Fattening Foods To Avoid
Foods that make you fat quickly
Long-term goals are daunting, especially in regards to nutrition. It's often easier to set a short-term goal. For example, avoid gaining weight before your next date rather than resolving to replicate Mark Wahlberg's abs by the holiday season.
In honor of this, here is a list of foods to avoid since they will make you fat quick. Of course, any food eaten in excess will bulk you up quickly. These foods just do it with more pizzazz and less effort.
Fast (and/or Heavily Processed) Food
Since these items tend to be high in calories and artificial ingredients, they'll waste no time expanding your waistline. The majority of foods on the market (everything from canned vegetables to crackers) contain some type of refined sugar. These sugars are derived by extracting out the sucrose from a plant and then further removing unwanted substances from the extract. This clarification process results in a sweet product devoid of any real nutritional value- hence the term "junk food." When you consume a product heavy with refined sugars, you'll be getting lots of calories and few sustaining nutrients. These sugars are almost impossible to completely avoid; the best you can do is opt for more natural and whole foods when possible.
Beer
Everyone's familiar with the dreaded beer belly. It's usually caused by the simple fact that beer has a lot of calories, around 150 per 12 ounces. That may not sound like much, but it adds up when you consider beer is often taken with a meal, or with eight other beers. Beer, and alcohol in general, is a key conspirator in weight gain thanks to the additional damage it can do to your liver. A damaged liver means your body won't efficiently perform basic functions like the processing of fats, leading to easy weight gain. To avoid this, drink in moderation and consider switching over to red wine every now and again- its antioxidants pack more health benefits than your average brewski.
White Bread
Loaded with simple carbohydrates, typical white flour vehicles like sandwich loaves and dinner rolls will quickly bring you to a heftier size. While the body needs carbs for energy purposes, simple carbs have the shortest shelf life of the bunch. Once in the body, they need to be used up quickly otherwise they'll likely convert to fat. Furthermore, simple carbohydrates are usually stripped of most nutritional value. When you factor in the additional calories gained from classical white bread accompaniments like butter, jelly, and mayonnaise, it's no wonder so many diets blacklist such foods. High-fiber and whole wheat options are good alternatives since they have complex carbs, meaning you have more time to use up their potential energy before they convert to fat.
Avocados
Rightfully known as the most fattening vegetable available (except for the minor fact that it's actually a fruit), the avocado gets 80 per cent of its calories from fat. They'll fill you with fats, but the good monounsaturated kind. Monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) have been shown to reduce cholesterol levels, belly fat, and joint pain. This makes them a fatty treat that's actually healthy for you. A few slices in a sandwich make a great alternative to mayonnaise. Think of avocados (and other sources of MUFAs like olive oil and nuts) as the fat antidote.
