The junk food market becomes larger and larger every day. “Stop eating junk food!” they say; easier said than done when the food industry spends over $33 billion per year in the US alone to advertise food products that could be classified as junk food. Another alarming fact is that the average person today consumes more added sugar in two weeks than a person a century ago would have eaten in a whole year. All of this added sugar comes from junk food, including soft drinks, sweetened cereals, candy, processed snacks and fast foods. This list will give you the top 5 junk foods and ideas for their replacements. You can stop eating junk food… or at least cut back!
1) Pizza
Frozen or fresh from Domino’s, pizza contains hundreds of empty calories, mostly coming from the abundance of cheese. It has a high fat and cholesterol content, which is never good for anyone especially those with heart conditions. Eating just one small piece won’t do any harm; however, serving sizes of pizza have gone up in the past few years. We are consuming much more than we need to. Pizza is also extremely high in sodium. Just two slices of frozen DiGiorno pepperoni pizza contains 2,020 mg of sodium. This is almost more than people need in an entire day!
What to replace it with:
When eating out, use portion control. Aim to eat only one or two pieces. Instead of ordering supreme pizza, get a veggie pizza. You can also buy items at the grocery store to make your own nutritious pizza at home.
2) Soft Drinks
Soda and other sugary drinks add sugar and calories to your diet without providing much, if any, nutrition. Excessively consuming soft drinks can lead to obesity, which can lead to type 2 diabetes, asthma, sleep apnea, and high blood pressure. These problems are becoming significantly apparent in children. It is also known that regular soda drinkers don’t drink enough water, which can take a toll on good health.
What to replace it with:
Water! It may be difficult if you’re an avid soda drinker, but replacing soda with water is one of the best things you can do for your diet. You can also try flavored carbonated water and natural fruit juices.