Seven "Diet" Foods That Kill Your Diet.

Many foods that claim to be good for weight loss can actually sabotage your diet. While many of them may be low in calories, they may be sky-high in sodium, sugar or artificial flavoring. Here are the 7 worst “diet” foods that you should avoid: 




 Light Salad Dressing 

Generally, these dressings do have fewer calories and less fat than regular dressings. But if you look closer at the nutritional labels, you’ll see that a large amount of sugar or artificial sweetener is often added to compensate for the lack of fat. Additionally, research has indicated that full fat dressings lead to more of the salad’s nutrients being absorbed into your body. In other words, you will get less nutritional benefit from light dressings. The healthiest way to avoid these issues is to use fresh ingredients to make your own salad dressing.

Flavored Yogurt 

There are many health benefits to yogurt, such as protein, calcium and probiotics. Flavored yogurt, however, contains extra sugar and calories, as well as corn syrup, which can end up being detrimental to your health. Try adding fresh fruit to plain yogurt instead.

Artificial Sweetener

There is some research to show that artificial sweeteners may actually cause you to feel hungrier than regular sugar. Since they are artificial, your body’s liver doesn’t recognize them as nutrients, and instead regards them as toxins, attempting to flush them out of your system. This leads to an increase in appetite. Artificial sweeteners have also been known to increase cravings for sweet foods, since they are much sweeter than natural sugars.

Frozen Diet Dinners

As with nearly all diet foods on this list, the small number of calories in most frozen diet meals can make them seem deceptively healthy. However, these meals tend to contain a hefty amount of sodium – sometimes up to 1,800 milligrams (mg) per dinner. To put this in perspective, dietary guidelines recommend that the average American consume no more than 2,300 mg of sodium daily, or 1,500 mg if you’re over age 50, or have health complications like diabetes or high blood pressure. Additionally, frozen dinners do not generally have enough fruit and vegetables to be considered healthy.

Smoothies

When they are done right, smoothies can have significant nutritional benefits. The problem is that smoothies are sometimes very high in calories, fat, and sugar. To avoid this dense caloric trap, use fresh fruits and vegetables in your smoothies and avoid artificial fruit syrups, peanut butter and chocolate. Make sure to use either low-fat, soy or rice milk as the smoothie’s base.

Fruit Juice Cocktails
Many store-bought fruit juices have tons of added sugar, which increases even more when the product is labeled “fruit juice cocktail.” These deceptive products masquerade as fruit juice, but they mostly contain refined sugar, artificial syrups, and preservatives. In the end, this can result in as much sugar as a candy bar or a soda. To be safe, avoid fruit juice “cocktails,” and make sure the juice you buy from the store is labeled “100% fruit juice.”

Diet Soda 
It’s true that diet drinks have less sugar and fewer calories than regular soda, but recent research has indicated that diet soda drinkers can sometimes end up gaining weight instead of losing it. One study even discovered that people who drank two or more diet sodas per day had larger waist sizes on average than others. It’s been hypothesized that people who drink diet soda believe they can eat more than they would otherwise.