Fattening Foods of Summer

Everyone looks forward to summer. The weather, the swimming, barbecues, baseball, and lots of good food and drinks. Summer time might just be the best time of the year. But if you're not careful, summer's high calorie foods can leave you with extra baggage. Although you may be more active during the summer that does not mean that it’s enough to burn off all those extra calories.

High fat meats are the most common of the summer foods. This particular food group is made popular during these months mostly because of the parties. Some of the foods to avoid include ribs, hamburgers and steak. Instead try grilling skinless breast of chicken or lean pork tenderloin. Mayo based salads are the other foods to avoid. Instead try making your potato salad with light or fat free mayo. Sweet alcoholic drinks are a quiet calorie boost. These drinks go down so easily that we don't even realize how many calories we have consumed. One pine colada can have as much as 490 calories. Instead of a calorie loaded alcoholic beverage try small glass of wine.

Hot dogs and sausages are favorite summer treats for many of us, but you might want to save them for baseball games. It's not just about fat or calories but hot dogs, bratwursts, sausages and most dogs are high in sodium. A typical hot dog has 280 calories, 15 grams of fat, and 1,250 mg of sodium, while a 6-ounce kielbasa has 330 calories, 24 grams of fat, and 1,590 mg sodium.

When you're hot, you need to stay hydrated. But watch what you choose to quench your thirst. If you're drinking 12-ounce containers of beer, sweetened soda, sweet tea, energy drinks, or juice drinks, you're probably taking in about 150 calories a pop. A cup of soft-serve ice cream can have 380 calories and 22 grams of fat. Make it a Dairy Queen chocolate chip cookie dough blizzard and the calories soar to 720, with 28 grams of fat, Baskin Robbins' two-scoop French vanilla and peanut butter 'n' chocolate on a sugar cone has 660 calories and 39 grams of fat. And Ben and Jerry’s two-scoop Chunky Monkey in a waffle cone has 659 calories and 34 grams of fat.

A salad can be the perfect no-cook summer dinner, light, refreshing, and a perfect way to get your produce and lean protein. But if you top your salad with high-calorie items, it can go from lean to fattening in a hurry.

Tags: Diet, Fattening Foods, Summer diet, Summer food, weight loss