Some food, we know, is good for us. 

Some foods improve our health, stamina and endurance. 

On the other hand, there is some food that we eat, almost every day, that is the main reason we can’t lose weight. No matter how much we limit our portions, run or jog every day, or even lift weights and do push-ups/pull-ups, we can’t seem to reach our desired goal. This is because we’re making mistakes in our diet, eating what we should definitely avoid. These foods don’t just stop us from losing weight, they make us gain weight. 

These are 20 such food that we should stop eating from right this moment if we want to be healthy and lose weight. 

  • Sugary Drinks. Any kind of drinks that contain artificial sugar is bad for you. Fruit juices are good for your health, but not if you add sugar to it. The same goes for caffeinated drinks with sugar. If you add two spoons of sugar in your black coffee, it stops being good for you. Any store-bought beverages – soda, fruit juices, bottled juices, sports drinks – have sugar in them. 
  • French Fries. Of all kinds of fried food that are bad for our health, French Fries are the worst. There are no traces of protein or fibre in them, but plenty of fat, calories and salt – all bad for you. You might eat a lot of French Fries in one sitting, but they’ve added nothing good to your diet except fat and empty calories, and you’ll start feeling hungry after a short interval. 
  • Candy, Ice cream and Chocolate Bars. This is, of course, a no-brainer. All candy, sweets, ice creams and chocolate bars are filled with sugar and high in calorie. Dark chocolate bars are somewhat better than other kinds of chocolates, but it is still better to avoid any kinds of chocolates and candy if you want to lose weight. 
  • Baked Foods. Any kind of baked goods, both the savoury and the sweet kind, are bad for your weight. Most of them are full of carbohydrates and rich in fructose, butter and salt, such as pies, croissants, cakes, cookies and tarts, etc. The less you eat baked and store-bought savoury items, the more weight you can lose. 
  • Crackers and Chips. All kind of chips and crackers, even the baked ones, make you gain weight. These chips are usually made from potatoes, which are itself full of unnecessary carbohydrates, and also contain unhealthy levels of sodium. 
  • White rice. White rice has almost no fibre or protein, and they are low in fat, but they can lead to obesity. Especially in females, the more white rice you consume, the more weight they gain. Besides, white rice has a high Glycemic Index, which means your blood sugar gets a sudden spike immediately after you eat white rice, and this is bad for your health. Instead of white rice, quinoa, cauliflower rice and even brown rice are healthier options. 
  • White Bread and White Pasta. Just like white rice, both white bread and white pasta have a high Glycemic Index and is responsible for a dangerous spike in your blood sugar levels. Even two slices of white bread every day can cause obesity and significant weight gain, and it’s the same with white pasta. 
  • Energy Bars/Granola Bars. These bars are perfect for sudden hunger pangs and even athletes prefer energy/granola bars to other forms of snacks. However, energy bars and granola bars – even though rich in fibre and protein, also contains sugar. In fact, some bars have so much sugar in it, you might just be eating a candy bar.
  • Any kind of Processed meat. All kind of processed meat, which includes preserved meat, dried or smoked meat, fermented meat and canned meat, hot dog sausages, salami, ham, and sandwich meat is low in a nutrient. When eating meat, it is always better to buy fresh lean meat than meat that has been processed and preserved. 
  • Hamburgers and Pizzas. These two foods may seem nothing more than pieces of bread with sauce, meat and cheese, but they are extremely high in calories and fats. The meat for

hamburgers and pizza are cooked in added fats or oils, and the sauces contain added sugar. 

  • Candied and natural dried fruits. Dried fruits can be a wonderful snack, full of protein and nutrients, but they are also full of added sugar. When natural fruits are dried, they lose all the water but retain the sugar, which becomes concentrated into fructose. With whole fruits, you get fibre, but with dried fruits, the concentrated fructose is more prominent. 
  • Alcohol. Almost all types of alcohol, especially beer, are high in sugar and doesn’t contain any fibre or protein. A small 12-ounce beer can have 153 calories in them, and a 5-ounce glass of red wine has 125 calories. 
  • Sweetened yogurt. Yogurt is a fan favourite for losing weight, but sweetened yogurt contained a large amount of added sugar. Even yogurts sweetened with honey or fat-free yogurt cups are rich in added sugar. 
  • Frozen meals. These meals might be an easy solution to cooking, but manufacturers add a large amount of sodium in these meals to make them last longer in your freezer. The more sodium you intake, the more you can bloat up, and it is harder to lose those extra pounds. 
  • Dry, Sugary and Refined Cereals. Most of the cereals we can see in the supermarket aisles are filled up with added sugar, which adds to your weight. 
  • Diet Drinks. Just because your sodas come in a can that says ‘diet’, it doesn’t mean it’s healthy for you. Even ‘low-fat’ and ‘diet’ sodas have a lot of added sugar in them, although less than regular sodas.  
  • Canned soups. Soups, especially cream-based ones, straight out of a can, are rich in sodium for preservation. Sodium, as you know, makes you bloated and hinders weight loss. 
  • Muffins. Muffins may not have a lot of sugar in them, but they still contain soybean oil and other trans fats. A regular muffin can contain more than 400 calories, even they don’t taste like it. 

There are a lot of ways that unwanted sugar, trans-fat and oil can sneak into your diet, even when you are making an effort to eat healthily. The key to losing weight as possible and to eat home-cooked meals instead of processed and store-bought ones, combined with an active lifestyle.