Summer Foods That Aren't As Healthy As You Think

Summer Health Shockers

By Mary Kearl

Fruit Smoothies

When you take fruit plus low-fat frozen yogurt and a blender, you're guaranteed a healthy dessert, or even a fiber-rich breakfast, right? Well, it's not as simple as that. Smoothies like Orange Julius's small Tropical flavor, which has 350 calories and 7 fat grams, often serve up a lot of sugar (49 grams) and not a lot of fiber (4 grams). You're better of getting full fiber benefits by eating whole fruits, or fruit purees, without any added sugar.

Grilled Corn

Sure, when you're on the beach boardwalk or at the amusement park, pretty much all the choices are loaded with meat or cheese, so you head to this item on the menu, which you'd think would be a safe bet. But while boiled corn has about 80 calories and less than 1 fat gram, grilled corn can add about half a tablespoon or more of butter, which amounts to anywhere from a few extra fat grams to 11 grams of fat and 30 to 100 calories, per ear. Make it at home and save yourself the superfluous fat.

Cole Slaw

Cabbage by itself has only 20 calories per cup. And, as a cruciferous vegetable it has been linked to reduced risk of several cancers including breast, lung and colon. Cole slaw, on the other hand, adds dubious amounts of fatty mayonnaise, and maybe even buttermilk and yogurt depending on the recipe, which contribute about 3 fat grams and 90-100 calories per cup. Still crave it? Try a reduced fat mayo like Hellmann's reduced fat mayo which has 25 calories and 1 fat gram per tablespoon -- just don't go overboard on the topping. And, be wary of restaurant-style cole slaw like the kind at KFC, which will cost you 180 calories and 10 fat grams, plus 18 grams of sugar (or about half the daily recommended amount of sugar).

Coconut

This treat may be the epitome of tropical summertime, but it shouldn't be confused with its light and sweet counterpart, the pineapple. Where a cup of pineapple contains 78 calories and less than one gram of fat, a slice of raw coconut has 15 fat grams and 160 calories. And watch out: If you buy the shredded kind, a cup contains 33 fat grams and 466 calories.

Cool Whip

While certainly not the most decadent of dessert toppings, regular Cool Whip does serve 1.5 fat grams and 25 calories for a two-tablespoon serving so it's not as light as you may think. Where it does lack substance is on any nutritional value whatsoever. Aside from water, it includes questionable ingredients like hydrogenated vegetable oil a known trans-fat -- and high fructose corn syrup -- which is a major source of excess calories, says the American Dietetic Association (ADA). If you have to have it, try the fat-free kind for only 15 calories per serving.

Shrimp Basket

The healthful benefits of regular shrimp are saturated by the fat, calories and cholesterol in the breaded version you'll find in your basket. Just six to eight fried shrimps , will get you 25 fat grams, 450 calories and 200 milligrams of cholesterol, or 66 percent of the recommended daily total. One serving of plain shrimp has about 60 calories, and zero fat -- but does have 125 milligrams, so the ADA recommends eating it in moderation.

Dippin' Dots Ice Cream

Just because this ice cream comes in tiny frozen balls that dissolve so innocently and quickly, doesn't mean it doesn't have the fat and calorie-content of its normally shaped counterparts. In fact, at 170 calories and 10 fat grams per half-cup serving, Dippin' Dots's Cotton Candy flavor has more fat than Dreyer's Cotton Candy, which has 150 calories and 7 fat grams for the same amount. The moral: Smaller desserts are not necessarily lighter.

Green Tea Infused Drinks

SoBe Fuerte Passionfruit Mango Green Tea takes green tea, something inherently low-calorie and sugar-free, and turns it into a sugar- and calorie-fest, with 85 grams of sugar and 325 calories per 20-oz serving, giving it a grand total of 92 calories more than the same amount of Coke. Check the label of your drink that claims to have green tea and make sure it's not ingested with excessive sugar.

Fish Sandwich

Yes, this is a breaded fish encased in another carb, but the major culprit here is the high-fat, high-cal tartar sauce. If you order Wendy's Premium Fish Fillet Sandwich with the tartar sauced, it would total out to 450 calories, 22 fat grams, and 1020 milligrams of sodium (or nearly half your daily allowance). Cutting the tartar sauce shaves off 12 fat grams, 110 calories and 150 milligrams of sodium.

Snow Cone

Nothing says summer refresher like a snow cone, but the trick to this summer shocker is that within a few minutes of ordering this you'll have downed 550 calories -- probably without even realizing it. Our advice: Drink a glass of ice water. Then, if you still want something sweet, try a scoop of a fruit sorbet, which is about 100-150 calories, or frozen yogurt for 180-200 calories (but this one contains some fat, so watch how much you eat). The real deal however, is a popsicle. At 45 calories, you'd have to eat 12 of these to catch up to the calories in a snow cone.