Don’t fall for labels without reading between the lines.

Protein breakfast cereals

“Protein breakfast cereals” are expensive, have little protein and contains sugar. Stick with standard oats for a healthy alternative, and decide whether to add a scoop of whey powder, or to have eggs for protein.

Bran flakes and shredded bran

“Bran flakes or shredded bran” – check the label for added sugar and the suggested serving size. You could be consuming 3 or more teaspoons of sugar per realistic serving size, and if you consume it with milk, it will be even more sugars!

Unhealthy spreads

Breakfast treats like “Chocolate Nut” spreads “Can be part of a balanced breakfast”! FALSE! These things are just melted chocolate bars spread on toast.

Instant Soups

Healthy soups – a suggested serving is usually less than what is included in a container. These soups have so much sodium in them, that they even beat a whole bag of potato chips. It is recommended to limit sodium to less than 2,300 mg per day.

The recommended sodium intake is less than 2,300 mg per day.

Instant “cup” soups contain 650mg or more per sachet. Some have more than 1000mg per sachet.

Instant “cup” soups contain 650mg of sodium, and sometimes more. Some cup soups have more than 1000mg per serving.

Energy bars

These are just glorified candy bars.

350 / 400 calories per serving is a whole lot of calories in a compact format!

Fruit bars

Would you like 6 1/2 Orios in a single serving? One “healthy” fruit bar can contains as much sugar as 6 ½ Orios!

Hydrating sports drinks

“Electrolytes, sodium, potassium” and high amounts of sugar! These drinks are not needed if you train moderately for 30 minutes, or even an hour.

There are sugar-free alternatives, which is a better option. If you suffer from muscle cramps, supplementation may be an option. Read the label of the supplements and cut the sugars.

The electrolytes in human bodies include:

• sodium
• potassium
• calcium
• bicarbonate
• magnesium
• chloride
• phosphate

Low fat milk

90 calories per glass of skimmed milk. Skim milk is water with lactose sugar. Full fat milk has 149 calories per glass as it contains fat, so even though it may seem that skim milk is better, it is higher on the glycemic index (GI) scale than whole milk by a solid five points, which could explain why it’s associated with a greater risk of diabetes risk!

GI is a measurement of how fast a carbohydrate breaks down into glucose in the body and therefore how quickly your blood sugar rises or falls.

Whole milk is actually healthier than skim milk.

It is still best to cut the milk and replace it with water when possible.

Bran muffins

Bran muffins are just normal muffins that include additional bran. The sugar, fat and flour is the same as regular muffins.

Dried fruit

Dehydrated fruits sound great, they taste great, but they pack many more calories per gram than the original fruit.

Eat fresh fruits and skip the dried fruit.

Fruit Juice

Fruit juice is easy to consume, and it contains a lot of sugar – without the benefit of fibre.