Junk food is enemy of not only one's pocket but also of your health, and keeping distance from it is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle. Junk food is a common term used for any food item that is perceived to be unhealthy or to have poor nutritional value.
The term has been used by many different groups over the years including opponents of fast food industries and environmentalists.
Examples of junk food may include, but are not limited to: hamburgers, pizza, candy, soda and salty foods like potato chips and french fries. Although chewing gum and bubblegum are not swallowed, they usually contain sugar or sugar-alcohol. Be careful, as sugar-free gum usually uses sugar-alcohol as a substitute. While sugar-alcohol won't cause tooth decay, it does have calories.
A diet rich in junk food is not conducive to maintaining a balanced diet, as suggested by various healthcare experts. Junk food nevertheless remains popular because it is relatively cheap to manufacture, easy to purchase, is convenient to consume, and has a lot of flavour because of its typically high fat, sodium, or sugar content. Its nutritional value is typically very high in empty calories.
Junk food also may contain numerous food additives, which are used to enhance flavour, adjust texture, alter colour, and prevent spoilage. For this reason many junk foods are also convenient in that they have very long shelf lives and often do not require any kind of refrigeration.
Since junk food is high in fats and sugars, it is a leading cause of obesity, dental cavities, increasing cases of Type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, etc. They are very low on proteins, vitamins, and fibre. Once children start consuming junk foods, their intake of high-protein-vitamins-roughage diet substantially decreases and intake of milk and healthy fruit juices is replaced by soft drinks. This can cause a deficiency of calcium, milk being a rich source of calcium, resulting in weakening of bones.
Some types of chips that are said to be junk food may actually be partially beneficial because they may contain polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. However, since they are fats, the intake of these should be kept to a minimum. It should also be understood that the detrimental effects of the empty calories may outweigh the benefits of the unsaturated fats. These foods tend to be high in sodium, which may contribute in causing hypertension (high blood pressure) in some people.
A healthy and balanced diet is a must for maintaining good health and this would be only possible when use of junk food is left for good.
Experts say that when buying packed eatables judge each food based on the list of ingredients and Nutrition Facts label found on packages. When reading the list of ingredients, look for sugar, fat or salt as one of the first three ingredients. If any of these are listed that high in the ingredients, you can probably consider that food to be too high in sugar, fat or salt.
A look at the nutritional information on the label will list the number of calories per serving, grams of fat, sodium, cholesterol, fiber and sugar content. This nutritional information will make you more knowledgeable in selecting foods to reduce your nutritional health risk.
Calorie content of 300 calories per serving or less is considered to be all right, except whole meals unless you are following a weight loss diet. Be cautious though as to how large a serving size is. If 4 ounces of yogurt is a serving size and you eat an eight-ounce container, you have doubled the calorie content.
Now look at the number of grams of fat. For every five grams of fat in a serving of a food, you are eating the equivalent of one teaspoon of fat. So, if one serving of a food has 23 grams of fat in it, that serving has the equivalent of four and one-half teaspoons of fat. You should limit the fat content in foods you eat daily to 30 percent of your total calories.
Sodium content per serving should be 2300 milligrams or less per day. Some foods do have very high sodium content per serving. Limit these foods for maintaining good health.
Cholesterol content should be 300 milligrams or less per day. It is easy to remember that 300 is the same as the number of calories per serving.
Fiber content will be listed in grams of dietary fiber. This amount will vary from product to product, but don't necessarily shop for only the highest numbers you can find. Any amount of dietary fiber above two grams per serving is good. Foods with five grams of fiber or more are considered high fiber foods.
Sugar content is usually listed on cold cereal packages. A rule of thumb to follow is four grams of sugar equals one teaspoon of sugar. Limit sugars amounts in cereals to four grams, but if the cereal has fruit in it, relax the sugar content to eight grams per serving. Fruits usually contain about 60 percent fructose and 40 percent sucrose. If you were to eliminate all sugar, you would be eliminating fruits, which are a valuable source of nutrients and soluble fiber.
If you want to cut down on junk food, cut down your intake of salt, sugar, fat and refined foods.