maybe I shouldn't have been shocked but I thought yogurt covered raisins have to be better then chocolate covered WRONG now I stay away from both.

Well, most restaurant salads. I'm not even talking the caesar ones with all the dressing mixed in (also high calorie), but other ones. I ordered the chicken pecan salad at Boston Pizza and if I recall correctly it was 700 - 800 calories without dressing. I couldn't figure out why I hardly made a dent in it! I was like, it's just a few pecans and some crispy chicken and greens... lol

I also heard somewhere that some foods are "negative calorie". So, they take more calories to digest than they contain; meaning you're actually burning calories by eating them. Some of these foods include: apples, celery (gross), carrots, radishes, oranges etc. However, I realized this was hogwash when I gained like five pounds by not logging my most of my fruit and vegetable intake. Ha! Anyone heard of something similar?

I remember being shocked the first time I looked @ the nutritional chart on the box of my poptarts.

I also remember looking @ salad dressing for the first time, particularly ranch.

Restaurants never cease to amaze me how they fit so many calories in their food.  Starbucks was the major heartbreak.  I loved their breakfast treats until I learned the truth about them.

I, too thought beans were somewhat low-calorie.

I didn't know that about banana chips!

I can't believe the calories in cheesecake. Yes it is mighty dense.. but I didn't know that the Cheesecake Factory selections can come to over 1000 calories. yipes! Good thing I don't really like it. :p

Marie Calendar's pot pies... 1000 calories for that thing!  I had figured they'd be high, but HOLY!

-Alcohol. No lie I thought it was calorie free for a long time and then I got sad when I found out my wonderful wine is around 100 calories a glass lol.

-Peanut butter. No comment lol

-Baked chips. They aren't as bad as normal ones but still 130 calories for only 15-17 chips? Who only eats 15-17 chips?!?! Lol

-Trail mixes. I figured it was all good stuff. WRONG! Lol

-Wasabi peas. 120 calories for 1/4 cup. Boo I used to eat those things by the handful.

-Dried fruit. Why? 130 cal for 1/3 c of dried cranberries? Dried apple rings too. There are 90 calories for only 3-4 rings. Lame. I'll eat an entire large apple for that!

-Poptarts. 400 calories for the whole package. You know you have to eat both pastries, who can only eat one? So sad. That was my staple food in high school when I first became vegetarian.

-Panera bagels. Holy crap are they high! The lowest one is 290 calories. But I mean they are HUGE and WONDERFUL but still 350 calories for a whole grain bagel! Insane! I still eat them though ha!

-DQ blizzards. The good ones are nothing under 700 calories for a small. I was convinced they weren't that bad and refused to look them up on their site to avoid devistation ha.

-Also most smoothies. If you don't make them yourself or go to a health food joint watch out. That is also so, so sad

Ohhh can`t believe I forgot about alcohol! I also thought that if it was unflavoured it would be practically calorie-free. -_-

A peanut butter sandwich.

- Salads, at least restaurant ones.

- Sorbet. I still eat it, but it has a lot of sugar and cals so I have to take it into account when I'm figuring out my daily menu.

- Smoothies. I always try to make them at home now so I can watch what I put in them.

- Some muffins and cookies (like at Subway, Starbucks, and fast foods)

I prefer to think of my wine as ONLY having 150 calories for a large glass.

Definitely agree with those who said alcohol. Also, the calorie content of a lot of sweet foods (muffins, cookies, etc.) shocked me.

It's amazing how we look at certain foods...

For me the shock was beans. I usually only ate them because I thought they were low cal, now that I know, I only endure them in Chili. lol

 I knew about bananas and avacodos :o(

A different spin on it though... I KNOW most veggies are low cal, but the other day, I was at my dad's place and I was measuring out my veggies, and he asked me why I was doing this. So I told him it was so that I could log it.

His reply was that they are "free foods"... A weight watchers term from back in the day ;oP They told him that he could eat as many veggies as he wanted and didn't have to "count" them, which is great, but honestly, I eat 200-300 cals a day of veggies! That's quite a few calories to not be counting when you're trying to lose weight. No wonder my parents were always so frustrated at weigh in!

Every time we chose a retaurant to go eat at I try to look up the menu, particularly the nutrition facts, before we go so I don't make the mistake of eating my calories in 1 item.  I was shocked to find out the calorie counts in most dishes at the local restaurants in the area.  For example, Outback Steakhouse, bloomin onions are approx 2,300 calories.  I knew it couldn't be too low in cals because after all it is fried but 2,300, that's more than I'm allotted in one day!

I think we need to remember though for things like nuts, peanut butter and most fruits and veggies is that they DO provide good things for our bodies so we shouldn't discount them or remove them just because the calorie count is high.  I like nuts for a small snack in the afternoon before dinner, I feel this helps me curb my cravings for bad things!  Usually things dense in calories leave us feeling full longer, like nuts, peanut butter, beans, etc so they are worth the cals spent! 

Happy Calorie Counting!

I was shocked the first time I looked at Chili's nutritional facts online. Many restaurants you will be OK if you only eat half, but Chili's food is really high calorie and fat!

A friend of mine did a project in college about Super Salad. That place is really unhealthy-- but everyone thinks it's safe b/c it's salad. Last time I was there, I looked around and realized almost everyone there was overweight.

I, too, struggle w/ calories from Alcohol. I was out watching a concernt last night and had three beers over the course of several hours... I thought I'd done ok until I got home and realized I'd had amost 500 calories! Argh!