Spam for your body? It looks real good but

It’s summer, you’re active and thinking about fresh fruits and veggies.
But have you bought into the spam (advertising) out there as to what’s supposed to be good for you?

1. Sports Bars: (also known as Energy Bars) contain cereals, fruit and other high energy ingredients. They’re meant to give people who have no time for a full meal a quick energy boost usually when they’re engaged in a sporting activity. The nutrients will make you feel full but the energy they provide comes from their calorie count. If you eat them as a snack between meals instead of a replacement for a meal you may as well be eating a dark chocolate bar with nuts. The calorie count will be lower. Look for bars with a calorie count under 100.
2. Granola: There are dozens of recipes for granola and dozens of companies using the word but most granola products are high in fat, sugars and calories. If you look at the portion sizes they can be as small as ¼ cup! Best use for granola? Sprinkle some on your yogurt.
3. Yogurt: Speaking of yogurt, and as mentioned in smoothies below yogurt can really pile on the calories. Fruit flavored yogurt is really jam flavored yogurt and the regular (not low fat) stuff is very rich. Go for low fat plain and mix in your own fresh fruit.
4. Smoothies: A little over 1 cup (250 mL) of a fruit smoothie can contain 120 calories. If your smoothie has yogurt, you can easily double that. It’s a lazy (easy) way to get your daily fruit servings but a smoothie will do very little to fill you up, except with calories.
5. Salad: Fresh vegetable salads are fabulous but the dressings and extras can result in a meal that has more calories and fats than a double cheeseburger. Watch out for added nuts, cheeses, mayonnaise,  bacon and fruit. Just 1 tablespoon (so very little) of typical Caesar Salad dressing contains 78 calories, 98% of which is fat!
6. Sushi: It’s the fried bits, creamy sauces and the sodium content in the dipping sauces, wrap and rice that can ruin an otherwise pretty healthy food. The other culprit in sushi is avocado with has a tremendously high calorie count.
7. Diet Soft drinks/Diet Sodas: A diet drink is not health drink. Having a diet soda instead of a regular soda to may save some calories, but this stuff has only been around for 40 years and the studies are still coming in.