Foods like salmon and avocado are considered healthy because they contain good fats. But they are also calorie dense foods- and therein lies the problem. Photo / Getty Images
Smashed avocado on toast, a wrap or sushi for lunch and a piece of salmon for dinner sounds like a healthy day’s eating. But for Kiwis trying to lose weight, these are the foods that could be tripping you up on your journey.
Auckland dietitian MaryRose Spence, who has 30 years’ experience and has written books on weight loss and nutrition, says while these foods are promoted as healthy options, people need to really understand their true makeup in order to make the right choices for themselves.
“There’s a lot of marketing done on healthy foods. It’s not about the calorie density. So you’ve got people thinking, for example, nuts are a good snack, whereas an almond is 55 per cent fat. You’ve got to get away from thinking about your good fat, bad fat. The calorie density of all those fats is the same and it’ll have the same impact on your weight.”
Here she reveals the “good fat” and “good-for-you” foods that are often misunderstood and misrepresented in the healthy food space and offers some helpful alternatives.
The Kiwi love affair with this curvaceous fruit is something Spence has seen increase dramatically over the years. And it’s not necessarily a good thing.
Often, she says, clients come to her on a weight loss journey and say they can’t understand why they’re overweight.
“I have a good breakfast of smashed avocado on toast,” they’ll tell her.
And therein lies the problem, says Spence.
“If you have two slices of bread then you put a whole avocado on it, effectively you could be eating eight slices of bread. It might not feel like it, but it’s about a third of a loaf of bread, depending on the size of the avocado.”
Spence says she makes the comparison to bread because everyone understands what a slice of bread looks like, rather than that it’s a high calorie product.
“People need to understand that because of the fat content of avocado, they’re calorie dense. And so people will say ‘oh, but it’s a good fat, isn’t it?’”
But, as the dietitian who assists people with weight management - often related to type 2 diabetes - explains, the type of fat makes little difference if you’re trying to lose weight.
“When you look at fat, whether it’s a saturated or a poly- or a mono-unsaturated fat, the calories are all the same. So, if you have half an avocado a day, it’s like putting an extra two to three slices of bread on your plate.”
“It makes a difference,” she says. “If you’re wanting to reduce your weight or reduce your body fat, avocados are really not a good choice. They are a high fat choice.
“They’re not saturated fat, they haven’t got saturated fat in them. That’s why they’re promoted as a good fat. But we don’t need to worry about not getting enough fat in our diet. It’s most unusual not to get enough fat in our diet,” she says, adding: “It’s hard to get your total calorie intake from fat under 30 per cent. Most people walk around with about 35 per cent just because they eat protein and chicken and meat and it’s got fat in it.”
Make a change
When it comes to eating avocado, “treat it with care”, says Spence.
“Respect it. It’s a special food and now it’s sort of become, for a lot of people, an everyday food.
“It’s not that they can’t have it but, for a woman who likes to be small, even a slice can have an impact. For somebody who weighs 120kg who wants to lose weight, they have to be very careful with how they use their avocado. For my clients who are looking for weight management, I’d be saying don’t put it into the salad.”
Instead, she says, “use your lovely seasonal vegetables: your tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, sprouts and different coloured peppers”.
Most New Zealand salmon is farmed which makes it “generally” about double the fat content of meat and chicken, says Spence.
And while some farms have strong currents making for leaner fish, Spence says salmon still has a high fat content and is calorie dense.
When it comes to the omega-3 that salmon is promoted for, you’ll get that from other fish too, she says.
Make a change
When clients tell Spence they’re trying to eat salmon once a week, she recommends swapping it for a white fish instead.
“Especially for weight management. Once they’re maintaining weight and their exercise levels are good, then they could have salmon.”
However, she cautions the portion sizes.
“For most women working in an office setting, they probably need protein that’s the size of their fingers, not the palm of their hand. The palm of the hand is a bit outdated now. People aren’t as active as they used to be. They drive to work and they sit in an office all day. If they’re trying to manage their weight, I’ll be saying to them their [salmon] portion is much smaller than their meat or chicken portion. But when that happens, they don’t get as much protein, so they can be hungrier sooner.”
Spence also notes eating tinned salmon is a good option because it’s wild salmon which has far less fat than farmed.
Pictured packed with greens and proteins, many of us would assume wraps are a healthier option than bread – after all, they’re much thinner.
But, says Spence, “what we need to understand is that wraps contain all the ingredients of bread without a raising agent”+.
“So a slice of bread is actually quite a filling product and quite low calorie for what it is. And it’s got a good sort of chew factor whereas a wrap doesn’t look as satisfying. It looks very thin. But it’s not thin in calories.”
In fact, a large wrap holds the calorie equivalent of three or three-and-a-half slices of bread. Small wraps equate to about one slice of bread.
Make a change
Rather than a large wrap, a good old sandwich may be a healthier choice. But, cautions Spence, be aware of the type of bread you’re choosing.
Sandwich bread is better than thick toast slices. But it’s harder to come by these days.
“Five years ago, there were a lot more sandwich sliced breads,” notes Spence. “Now there are only three sandwich sliced breads on the market, and the rest are either toast or super thick. So just in the last five years, this is how our environment has changed.”
Spence believes the move to thicker slices is because while it looks better to the customer, it’s really better for the bread manufacturer: selling 22 slices of toast-or-thicker bread rather than 25 slices of sandwich per bag means the consumer will likely go through the thicker bread faster.
Have you ever wondered why you feel hungry not long after eating what seems like a decent amount of sushi? Spence says it’s all in the makeup of the stuff.
“People need to understand sushi is predominantly a carbohydrate. And that’s fine for the population it’s designed for who tend to be low muscle mass and a low body fat.
“When I say to my clients, sushi is [mostly] a carbohydrate and it’s not going to last you long, they say, ‘Oh, is that why I feel hungry an hour after I’ve eaten?’”
Make a change
Spence says a better option would be “if you had a choice that had more greens, so you get the cellulose fibre, and more protein - nice lean protein like cold cuts or some chicken - that would last longer with some carbohydrate”.
Try choosing a sushi salad or bento bowl that has a better ratio of carbohydrates to greens and proteins instead.
“Some of the sushi places will do different bowls which have greens, rice and some protein. So people looking after their weight may need to ask for more greens and less rice.”
Spence notes often people perceive that the highest calorie part of a meal is the carbohydrate: “The potato or the rice or the pasta, they often take that down or out. So, they’re just having protein, meat or chicken with greens. Per 100 grams, that protein - because it’s got a fat component to it - is almost double the calories of 100 grams of potato, rice, pasta or kumara. So the perception that the potato is the highest calorie part of the meal is incorrect.”
She explains that for someone trying to manage their weight, they’d be better off having a “small serve of carbohydrate with a small serve of protein and all their greens. And that would give them a lower calorie meal because, at the end of the day, anyone’s weight is a result of how many calories or kilojoules they consume and how many they use.”
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