Hidden calories and food loaded with unseen fats are big contributors to weight gain, according to nutritionists.
From karak chai to sandwiches and smoothies, everyday foods often seen as healthy alternatives can have as much salt, sugar and fat as some of the most common fast-food staples.
Typically, the recommended daily calorie intake for the average woman is about 2,000, while men, who are usually bigger, need about 2,500 calories from food each day to convert into energy.
“People count calories, but not always the nutrients,” said Ilse Onderweegs, a nutritionist at ICO Healthy Living in Dubai.
One hundred calories of broccoli is very different to 100 calories consumed in an apple or muffin. The biggest mistake people make is ignoring the nutrient density of food
Ilse Onderweegs,
ICO Healthy Living, Dubai
“One hundred calories of broccoli is very different to 100 calories consumed in an apple or muffin, for example.
“It is not always about calories in versus calories out, but what those calories are feeding your body ― is it nutrient dense or high in fibre?
“Even though it is healthy food, the calories consumed would be more than the equivalent weight in berries or avocado, for example.
“Granola bars and protein bars always [have] hidden calories, and have added sugar and preservatives.”
Children require much less energy to see them through the day ― with just 1,200 calories needed for girls aged 4-8 years old, and 1,400 calories for boys of that age.
Older children and teenagers need a little more, with doctors recommending girls aged 9-13 consume up to 1,600 calories daily, and boys 1,800.
Fat should make up no more than 35 per cent of food intake, ideally with polyunsaturated and mono-unsaturated fatty acids sourced from fish, nuts and vegetable oils.
Excess calories are stored in the body as fat, and can lead to chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular illness and some cancers.
Good carbs vs bad carbs
While carbohydrates are essential for regular bodily function, eating the wrong kind can also contribute to weight gain.
Eating carbs increases your blood-sugar level, prompting the release of insulin. Too much of this and the body stores it as sugar in our liver and muscles, but when these areas are overloaded the extra sugar is stored as fat, also leading to weight gain.
Bad carbohydrates are found in white bread, rice, pasta, crisps and snack foods ― whereas healthier carbs can be sourced in brown rice, beans and fresh fruit, but should still be eaten in moderation, experts said.
“The biggest mistake people make is ignoring the nutrient density of food,” Ms Onderweegs said.
“If you feed your body nutrient density your calorie intake will be lower because you will feel full for longer.
“Some fruits have hidden calories, and can be high in sugar, which can contribute to weight gain, like grapes or watermelon.
“Attitudes towards food are changing, as they are with health in general.
"There is more understanding now of the need to feed ourselves with the right foods to have more energy, and feel better overall.
“The more natural foods we eat, with plant products and lean proteins that are not processed, is the best way to maintain good health.”
Top five foods with hidden calories
Granola / cereal bar
471 calories
9 grams of fat
14g carbohydrate
Salmon and cheese bagel
453 calories
14g fat
58g carbohydrate
Butter chicken curry
497 calories
24g fat
40g carbohydrate
Salami, six slices
214 calories
18g fat
2g carbohydrate
Karak chai, cup
100 calories
2g fat
20g carbohydrate
And some healthier alternatives
Baked potato with salsa
80 calories
9g fat
37g carbohydrate
Six banana oat cookies
48 calories
0.7g fat
4g carbohydrate
Ricotta cheese-stuffed pita
94 calories
12g fat
20g carbohydrate
Sri Lanka's T20I squad
Thisara Perera (captain), Dilshan Munaweera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Ashan Priyanjan, Mahela Udawatte, Dasun Shanaka, Sachith Pathirana, Vikum Sanjaya, Lahiru Gamage, Seekkuge Prasanna, Vishwa Fernando, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay and Chathuranga de Silva.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
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- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
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- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
HIJRA
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Director: Shahad Ameen
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Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
SERIE A FIXTURES
Friday Sassuolo v Torino (Kick-off 10.45pm UAE)
Saturday Atalanta v Sampdoria (5pm),
Genoa v Inter Milan (8pm),
Lazio v Bologna (10.45pm)
Sunday Cagliari v Crotone (3.30pm)
Benevento v Napoli (6pm)
Parma v Spezia (6pm)
Fiorentina v Udinese (9pm)
Juventus v Hellas Verona (11.45pm)
Monday AC Milan v AS Roma (11.45pm)
How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
