Don't let health food wreck your weight loss efforts

DENVER - If you're trying to watch your weight, you tend to grab for the old stand-by's, fruit smoothies, salads and energy bars. But doctors say you need to think twice about that.

If you only get moderate exercise, you should limit certain foods. Beth Jauquet of Cherry Creek Nutrition says fruit smoothies can do an immense amount of damage for dieters and adds, "Smoothies often have added calories because of high sugar items like juice and lemonade. A way to decrease the calories is to add nonfat milk or soy milk."

Energy bars are convenient, but can also add weight if you eat them along with regular meals. Pauquet says, "Keep in mind that energy bars are meant to be meal replacements, they are designed to pack a lot of nutrition, to do this they add high calorie items."

Watch out for bananas, just one has about 30 grams of carbohydrates, more than half of the daily allowance for dieters.

Your morning coffee can get you started off the "wrong" way.

If you add whole milk and sweetened whipped cream, you're looking at more than 500 calories, 15 grams of fat and a whopping 72 grams of carbs.

Keep a close eye on what you put on your salad. Leafy greens are nutritious, but salads all gunked up with dressing and toppings like bacon and ham can end up ruining your workout results. It may take an hour of jogging to to burn off one "healthy" lunch.

Of course you can still enjoy these treats every now and then and still make your goal weight, just remember, everything in moderation. For more information visit http://www.cherrycreeknutrition.com/ and http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mayo-clinic-diet/MY01646