8 healthy foods you'd never guess have the same amount of calories as fast food

Keeping up with your health resolutions?

Healthy foods can be high in calories, too - as we found out after comparing them to our favourite guilty pleasures at McDonald's using their nutrition calculator.

Not that we're saying to give up on your healthy eating. Rather, take this as a reminder to have a well-rounded diet. Bon appetit!

1. Mushroom salad

Mmmm, warm sauteed mushrooms on greens, all the better tossed with a creamy dressing. We’ve got bad news: a salad like that easily clocks in at 500-600 calories, which is more than a McDonald’s Big Mac (522 calories).

2. Tahini

Maybe you feel better because it’s raw veggies you’re dipping into your tahini. But at 89 calories per tablespoon – say, you have 5 tablespoons’ worth – you might as well be having a Quarter Pounder with cheese (532 calories) as mid-afternoon munchies.

3. Quinoa

Don’t get us wrong, quinoa, we love you for the great protein source that you are. But here’s why you should still go easy on this grain substitute: one cup of cooked quinoa has 222 calories, almost as much as a McDonald’s Apple Pie (247 calories).

4. Macadamia nuts

Topping the calorie charts in the nuts category, an ounce of dry-roasted macadamia nuts contains 204 calories – 88 per cent of which comes from fat. That’s nuts! A reasonable serving of 3 ounces (612 calories) is nutritionally on par with a hearty McDouble with a medium Coke (605 calories).

5. Raisins

For a supposedly healthy food, raisins are calorically dense. A small 1.5-ounce box contains about 145 calories – equivalent to 2 full cups of grapes, their pre-dried ancestors – or, a yummy McDonald’s Hashbrown (149 calories).

6. Sushi

Fact or fiction: Raw food is good, hence sushi is good. A piece of salmon sushi gives you 59 calories; a piece of California sushi, 55 calories (see more here). How many to have your fill? Enough to match a McSpicy (522 calories)?

7. Chia seeds

If you knew that a single tablespoon of chia seeds contain 70 calories, you probably wouldn’t add them into your smoothie as liberally. Yes, they’re chock full of nutrients, but just 4 tablespoons in your breakfast smoothie adds on as many calories as a Wholegrain Egg McMuffin (288 calories) would.

8. Tofu

Love tofu? Beware the pre-baked or flavoured, packaged varieties at the supermarket. The price you’re paying is about 150 calories per serving – a Vanilla Cone at McDonald’s (147 calories) – as compared to about 50 calories per serving of plain tofu, which you can flavour up much more healthily.

This article was first published in The Finder.