Dietician Separates Diet Boosters From Diet Busters

Whether you're grocery shopping or eating at restaurants, finding the right food for the diet isn't always as simple as the lowest calorie count.

"We have assumptions about Reduce Weight Fruta Planta certain foods - like if this sounds like a vegetable, it's always good, and if this is a carb, it certainly is bad," says dietician Leslie Bonci. "And the truth is - lines are blurred."

Bonci, who's the UPMC dietician for the Steelers, Pirates, Penguins and pro-athletes around the country, says these ideas are deeply ingrained.

Bonci came up with a few of the top diet boosters and busters to help us look differently at what we're eating to become healthy and trim.

She and KDKA's Kristine Sorensen paired up common foods and asked people to select which is better to lose weight (the diet booster).

Think about which you believe may be the booster and buster, and then compare it Bonci's answers.

1.) Baked Potato OR Veggie Chips

Many people thought the baked potato was the diet booster, but that is incorrect. The baked potato is really a diet booster since it is small and filling.

"That F and F, the fiber and the fill, go this type of long distance for making people feel satisfied," Bonci explains.

Whereas the veggie chips won't satiate. One serving size is only a handful, and it's difficult to stop at that.

2.) Creamy Soup like butternut squash or tomato soup Or perhaps a Smoothie?

The smoothie is the diet buster, since most pre-made smoothies contain several servings per container and the calories can add up. Plus, soup is much more satisfying.

"Studies reveal that liquid within the bowl actually makes us feel more satisfied than liquid in the glass," Bonci says.

3.) Salad OR Hamburger

Naturally, most people think the salad is the diet booster, but often, a salad might have double the amount calories of the hamburger depending what's onto it.

"It's all of the add-ins. Nobody considers the croutons, fried chicken, cheese," Bonci says, "and sometimes there's so much creamy dressing you cannot see the lettuce beneath it all."

She says for a salad to become good for your diet plan, use low-calorie dressing and your salad to mostly veggies.

For a hamburger to become low-calorie, forget the cheese and stick to low-calorie condiments like ketchup, mustard and pickles. If you cannot go with no fries, she says consider not having the bun as a swap.

4.) 100-Calorie Pack of Cookies OR Two Regular Cookies?

Bonci says two regular cookies are the diet booster simply because they will satisfy you instead of the 100-calorie packs in which the bag is much more than half empty and it is difficult to stop at only one.

5.) Bowl of Chili OR Yogurt Parfaits?

Bonci says it's about what will satiate longer, as well as in this example, it is the chili. Plus, with all the nuts and granola on top of the yogurt, it has two times as many calories as the chili.

6.) Sugar-Free Candies OR a Bag of Regular Peanut M&M's?

The diet booster may be the regular peanut M&M's.

Bonci says people could possibly get confused through the word "free."

"People are not necessarily Super Slim Pomegranate hearing the term sugar; they're hearing the term 'free.' 'Free,' therefore, it's no calories, and I can eat as much as I want," Bonci says. "The assumption a lot of people make is calorically, it's going to be a lot lower. Individuals are in for a rude awakening."

Sugar-free candies often have more calories and provide you with less satisfaction.