Junk Food

Who doesn't love junk food? These bad foods that taste so good are the bane of most of us wanting to follow a healthy living diet or weight loss plan. For some, the temptation is so great that they don't even try.

Well, the good news is that you don't have to give up your favorite treats entirely on a healthy living diet.

A good rule of thumb is to limit your unhealthy food choices to less than 20% of your total daily food and drink intake.

Junk food is usually highly processed, contains sugar or high fructose corn syrup, preservatives and/or artificial sweeteners. They may be heated to fat-damaging temperatures in rancid oils. Unhealthy bad foods are stripped of most of their natural nutrients.

These bad food may have started as a real foods, but bear little resemblance to them after processing. You may be surprised that it's not only sugary treats and snack foods that make the list.

Ingredients to Limit or Avoid

It is best to limit these foods in your diet.

• "Enriched" - usually means the grain products are stripped of their natural nutrients. Then a few cents worth of vitamins or some fiber may be added to the food. Look for the words 'whole grain' instead.
  

• A word ending in "-ose" means sugars and high fructose corn syrup. You may find several words ending in -ose on a single label. Check the label under carbohydrates for the amount of sugar per serving. Six grams of sugar is the equivalent of one teaspoon.

  Lots of sugar, the amount in a small soft drink, depresses the immune system for several hours, making you more vulnerable to illness. Even artificial sweeteners spike insulin levels.

  Have you ever noticed that when you eat sweet, fatty foods you want more? These foods stimulate the heroin centers in your brain and be highly addictive. People who use lots of sweeteners actually gain more weight than those who don't. Cancer cells feed on sugar. Excess sugar is stored in the body as fat.

• Hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils - these trans fatty oils are artery clogging and inflammation producing. New labeling laws allow products to state that they have zero trans fats per serving even if the product contains trans fats for a larger amount. Check the ingredient list and the serving size. Trace amounts are okay.

  Oils processed at high temperatures and then deodorized to cover the smell of rancidity should also be avoided. Choose "cold-pressed" or "expeller-pressed oils. Deep frying makes fat dangerous for your health. Notice the smell of the fats frying your french fries. Does it smell fresh or rancid?

When and if you do choose to eat junk foods, don't feel guilty about it. That will just add stress to your system, making them even worse for you. Bless what you eat. Sometimes "soul food" is just what the doctor ordered.

But beware of using unhealthy food to soothe anxiety and other troubling emotions. That often leads to overeating and sabotaging your true desires to eat healthy foods.

If you like preparing your own snacks and desserts (or you're lucky enough to know someone who does) you can swap out some unhealthy ingredients in a recipe with nutritionally better choices. You may find you enjoy these guilt-free recipes better than unhealthy food alternatives. Try some of these easy dessert recipes. Your body will thank you.

Note: If you have a serious health condition, it may really be to your benefit to eliminate bad foods from your diet all together. Make every morsel count toward maintaining and rebuilding your health. Take the words of Hippocrates to heart.

"Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food..."

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