Coles I’m Free From gluten-free Banana Bread Mix same calories as Mars Bar

A nutritionist has revealed why you shouldn’t trust that food is ‘good for you’ just because it’s stocked in the health food aisle at the supermarket. 

Bec Miller, a weight loss nutritionist and cookbook author, was left shocked by what she found when she picked up the Coles ‘I’m Free From’ Banana Bread Mix’ which is gluten-free and stocked in the health aisle.

‘I knew it would be bad, but not this bad,’ she said, adding that it has the same amount of calories as a Mars Bar.

Bec Miller, a weight loss nutritionist and cookbook author, was left shocked by what she found when she picked up the Coles ‘I’m Free From’ Banana Bread Mix’ which is gluten-free and stocked in the health aisle 

She said while the banana bread was labeled as ‘healthy’ the nutritional information on the back of the packet told a different story 

She said while the banana bread was labeled as ‘healthy’ the nutritional information on the back of the packet told a different story. 

The top ingredient listed on the banana bread is sugar, rice flour is second.

‘That is wild, it (sugar) is rarely first. That means the majority of the mix is sugar,’ she said.

‘Second is rice flour which acts like sugar in your body.’

Bec said the bread is more comparable with a Mars bar than ‘healthy food’.

‘Both of these have the same amount of calories, next to zero nutrients and would have the same effect on your blood sugars,’ she said, comparing the two.

Only she said she would have to recommend people choose the Mars Bar – as they might be tempted to eat all 12 portions and not just one slice of the bread.

The nutritionist revealed she was shocked when she read the back of the label 

‘When foods are very high in sugar and refined carbs, and low in protein and fibre, we get a rapid blood sugar spike,’ she explained. 

This means when you eat them you don’t get full, crave more and more and are likely to have a huge energy crash.

She went on to explain that if the bed was packed with protein or fibre the ‘spike’ from the sugar would be slowed down, but found it was ‘super low in both’.

She went on to explain why high-sugar foods are so bad for your health

‘It’s so important to me to teach you how you truly can still eat indulgent, yummy foods BUT have a slow blood sugar response, so that you can stay full,’ she said. 

Bec often shares nutritional information with her followers on Instagram to help ‘eliminate the guesswork’ for them.

 ‘Just because something is gluten free doesn’t mean it is healthy,’ she said in the post.