You’ve probably noticed that many people who workout consume the same snacks on a regular basis and think they’ve got it all dialed in. It might surprise you, however, to learn that those fitness folks aren’t as health-focused as they appear. Often, food marketing can fool people into thinking snacks are super healthy when they actually have high sugar and are essentially void of nutrients. Read on to find out what gym foods you’re currently being duped into eating.
Protein bars
Post-workout bars like these might look like they are a better choice, but don’t let that fool you. Although they are labelled as protein bars, the ingredients they contain are no different from any of the other unhealthy snacks. It’s safe to say you would be better off with an actual candy bar as they usually cost less than what most companies sell their “healthier” protein bars for.
Sports drinks
People chug these bright colorful drinks on the treadmill thinking they desperately need to replace their lost electrolytes. The reality is you really only need them if you are doing extreme sweating for more than an hour straight. For a normal workout you are just drinking a bottle of dyed sugar water that ruins the calories you just burned.
Flavored yogurt
Yogurt has a great reputation for gut health and protein but the flavored ones are a completely different story. Once they add that fake fruit on the bottom it becomes loaded with added sugars that spike your blood sugar fast. You are much better off buying plain yogurt and just throwing in some real berries yourself.
Veggie chips
For many people, substituting a handful of veggie chips for potato chips is a huge win for their diet. Then they actually look at the ingredients and see how most of them are really just potato chips with some spinach powder for color and then fried in a lower quality oil. Veggie chips offer no fiber and usually have just as much fat as regular chips.
Granola
Granola is the ultimate fake health food because it is usually oats and nuts that are completely drowned in honey or syrup and then baked in oil. A tiny little bowl can have hundreds of calories and massive amounts of sugar that you do not even realize you are eating. It is perfectly fine as a tiny topping but eating it like cereal is a huge calorie trap.
Store-bought smoothies
Drinking a smoothie after weight lifting feels good and seems healthy. However, smoothies bought from stores use a massive cup full of fruit juice concentrates and sugary sorbets instead of just using whole fruit. It is easy to drink fifty grams of sugar without having to chew even once in the next ten minutes.
Rice cakes
Old school bodybuilders love chewing on these dry disks like they are the ultimate diet hack. They actually have a really high glycemic index which means they spike your blood sugar really quickly and leave you starving an hour later. Plus they have almost zero actual nutrients so you are just eating air that makes you hungrier.
Agave nectar
Many health nuts swap out white sugar for agave thinking it is a miracle natural sweetener from plants. But the truth is agave is highly processed and contains more fructose than high fructose corn syrup. Your liver has to process all that fructose and it can easily turn into stored fat if you use too much of it.
Commercial peanut butter
Peanut butter is amazing for getting healthy fats and calories for muscle growth. But the standard cheap jars you buy at the store are packed with hydrogenated oils and extra sugar to make them spread easily. You always want to look for the jars where the only ingredient is just peanuts and maybe a little salt.
Plant-based meat patties
Going plant-based is a big trend at the gym right now for health and recovery. However those fake bleeding burgers are heavily processed in a lab and they pack a crazy amount of sodium and coconut oil. Sometimes a simple piece of lean chicken or real beans is far healthier than a factory made fake burger.
