Be aware of those foods which are loaded with nutritional goodies..and calories. You might just end up healthy...and fat.

Many people think that because certain foods are loaded with good stuff they can shovel in as much as they want. Wrong. Plenty of healthy foods are calorie dense and need to be used sparingly.

Avocado, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, yoghurt, muesli bars, fruit juices and protein bars and drinks (some protein bars have more fat and calories than an equivalent sized chocolate bar) are all foods which may do you more harm than good if you don't use them wisely. Yes, almonds are good for you...but not when you eat them by the kilo!

At nearly 600 calories for a measly one hundred grams of them, they'll get ya fat in about eight minutes. Put a hundred grams of almonds on the palm of your hand and you'll be surprised how insignificant it looks...sneaky little buggers.

Then you can compare a hundred grams of fresh apricot (35 calories) with the same weight of dried apricots (270 calories) and you begin to realise that it ain't hard to chub up eating healthy foods. I probably shouldn't tell you this but one hundred grams of caramel slice has the same amount of calories as one hundred grams of dried apricots (270).

No, they don't have the same nutritional value, and no, I'm not suggesting you go the caramel slice option but I am suggesting that you control your intake of calorie-dense 'healthy foods'.

as we've said a million times on this forum -it's not what you're eating -it's the end calorie count that matters... and avocados, almonds, etc are all perfectly acceptable - and good - just make it work in your day... there's no reason to fear any food.. if you plan.

Many cereals fall into this trap. Always have to remember that many 'performance' cereals like Vector are meant for athletes who have significant caloric requirements throughout the day (think long-distance runners).

Fruit juice can be a doozy. It may not be super high in calories but it can go down fast.

Hot wings. Don't fall into the "it's high in protein" trap. Hot wings are evil!

There are numerous fruits that fall into this group as well.

Michael