There may be no place on the planet more daunting than the American supermarket.
From the produce section to the frozen-food aisle, the modern-day market is loaded with 50,000 food choices, all vying for your hard-earned money. That's why we created the Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide, the brand-new follow-up to our national bestselling nutrition books that will help you cut through marketing mysteries and food-label lies in order to make the smart choices that lead to fast and permanent weight loss for you and your loved ones.
And there's no better way to start slimming down in 2009 than by eliminating the most egregious offenders in the supermarket from your shopping cart. Some are conspicuous calorie bombs, others are junk food masquerading as healthy food, but all 20 of these foods have one thing in common: They'll undermine your efforts to lose weight and feel great. So study up on the list of the Worst Supermarket Foods (and while you're at it, don't forget the 20 Worst Restaurant Foods in America), and resolve to master your market in 2009.
20. WORST CRUNCHY SNACK
Gardetto's Special Request Roasted Garlic Rye Chips (1/2 cup, 30 g)
- 160 calories
- 10 g fat (2 g saturated, 2.5 g trans)
- 40 mg sodium
Gardetto extracts the worst part of its Original snack mix and tries to serve it as a gourmet snack—a sneaky move that might have serious repercussions for even casual munchers. Each single serving exceeds the amount of trans fat deemed safe to consume daily by the American Heart Association.
Fat equivalent: 3 strips of bacon
Eat This Instead: Snyder's of Hanover Sourdough Nibblers (16 pieces, 30 g)
- 120 calories
- 0 g fat
- 200 mg sodium
19. WORST COOKIE
Pillsbury Big Deluxe Classics White Chunk Macadamia Nut (dough; 1 cookie, 38 g)
- 180 calories
- 10 g fat (3 g saturated, 2 g trans)
- 13 g sugars
Stick to Nestlé Toll House when it comes to big-brand cookie dough; the people of Pillsbury have a penchant for scattering trans fats across your market's refrigerated section. This cookie has one load of dangerous oils mixed into the flour and another blended with sugar and interspersed throughout the dough as "white confectionery chunks."
Fat equivalent: 5 "fun" size 3 Musketeers bars
Eat This Instead:
Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (1 1/2-inch ball, 28 g)
- 130 calories
- 6 g fat (2.5 g saturated)
- 11 g sugars
18. WORST YOGURT
Stonyfield Farm Whole Milk Chocolate Underground (6 oz.)
- 220 calories
- 5 g fat (3 g saturated)
- 36 g sugars
Stonyfield is notorious for being a little too generous with the sugar, but the nearly 3 tablespoons in their Chocolate Underground is bad even by their supersweet standards. Not even Ben & Jerry's makes a flavor of ice cream with this much sugar. (Check out the rest of America's Most-Sugar Packed Foods.)
Sugar equivalent: 4 Cherry Popsicles
Eat This Instead:
Breyers Cookies n'Cream YoCrunch Lowfat with Oreo Pieces (6 oz.)
- 120 calories
- 2.5 g fat (1 g saturated)
- 11 g sugars
17. WORST CANDY
Twix (1 package, 2 oz.)
- 280 calories
- 27 g sugars
- 14 g fat (11 g saturated)
Twix takes the already-dubious candy-bar reputation and drags it through a murky pool of saturated fat. With more than half the USDA's daily consumption recommendation for these dangerous fats in each package, this is one hazardous after-lunch snack.
Saturated fat equivalent: 11 strips of bacon
Eat This Instead:
100 Grand (1 package)
- 190 calories
- 22 g sugars
- 8 g fat (5 g saturated)
16. WORST CONDIMENT
Eggo Original Syrup (1/4 c)
- 240 calories
- 40 g sugars
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but not when this sugar slick hits the table. Excluding water, the first three ingredients are all different forms of sugar. If you want real syrup, make sure it's 100 percent maple.
Sugar equivalent: Two Häagen-Dazs Vanilla & Almond ice cream bars
Eat This Instead:
Smucker's Sugar Free Breakfast Syrup (1/4 c)
- 20 calories
- 0 g sugars
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