When it comes to gaining weight, you probably think the food culprits are big: pieces of cake, slabs of meat, loaves of bread. But there's another guilty suspect you wouldn't expect: spoonfuls.
Recently, CNN reported that Chris Ross--a Kentucky chef--attributed his 327-pound weight largely to a habit particular to his occupation: simply tasting the food he prepared all day long. In fact, Ross told CNN that at the end of one day, he'd packed in more than 4,000 calories from small bites of food!
But your kitchen is supposed to save you from the pitfalls of diet fails and high-calorie foods, right? For the most part, yes--if you're cooking dinner at home, that's already a win for your weight. Restaurants typically add more calories, fat, salt, and sugar to dishes than you ever could. But calling on your inner chef may mean you're loading up on calories before the dinner bell rings.
"They look tiny, but extra bites of food throughout the day do add up, especially if you're tasting dishes with calorie-heavy cheese, meat, and sauces," says Megan Roosevelt, a registered dietitian in Portland. Even more: These calories tend to fall into the category of "food amnesia." If you're banking your daily calories, you may forget these small bites. "It's hard to keep track of how much you've actually eaten when you swipe bites outside of meals," Roosevelt adds. It's also easy to shrug them off as nothing.
At the end of the day, excess calorie intake and lack of exercise is what packs on the pounds--not solely tasting the foods you're whipping up. So sample, but do so wisely. Here's how many calories each bite of common foods will cost you:
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