Wraps, Dried Fruit, and Banana Chips

We continue our series of Two-Faced Foods with a look at prepared wraps, dried fruit, and bananas! This series is all about foods that can make or break your weight loss efforts depending on how they’re prepared or how they’re consumed.

Check out the previous installments:

Two-Faced Foods: Part 1 CLICK HERE

Two-Faced Foods: Part 2 CLICK HERE

Two-Faced Foods: Part 3 CLICK HERE

Wraps: A common dieting misconception is that eating something in the form of a wrap or tortilla automatically makes it healthy. Unfortunately, at most restaurants the wrap alone (with nothing inside) can have up to 9 grams of fat and as many calories as a giant bagel. People are often mislead by the idea of a “spinach wrap” or “tomato-basil wrap” because the sound nutritious, but they veggie content in negligible and is often just colored green or red with food coloring. Eating a colorful wrap doesn’t change the fact that most commercial wraps are just densely packed flour held together with oil. This is fine if you’re really hungry and need the calories, but if you’re trying to drop a few pounds, they’re not ideal. Wheat wraps are a better choice than non-wheat wraps, because they have some fiber and whole grains, but in most cases, you’d still be better off eating your meal on two slices of wheat bread.

If you like the convenience of a wrap there are many options: You can buy your own (here’s a low-carb/low-fat brand that’s really great for weight-management: www.latortillafactory.com ) and make it at home, and if you’re out and about and want a wrap, ask the restaurant if they have whole-wheat pita bread or whole-wheat lavash bread instead, both of which are light and healthy and can be wrapped up like a tortilla! Some places also serve “low-carb” wraps which could be a better choice, but you might want to ask to see the nutrition facts to be sure. Some wraps lose the carbs by upping the fat while others lose the carbs by upping the protein and fiber, which is ideal.

Dried Fruit and Banana Chips: Dried fruits are great if you need quick energy because the sugars in the fruits are highly-concentrated and reach your blood stream fast. Beware if you’re watching calories because they add up fast! It could take you 20 minute to eat two fresh apples but only 2 minutes to eat the equivalent of 2 dried apples and you might not realize how much you’ve eaten before you start to feel full. Most people wouldn’t consciously sit down and eat 10 apples in a sitting, but it’s easy to do so when they’re shriveled up and dried.

Dried fruit is simply fresh fruit with its water evaporated but the calories don’t evaporate with the water. It’s the water in fruits that make them filling for a reasonable amount of calories so when you take that water away, you’re left with a densely caloric food. Consider the fact that a cup of grapes has 104 calories while a cup of dried grapes (aka “raisins”) has 493 calories! Dried fruit has a place in a healthy diet. For example, if your baking cookies and you’re trying to decide between chopped dried cherries or chopped white chocolate, the cherries are a better bet. The only caution with dried fruit is to take note of serving sizes and an amount that suits your needs.

Banana chips are deceptively fattening. Unlike dried fruit, which is just dehydrated, banana chips are made by actually frying bananas in oil. They have the same nutritional stats as regular potato chips.

Make sure you check back tomorrow for Two-Faced Foods: Part 5!

To read Two-Faced Foods: Part 1 CLICK HERE

To read Two-Faced Foods: Part 2 CLICK HERE

To read Two-Faced Foods: Part 3 CLICK HERE

To read Two-Faced Foods: Part 5 CLICK HERE