Pages Navigation Menu
Categories Navigation Menu

9 Faux “Health Foods” That’ll Blow Up Your Belly

Posted by on May 23, 2012 in Diet It UP, Featured Article, Food Lists | 6 comments

8. Cereal

 

Why it’s fattening:

Cereal is fortified with vitamins and minerals, which creates the illusion of a health food, but it couldn’t be further from a smart start to the day. With the exception of Cheerios and a few Kashi cereals, it’s all processed, refined, sugar-packed garbage.

Even seemingly harmless cereals like Corn Flakes, Honey Bunches of Oats, Special K, and Rice Krispies are HORRIBLE. All three are made from processed rice & corn, which have most of the vitamins, minerals, and fiber removed to improve taste & shelf life.

The end result is a mess that’ll send your blood sugar and insulin spiraling, and amp up fat storage like no other.

Check the glycemic index — Rice Krispies come in at 82, cornflakes at 83. That’s utterly atrocious.

Don’t even get me started with Trix, Fruit Loops, Golden Grahams, Frosted Flakes, Frosted Mini Wheats, etc…other than the childhood nostalgia, delicious, artificial taste, and fun little toy, there’s nothing redeeming whatsoever from a body fat perspective.

Smart swaps:
  • Oatmeal
  • Steel-cut oats
  • Swiss muesli
  • Oat bran
  • Whole wheat toast
  • Fruit

Make the permanent swap to oatmeal. It’s MUCH lower in sugar, reduces cholesterol levels and boosts heart health, controls body fat storage, and actually has over 5g of protein per serving. You’ll also eat a lot less throughout the day.



1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Cereal | 9 

 

Bryan DiSanto

Owner & Editor-in-Chief at Lean It UP
Bryan DiSanto is the Owner & Editor-in-Chief of Lean It UP, ACE-CPT & CSN, NYU graduate, ex-fat kid, and all-around fitness/nutrition nutjob.

When he’s not working on his (or somebody else’s) abs, whipping up Eggocados, or running a Tough Mudder, he’s probably off yelling at a Carolina Panthers game somewhere.

Latest posts by Bryan DiSanto (see all)

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

  • LisaHiles

    I find it interesting that one of the suggested smart foods to eat (yogurt)  instead of #9 rice cakes is the #1 food mentioned in this article that it says will “blow up our bellies.”

    • https://www.leanit-up.com/ Bryan @ Lean It UP

       @LisaHiles These aren’t ranked in any sort of order based on level of “fatness,” per say, it’s meant to simply be a list.

    • https://www.leanit-up.com/ Bryan @ Lean It UP

       @LisaHiles But with that said, Yoplait yogurt and others with a ton of sugar and artificial ingredients added ARE incrementally more fattening than a rice cake. Go with Greek Yogurt (preferably plain), Siggi’s Icelandic, or other low-sugar varieties.

  • A

    I’m not a dietician, but shouldn’t Fiber One cereal be an exception with 11 grams of fiber (8 insoluable). It does have 45g of carbs, but I assume it will help lower my cholesterol better than oatmeal.

    • https://www.leanit-up.com/ Bryan DiSanto

      Absolutely, and there are definitely a few other cereals that are exceptions to the group. I don’t have science to compare Fiber One vis-a-vis oatmeal, but it likely wouldn’t have a greater impact on chol. – the type of fiber in F1 is different from the type that’s naturally occurring in oatmeal, plus it’s got a ton of artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and other ingredients that aren’t totally great for our health.

      This was meant to be more of a generalization about the cereal category as a whole, the majority of which are absolutely horrible for your health and belly.

      We ranked every single cereal here, check it out to see which options are better than others. https://www.leanit-up.com/part-3-the-cereal-fatness-index/

  • Adrienne

    I would add anything with wheat (dwarf GMO hybrid) or wheat gluten to your list because of the negative glucose-insulin response it has on the body. Wheat crops are not the same as they were 30 years ago. There’s lots of research out there that suggests that a wheat/gluten free diet will result in weight loss, not because you’re cutting carbs because you would need to get them from other wheat-free grains, but because of the response it has on the body and the increase in production of insulin which leads to stored visceral fat in the abdominal area as well as other illnesses. A couple of other interesting side-effects of a diet with wheat are mental fogginess and craving for more carbs. Took me awhile to grasp the concept, but it makes sense and especially because I’ve cut it out completely from my diet and saw the effects for myself.