According to the American Public Health Association, 80% of Americans think their fellow Americans lead an unhealthy lifestyle, but 85% say they themselves live a healthy lifestyle. In reality, only a small 3% of Americans follow the steps that define a healthy lifestyle, as defined by the Archives of Internal Medicine, which includes maintaining a healthy weight, getting regular exercise, not smoking, and eating a healthy diet. 

Popular health specialist Dr. Oz once said, “we are a nation of dieters." These words are valid. It seems that each month there’s a new diet fad happening. First it was Weight Watchers, then the Atkins diet, then vegan, paleo, gluten-free, juice diets, and so many more. A lot of the times we think we’re eating food that are good for our body, but they really are not. With so many food and diet options, there can be a lot of confusion about what’s healthy and what’s not.  I’m not going to try to persuade you to diet or choose a specific eating plan; I just want to help inform you of certain foods and drinks that could be much worse for you than you think, and suggest a few healthier alternatives. If you’ve been making a point to eat healthy, don’t let these sneaky unhealthy foods get in your way. 

Unhealthy Food: Packaged Trail Mix - This convenient on-the-go snack can cost you up to 200 calories in just 2 handfuls. Although nuts are packed with healthy fats and proteins, they are high in fat in calories. They become especially detrimental to your  when you add sugary things into the mix like dried fruit, M&M’s, and yogurt covered raisins. 

Healthy Alternative: Make your own trail mix - This way you can control the proportions and what goes in it. Make sure the nuts are unsalted and either raw or dry roasted. Keep in mind almonds, cashews, and pistachios have the lowest calorie content, while pecans and macadamia nuts have the highest. Add a few dark chocolate chips, whole grain cereal, and a few dried apricots and you’re good to go. Limit your portion to no more than one cup. 

Unhealthy Food: Flavored Yogurt - A 6oz container of plain yogurt generally has about 12 grams of natural sugar due to the lactose from the milk it’s made with. Unfortunately, when the yogurt is flavored rather than plain, this sugary culprit can sneak up to 20 grams of additional sugar into one small 6oz container. You might as well have a bowl of ice cream instead with a sugar content that high. 

Healthy Alternative: Plain Non-Fat Greek Yogurt - A 6oz serving contains about 9 grams of sugar and 15 grams of protein, making it a much more filling and healthy snack than flavored yogurt. If the taste of plain yogurt isn’t appealing to you, add a little bit of honey or jam. This still will be a significantly less amount of sugar.

Unhealthy Food: Energy bar: Look at the first and second ingredient in your bar. So many of these bars contain a lot of sugar to mask the unpleasant taste of protein. They also have an extremely high carbohydrate content so be weary of that as well.

Healthy Alternative: If you still want a granola bar or some sort of energy bar, look for the ones that are made with natural ingredients and are low in added sugar. Kind is a great granola bar brand because it blends fiber, healthy fats, and protein, without being too calorie-dense. 

Unhealthy Food: Multi-Grain and Wheat Bread – A lot of the time these breads can be made with refined grains, so you aren’t getting the full nutrition of the whole grain. Instead, you’re getting added sugar and calories. 

Healthy Alternative: Check the ingredient list – Look for unrefined wheat bread. If the first flour ingredient in the nutrition label is refined, meaning it says “bleached” or “unbleached enriched wheat flour,” then use this as a warning sign to stay away from it. 

Unhealthy Drinks: Frozen Margarita & Piña Colada - These two refreshing summer drinks are refreshing for your taste buds, but not your waist. With roughly 600 calories per drink, it’s like the equivalent of eating a McDonald’s Big Mac. 

Healthy Alternative: Keep in mind one shot of hard alcohol has roughly 95 calories, so drinking won’t going to be good for your diet at all. However, if you do choose to drink, stick to drinks that are lower in calories and added sugar, like light beer, wine, and hard alcohol mixed with calorie free mixers like diet soda or crystal light.

Unhealthy Drink:Smoothie from a smoothie shop - When you’re scanning your smoothie flavor choices, you’ll see short smoothie descriptions that include things like “strawberry, banana, and raspberry.” What they don’t show you on the ingredient list, however, is sherbet, which can add up to 25 grams of sugar to your smoothie. In addition to this, fruit is high in natural sugar. Smoothies and fruit juice can serve up to double or triple the recommended serving size of fruit for a day, and too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. 

Healthy Alternative: Make your own smoothie: Use a combination of frozen berries, banana, plain greek yogurt, and orange juice. If you want a little extra kick of flavor, add a splash of lemonade. Another thing you can add to amp up the health benefits of your drink is by adding flax seeds, which deliver a healthy dose of fiber and protein.