Junk Food vs Healthy Food

Okay, I know most of you are like me, you enjoy eating a lot of junk foods to satisfy that craving.  I remember telling my friends I can eat pastries anytime anywhere oh how I love junk foods.

Now let me take us back, what are junk foods? According to Health Direct  'Junk food' is food that contains high levels of fats, salt and sugar and lacks nutrients such as fiber, vitamins and minerals. Junk food is so called because it doesn’t play a role in healthy eating, especially if it's eaten to excess. Junk food is also known as discretionary food or optional food.

 Adobestock

 

Examples of junk foods are:

 

●       Cakes and Biscuits

●       Fast foods such asHot chips, Burgers, Pizza etc

●       Processed meat such as Bacon, Suya

●       Snacks

●       Chocolate and sweets

●       Carbonated drinks and alcoholic drinks

●       Fried foods

●       Bakery products

●       Low fat yoghurt etc

 

Back to my story, i never saw the harm in consuming junk food, i could not understand when people say they are counting calories like why? Why don't you just eat according to your cravings until i did a quick study and found out that consuming junk food in excess puts you at risk of having ;

 

●       Chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease

●       Type 2 diabetes

●       Obesity

●       Kidney Damage

●       Liver Damage

●       And cancer

 

I was like all these on top junk food? There were even some serious negative effects to this thing, you could also take time out to research on your own. You know how you check google for small information, only for google to open your eyes to see the great damage, that was me at that point, i was so scared to the point that if you were to bring a cake close to me i could give you a punch lol.

 

I was so strict with my healthy diet that I abstained from every sort of junk food, i no wan hear say doctor say I get cancer. I was that strict until I met this aunt of mine who taught me how to ration my diet. I understood from our conversation that as harmful as junk food can be it also has some positive effect if taken in the right proportion. Junk food can provide certain nutrients that the body needs to keep the body, bones and muscles strong.

Despite the fact that juices and vegetables offer some small percentage of vitamins to the body, their nutrients are not enough to strengthen the immunity of the body. Some juices include added natural sugar to make them sweet for consumption, an act which only increases calories which result in weight gain (researchguide.com)

This does not mean you should go ahead to consume all that junk food you have been staying away from, eating healthy should be paramount to you even if you want to have junks, it should be in the smallest quantity. This is the trick that works for me. I eat junks just once a week and a reward for staying junk free for the week. Do this and thank me later. A small amount of junk or discretionary food can be included in a healthy, balanced diet. This means you should only have junk food occasionally and in small amounts.

 

How can I reduce junk from my meals?

According to (Health Direct)

While it is necessary to eat healthy you do not have to give up on your favourite food.

The following tips will be very helpful if you want to eat healthy:

●       Plan your meals ahead of time so that you can eat based on nutrition and not what you have left in your kitchen.

●       Planning your budget ahead of time also makes shopping easier, and spares you the excuse that you didn't have money that's why you had to fall back to junk food.

●       Check your food’s nutritional value using the nutritional information panel on the back of the packet. I am sure you didn't know this, I also didn't know it at first.  

●       Choose fresh fruit for dessert instead of junk food to keep away from added salt, sugar and saturated fat.

Healthy eating is possible even in the midst of so many enticing and appealing junk foods. So get yourself some vegetables, nuts, grains or cereals, milk, cheese or any alternative with less fat. Poultry products such as egg, fish, lean meat, beans etc.

Most at times those things that don't look enticing are the things our body needs. So make a promise to yourself today to always eat healthy and you can reward yourself later with nice junk food but remember to eat junk food wisely.