I was wondering if any of you know of foods that on the surface are obviously healthy, but have some traits that make them unhealthy. For instance:

* Bananas : I think they are healthy, but have read they are not the best fruit choice bc they contain a lot of sugar.

* pickles/olives : Veggies that are high in sodium

* Grapes : Too much sugar? What is a serving size?

What are your opinions on these and other foods?

Great topic! Let me add to your list: granola and trail mix. They sound healthy, right? In fact, they're sugar bombs and are some of the most calorie dense foods in existence.

peanut butter and nuts - good fats, good protein - but also high calorie, high fat.

corn and peas - yes, they are vegetables, but they are high calorie/high starch compared to other veggies.

Dried fruit! Raisins, dried apricots, dried apples, dried cranberries, banana chips, you name it. I love dried fruit and I swear I've stood in the dried fruit section at Trader Joe's reading the nutritional content on everything single package, hoping for just one that doesn't seem like such a small amount of food for so many calories. And not just once, I do this just about every other time I go there. But alas, it never changes (isn't there some quote about repeating the same behavior and expecting a different result being the definition of insanity?) Once you take the water out of fruit, it's all just sugar and calories.

I don't have much use for bananas. I like them but not enough food for the calories.

I do love my peanut butter (but I limit myself to one PB&J per week) and corn (this is pretty limited as well), but not together of course . I read once that corn has almost no nutritutional value because our bodies can't really digest it and thus can't absorb the few nutrients that it does have (but we are still able to digest the sugar somehow). But I figure it's still got to be better than eating cookies.

Trail mix is something I'm not allowed to buy at the moment and granola been out of the question for a long time (although I do still often pick up a package at Trader Joe's, just hoping that the nutritional content has somehow miraculously changed).

Barbara, I thought I was the only one who keeps re-reading nutritional labels and hoping that somehow they magically got a little better. I keep doing it with sugar-free, fat-free ice cream too ... but I always end up putting it back.

Wow, I consider bananas, grapes, peas, corn, pickles/olives, peanut butter and dried fruits very very good foods. I measure peanut butter and dried fruit/trail mix (due to the high caloric value) but I have no real limits for any of those other foods and had no difficulty losing weight and keeping it off eating all those foods on a fairly regular basis.

For "bad" good foods, I thought the thread would be about fake sweeteners or margarine or lean cuisines!

There is no such thing as "good" or "bad" foods. And food eaten to excess can be bad, any food eaten in moderation is good. How an individual person reacts to and consumes any given food determines whether it is a good or bad thing for them.

Because of this, we're all going to have very different lists. Bananas are bad? I've eaten one almost every day that I work since I've started, and I'm down 75 pounds. Fake sweetners and margarine and diet dinners? I've eaten waaayyy more than my fair share of these. In fact, I should own stock in with the good people that produce Splenda.

It's all about learning what makes sense for you, and acting accordingly.

The way she defined "Bad" good foods in her post was foods that are obviously healthly, but have some unhealthy traits. Not that the foods weren't foods one could eat ever.

Meg - One day this summer, I wanted some ice cream. So DF and I went to the grocery store, I read every label to find which one was acceptable to me. I ended up leaving the store with no ice cream. I even do this at Trader Joe's some time, hoping that one thing there I would consider a decent treat. Poor DF, he understands my desire but in the end I think he would've been happier if I had just picked something.

I love dried fruits but I am banishing them for the moment from my home. I love them too much and before you know it, every snack I'm going for is dried fruit and well it is a bit too many calories and sugar.

I also have a desire to eat trail mix but then again, every time I look at the label, there is way too much added sugar and tons of calories. I am better off with my portioned mixed nuts and small amount of raisins.

In addition to bananas, you can add any tropical fruit. They are good tasting but have tons of calories. DF eats a banana (or more) every day so I have to keep our house stocked with bananas. Sometimes I'll take a slice of one and add it to my morning shake but they do have too many calories for me to eat every day.

Yeah, but I still think there is NOTHING unhealthy about grapes, bananas, nuts, peanut butter, dried fruit, peas, or corn! High calorie does not mean unhealthy, if so, you might as well say olive oil and avocado are the UNHEALTHIEST of foods (instead of very very healthy). For me, it's all about daily calorie count, appropriate serving sizes and mindful eating. I can't just open a bag of dried blueberries and eat it - a serving size is 1/4 cup and I measure it. That doesn't mean dried blueberries are unhealthy, it means they have a caloric value and that amount has to figure into my goals for the day! Dried blueberries are definitely healthy, especially dried wild blueberries

I did not get heavy from eating carrots, bananas, corn, sweet potatoes, grapes and peas! I was heavy because I ate too much baked goods, pizza, fast food, ice cream and nachos! I now eat nearly unlimited whole foods, I have eaten a bag of sugar snap peas in one sitting many many times. It beats my old big bag of M&M habit! These "sweet" whole foods are important to my long term success - they satisfy my sweet tooth and keep me happy!

I will concede that the sodium in olives/pickles might be a concern to people watching out for sodium.

Glory - I think the point is that a lot of people don't know what is healthy and what isn't. Some people hear "this item is healthy" so they think they can eat it without any concern. I recently replied to a post where someone asked if they could count pickles as vegetables and if that included sweet pickles. Cucumbers are good (although not the most nutritious veggie out there), pickles are good but high in sodium, sweet pickles add sugar so I'd consider those a special treat for those that like them (I can't stand them). I've also seen the same about yogurt where someone would mention that they ate yogurt and considered it healthy even though the yogurt wasn't lowfat and even contained candy mixins(m&ms and other things). When I was on Jenny Craig years ago, I did a similar thing. We were allowed dairy servings and I started good with my nonfat yoplait yogurts. I then decided that pudding was a dairy serving and started eating nonfat pudding cups. Certainly pudding cups aren't the same as yogurt but in my mind they were equal.

Anyway, I guess my point is that I think it is good to point out foods that we should be cautious about because even though they can be considered healthy, it doesn't mean they shouldn't be tempered at least somewhat.

Isn't a medium banana only 110 calories? I didn't think they were so high calorie, as they are a pretty good stomach-filling fruit.

I don't know why so many people find it necessary to slam Lean Cuisines. Their new spa line has whole grains and all but one of the varieties have at least a full serving of vegetables. They have a bit more sodium than I would like, but it's still a lot more nutrition than some of the frankenfoods out there that people don't seem to have such a problem with.

I was gonna say avocados. Primarily because who in the world can eat 2 Tbs. of an avocado and walk away. As soon as you cut into the thing it starts turning brown. If you don't have the whole family in there, you gotta eat it all.

I agree with that, but I don't think that high calorie is necessarily bad or unhealthy. I do think it's important to be aware and mindful when eating but I personally would never consider a banana or a grape a "bad" food for any reason. High calorie, possibly should be measured - sure. "Bad" - heck no!

So, sorry I harped on semantics I bit, I understand the gist of the thread really and sorry for derailing!

Sorry, I wasn't clear. Those were just examples of what I expected to see in the thread, not necessarily what I would have posted myself!