Are High End Junk Foods Sabotaging Your Eating Goals?
What is junk food?
Junk foods are processed foods consisting of high calories, but that is considered only as a broad umbrella definition. They are more accurately unhealthful foods that are usually high in calories and sugar or fat, and have very little dietary fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, or other important forms of nutritional value.
Junk foods are prepared in a way that make them look appealing and are enjoyably tasteful, making you chemically programmed to ask for more. While most who have eating and wellness goals typically shy away from junk foods, high end junk foods might have unknowingly become a part of their diet.
What is high end junk food?
High end junk foods are foods that if eaten in smaller quantities, or eaten in moderation, are typically foods that are healthy for you. They are foods that you might have included into your diet in order to be healthier, but are actually just as bad as typical junk food.
High end junk foods are foods that are included into the diet as a substitution for the following typical junk foods:
High sugary grains
Crackers
Candy
Ice cream
When does food become junk food
These high end junk foods that come across as healthy foods may actually be healthy for you, but only when eaten in moderation. It’s when you consume these high end junk foods in too big of a quantity that they stop being healthy for you and turn into a junk food. These high end junk foods then have an opposite effect on your body.
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What can it do to your body
These high end junk foods are not making you healthier, like you may have thought they were, but are actually sabotaging your eating and wellness goals. High end junk foods could cause or be causing any of the following changes in your body:
Weight gain
Fatigue
Poor skin
Hormone imbalance
These ‘healthy style’ foods can stealthily behave like junk foods, and these foods could be sabotaging your eating goals if you are unaware of them. And while there may be more than 5 high end junk foods out there, the following foods are the types of high end junk food you are more likely to encounter.
5 high end junk foods to be aware of
Cheese
When cheese is eaten in too much quantity, it can lead to a lot of different symptoms because it’s higher in fat and is super acidic. Consider when you’re eating cheese to stick to the recommended portion size, which is about 1-2 ounces, about the size of your thumb.
Diet bars
While diet bars can be useful in a pinch or once in a while, sometimes eating diet bars can become a mindless habit. These can be cliff bars or allara bars or any other diet bar that you may eat. Even though they may not be terrible for you and some may even have some good nutrition inside of them, they’re still considered a high end junk food. Because when they’re eaten in replacement of a more traditional snack like food, they then serve the same purpose as typical junk food.
Granola
Though you may want to eat your yogurt with granola every morning, this may not be the healthiest option. Granola is often times filled with excess sugars, and sometimes nuts and grains aren’t the best for some people. And because the recommended portion size for granola is so small, it’s often too easy to over eat it.
Commercial juice
These are juices that you would find at a grocery store that have been pre-pressed and packaged. Like granola, commercial juices are also filled with a lot of excess sugars and excess calories on top of that. These juices make it easier for you to consume large quantities of them, and can even trigger your hunger.
Vegan snacks
These are typically bean based or chick pea based snacks that have portion sizes on the smaller side. So like granola, it could be easy to consume large amounts of vegan snacks without even realizing it, and their calories per portion size can also be a lot.
Identifying high end junk foods can be confusing because we are often told that these foods are healthy for you; so there wouldn’t be a reason for us to think of them as junk foods. Moreover, in addition to the possible confusion surrounding these high end junk foods, you may be living a certain lifestyle that makes you even more susceptible to them sabotaging your eating goals.
Lifestyles more susceptible to high end junk foods sabotaging their eating goals
While anyone can be susceptible to the allure of high end junk foods, there are certain lifestyles that are more likely to be attracted to these ‘healthy foods’ due to misconceptions.
Always on the go
Those who are always moving or constantly running around with little to no time to sit and properly eat are more likely to turn to high end junk foods. They might grab a diet bar mid day as a snack to keep them going, or even eat vegan snacks because it’s a ‘healthier’ option than a bag of chips. However, because those who are always on the go typically don’t have set meals, they will tend to over consume these vegan snacks. And this is when they become a high end junk food.
Nutritiously uninformed
Those who are nutritiously uninformed are either those who have seen a cliff bar commercial and undoubtably believe they are healthy or are those who simply don’t know enough about basic nutrition guidelines. This type of lifestyle is extremely susceptible to high end junk foods because they may not even have eating goals to begin with and still eat regular junk foods. And their consumption of these high end junk foods might be their way of ‘eating healthy’.
Dieters
Dieters, whether first timers or veterans or extreme ones, are more likely to be susceptible to high end junk foods. They will probably create a diet of just juice and diet bars because they might assume it’s the least amount of calories they can intake and they will then lose weight faster. This however, is almost never a viable option for a diet because of the high amounts of sugars and calories that commercial juices tend to have. And this extremely restrictive diet technique will more than likely end in a spiraling binge for most.
How to stick to your eating goals
Anything that can be consumed in excess, can end up being a junk food, even if the ingredients and the motivations for the food is to be healthier. This is why it may be more beneficial to your eating and wellness goals to consider substituting these high end junk foods for foods that are a little bit more natural. It’s important to consider the following questions to ask yourself, and options instead of high end junk foods.
What’s your motivation for eating?
Identifying your motivation for eating is an essential step to taking control of your eating and wellness goals. If you are able to recognize that you are eating one of these high end junk foods, or even just any food, for a reason other than hunger than you are one step closer to taking control. Remember that exercising your choice is empowerment, and once you recognize that your ability to choose is what empowers you, you will then be able to reinforce your worthiness.
What portion sizes are you eating?
Portion sizes are especially important to your eating and wellness goals when you are consuming high end junk foods. It’s also really important to have the ability to eat these high end junk foods in moderation, because some of these foods, like cheese, can still be healthy for you in moderation.
Try switching to whole food
Whole foods are plant foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible, before being consumed. Examples of whole foods include:
Whole grains
Tubers
Legumes
Fruits
Vegetables
For those on a Low-FODMAP diet, here are some examples of the whole foods you can include in your diet:
Whole grains (gluten free, wheat free, rice cakes, almonds)
Tubers (potatoes, beet roots, sweet potatoes)
Legumes (black beans, green beans, snow peas, bean sprouts)
Fruits (blueberries, pineapples, grapes, raspberries)
Vegetables (carrots, cucumbers, spinach, celery)
Get in touch with your hunger cues
Hunger cues are both physical and psychological symptoms, which is why getting in touch with them can be a great way to keep your eating and wellness goals in check. Hunger cues that you could experience are the following:
Feeling tired & lightheaded
Gurgling, growling or grumbling sounds
Dizziness or faintness
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Be wary when you are consuming these high end junk foods, and remember to ask yourself what it is you really want when you decide to eat these junk foods. It’s important to choose these foods because it’s something that you want and/or need, and not just because you think it’s better than a typical snack.
Extra tips for keeping to your eating goals
Try splitting your lunch into two portions, eating one half at 11am and the other half at 2pm, so you are less likely to snack or feel the need to snack.
Practice mindful eating. Knowing your motivation for eating is a huge part of practicing mindful eating. So through practicing mindful eating, you will become more likely to know and recognize your eating motivations and can then take control of your eating and wellness goals.
Try meditation or yoga. Gratitude meditation can help keep you centered in the worth you have in the world, and can make it easier to create healthy boundaries and take healthy actions.
