It’s sad that there are very nutritious and delicious foods that should be off the menu when you’re trying to lose weight. Unfortunately, some healthy foods are very high in calories and therefore to be avoided at times when your calorie intake needs to be lower than normal. And that includes fruit. Here are the fruits to avoid when you’re trying to lose weight.
1 Raisins
Avoid raisins when you're trying to lose weight because of their high caloric content. A half-cup serving of loosely packed raisins has up to 217 calories – a 100g serving has up to 324 calories. Under normal circumstances, when you're not trying to lose weight, raisins are good. It may be high in calories, but a ½ cup serving also has 3g of fiber, 2g of protein, 1g of iron, and up to 543mg of potassium.
Frequently asked questions
2 Dates
Adding more fiber to your diet may actually help you shrink your waist size, but you cannot afford to get fiber at the cost of calories. That's exactly what happens when you include dates in your diet. A 100g serving of medjool dates will offer 7g of dietary fiber, but you will also load your body up with 277 calories - not good when you're trying to lose weight. Please note that dates are great when you're not trying to lose weight because they have calcium required for stronger bones, iron for your red blood cells, and vitamin A for better skin.
3 Prunes
Reducing your caloric intake by 500 calories a day will help you lose a pound a week, so you need to avoid prunes, which are otherwise good but have a high caloric content. One cup of dried prunes has 418 calories with 66g of sugar. It is an extremely rich source of potassium, which is vital for bodily functions and helps with heart rhythm, digestion, muscle contractions, and nerve impulses. You still have to avoid this high calorie fruit for its added sugar content and extra calories.
4 Dried Figs
Figs are too sweet and too addictive to be on your weight loss diet. Controlling your portion size can be difficult enough, so avoiding this high calorie fruit completely is the better option. One cup serving has 15g of fiber, for your digestive system, 241mg of calcium for bones and a healthy nervous system, and 0.8mg of zinc for a healthy immune system. It also has 71g of sugars and 371 calories that can easily hurt your weight loss goals.
5 Avocados
This high calorie fruit is full of healthy mono-unsaturated fat, which is good for your heart. It also contains potassium and magnesium, two nutrients known to keep your blood pressure in check. It's good, but not when you're counting calories and trying to shrink your waistline because a 1-cup serving is loaded with 384 calories.
6 Olives
Olives have antioxidant nutrients that prevent heart disease by impeding the oxidation of cholesterol. They have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that reduce chronic inflammation and chronic oxidative stress. Black olives are high in iron and improve the ability of red blood cells to carry oxygen. So many benefits, but should it be a part of your weight loss diet? Probably not, all thanks to its high caloric content – its 100g serving contains 149 calories.
7 Banana
While bananas are nutrient-dense and have loads of potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium, they are also loaded with natural sugars. With 28g of sugars and 200 calories in one-cup serving, bananas are definitely one of the fruits you want to avoid to lose weight.
I love all of these fruits so it’s hard to stay away from them – especially because some make great snack foods. Which food do you most miss when you’re eating for weight loss?
