Everyone has favorite foods, even favorite pre and post training snacks and meals. Almost all fitness enthusiasts view food as fuel, and we are often rattling off our new favorite breakfast combinations or protein-packed smoothie recipes. But what are the foods that fit people won’t touch? We asked our Fit Nation experts to fess up, and here are the 10 things our writers and editors absolutely will not eat.
Easy Mac: Everyone loves macaroni and cheese, right? Depends on the mac. FN Managing Editor A.C. Shilton shared, “I love homemade mac and cheese, (you know, where you make a béchamel and then throw a calorie bomb of shredded cheese in it??? YUM!). But to me, Easy Mac is the grossest, most chemical-laden thing I can think of. I’d rather go hungry than eat that.“
White Bread: I grew up on Wonder Bread, and to this day, every Thanksgiving my mom insists on having a loaf of it for our leftover turkey sandwiches. One year she even exclaimed, as she took a bite, “This Wonder Bread is so FRESH!” To me, it isn’t bread, it’s more like cake, and the fact that it has little nutritional value makes it a big “no” for me.
Corn: FN Online Contributor Jamie Shane shared “I love corn, grew up in Indiana where it’s a way of life. But now-a-days you can’t trust it not to be GMO. Won’t touch it.”
Prepackaged Baked Goods: Several of us listed these gas station and grocery store aisle purchases as a big “no”. Honeybuns, a Hostess Cherry Pie or a 2 pack of Snowballs—all are high in calories and low in nutritional value. Just one Honeybun packs a 440-calorie punch, according to caloriecount.about.com.
Fast Food: Whether it’s the mystery ingredients in the meat, or the reactions our stomachs have to french fries, several of our FN Experts said no to fast food, including our resident blogger Lianne Martin. “The thought of red meat from any fast food place makes my stomach turn,” Lianne stated. “If it doesn’t look like real food, it probably isn’t.”
Prepackaged or sliced-to-order deli meat: A lunchtime staple for most people, this one was a no go big no to both myself and Lianne. I avoid deli meat because most contain nitrates, and nitrates are a trigger for migraines. I also don’t trust any food with a rainbow sheen from preservatives.
Coffee Drinks: These calorie bombs might give you a temporary lift thanks to caffeine and sugar, but when that runs out, you’re going to experience a huge crash. Online Content Manager Dana Leigh Smith says these treats are a no for her. A large McDonald’s Caramel Frappe has almost 650 calories and over 40% of your daily fat allowance, according to the company’s website.
Bagels: Go to any race, and bagels are usually there for post-race snacking. Dana had these on her no list, and said, “One bagel equals four slices of white bread. If that wasn’t bad enough, something about refined carbs smothered in fatty cream cheese does nothing for me except leaving me sick to my stomach with a bad taste in my mouth and feeling bloated.”
Pork Rinds: Contributer Kimmi van der Veen has these on her list and since I’m a southern Ohio girl, I grew up snacking on pork rinds and hot sauce, until I realized what exactly I was eating, and stopped forever. Pork rinds are fried or roasted pork skin, but are high in saturated fat and sodium.
Twinkies: Our publisher, Stan Dougé, has this at the top of his list, as does Kimmi van der Veen and myself. Why are we anti-Twinkie? I think it might have to do with the urban myth that they have a very long shelf life (actually the shelf life is about 25 days). According to caloriecount.about.com, Twinkies are low(ish) in calories (only 150 per Twinkie), but most people eat both and double their calories. Finally, they have no nutritional value whatsoever- Twinkies are pure sugar, and not the good kind.