How to stop eating junk food? The most common question that people encounter every day. No matter where people live and how they look. Junk foods look colorful and taste incredible. They look delicious in a way that attracts people immediately.
However, the health problems that they cause remind people that โnot all colorful and tasteful foods are healthy foods.โ Junk food cravings are common, but did you ever wonder that these little moments can make your life miserable?
In 2016, over 1.9 billion adults suffered from obesity, and over 17.9 million died from chronic diseases like cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and liver diseases. In most cases, these diseases attack people due to the overconsumption of junk foods.
Although some junk foods provide enough nutrients, health experts say that they should be consumed to some extent.
Now, the question pops, and the solution which you desperately want is how to stop junk food cravings and develop healthy habits. But before digging deep, understand why you should not eat junk food more.
1. What is Junk Food and Why Shouldnโt You Eat it:
People represent junk foods (or fast food, sometimes) as foods and drinks that carry low essential nutrients like vitamins and minerals for humans. These foods are high in kilojoules, added sugar and salt, and saturated fat.
- Excess consumption of sugars can lead to malfunctioning of the body. Your body stops responding to insulin, and when your body malfunctions, your pancreas starts pumping out more insulin than required, resulting in the breakdown of the overworked pancreas. Eventually, your blood sugar levels will rise, setting you up for type 2 diabetes and heart-related diseases.
- Saturated fat behaves favorably for developing heart diseases as saturated fats can increase the level of LDL, cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B. Likewise, LDL transports fats across the body. The greater the cholesterol particles, the greater the increased risk of heart disease can be.
These are two of the most reasons why you should avoid taking more junk food. The heart, the most vital organ of the body, is also a delicate part that requires extra attention. However, the smallest measure you miss can affect your overall health in the long run.
1.1. Why Should You Stop Eating Junk Food?
These are some other factors we often hear people talking about when they are on a diet and what most people care about when consuming fast foods excessively.
1.1.1. Weight Gain:
All junk foods and fast foods are rich in calories, fat, sugar, and other craving flavors. They can be tasty and satisfying but can lead to unwanted weight gain and other health issues. Taking these foods once in a while can work, but taking them every day will have adverse effects on the body.
1.1.2. Fast Foods Are Addictive:
People can become addicted to fast foods, just like getting used to drugs and nicotine. But fast food addiction is much more dangerous than drug addiction. The craving flavors attract people more and more but do not let those harmful bottles of ketchup and sauces get to your health deterioration.
1.1.3. Junk Foods Do Not Provide Any Nutrients:
Some studies say that restricting eating junk food can let our bodies miss out on nutrients that are unavailable from eating healthy food. However, most fast foods do not provide vitamins. The menu at the restaurant may range from white bread to fried chicken, and these items do not carry the essential vitamins and fibers.
1.1.4. Depression And Anxiety:
A study conducted in Spain that took almost 6 years to complete included 9000 people and ended with a conclusion that the people who consumed ultra-processed foods excessively developed 48% of depression than the ones who did not take.
Not just one. There are tens and hundreds of studies claiming that excess intaking of these unhealthy fats can trigger an inflammatory response. A study says that inflammation has links to anxiety and depression.
1.1.5. Digestion Problems:
Most junk foods are processed and refined in a way that they lose all their fundamental components like nutrients and minerals. These foods are bad for the digestive tract since they are at a loss of fibers and water content. So, it slows down the digestion process while leaving the stomach bloated.
1.1.6. Heart Diseases:
All the health diseases mentioned above have something to do with the delicate organ of the body, the heart. Fats, cholesterol, and LDL can affect the core in the worst possible ways. As LDL carries fat all across the body, the fat particles get stuck in tiny and narrower paths of arteries and values of the heart that block the blood flow and oxygen, leading to heart attacks.
1.2. Reasons For Cravings:
- Hormones
- Lack of sleep
- Dehydration
- Stress
- Moods
After considering the facts, it is essential to stop continue eating junk foods. But how do you do that? Here are the top ten ways to avoid overconsumption of fast foods.
2. How to Stop Eating Junk Food? Top 10 Ways to Overcome Junk Food Habit
2.1. Plan Ahead:
Everything starts with planning. There might be situations where you do not know what to have for lunch or dinner, and these situations lead to junk cravings. Since you do not understand what to cook, your mind immediately triggers you to have something tasty.
Understanding what you will have for meals in the future will help you cope with junk cravings. So, planning meals for the entire week is the surer way to control the appetite for junk foods. The Planning Process will help you understand your eating goals and grocery shopping for healthy diet meal ingredients. Ensure to spare an hour of your time each Sunday to plan your meals or kitchen calendar for the next seven days.
2.2. Drink Plenty of Water:
It might sound wired, but drinking water can help with cravings. Occasionally, people are confused about hunger and food cravings. If you feel an impulsive desire for food, try drinking plenty of water. And if it is gone, it is that you were craving junk food. If it does not, it is the hunger for real food.
Not just with hunger suppression but also consuming more water helps with weight loss. All the toxic wastes in the body come out in sweat and give a perfect glow to the face with clear skin. It adds up to developing a great personality.
2.3. Grocery Shopping:
So, this is where everything begins. Based on your kitchen calendar, you shop the ingredients in produce, dairy, meat, and fish sections. Products from each one of these sections are whole foods, and you must ensure that the items you have picked up are low-fat nutrient items.
It can be challenging as you get started, but as time evolves, the more inclined you are towards this way of living, you and your plate get used to fresh vegetables, fruit, grains, and proteins. Also, include brown rice in your shopping list since it is rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phenols, flavonoids, and others.
2.4. Try Different Colors:
Do not just stick to the same kind of food. Try making your food with various food choices. For instance, try making balanced meals, different salads, or a new recipe with meat. The more colorful your food is, the more you will stop looking at cravings.
Again, eating out can increase the hurdles due to the unhygienic methods like reusing the same unknown oil, uncovered hair, and other practices. Instead, prepare your food by yourself using all the healthy products.
2.5. Eat Fruits:
Fruits act as the best sources of swapping. You can go for fruits whenever you feel like eating some unhealthy snacks. For example, for french fries, you can go for apple sticks. Although fruits contain sugar, they also carry a lot of vitamins, antioxidants, water, and fiber, which slows down and balances the effects on blood sugars, preventing sugar crashes. Since fruits are sweet, they will satisfy you just like junk food, only once after getting used to this diet mode.
2.6. Stick to a Diet plan:
To lose weight or to control junk food cravings, a diet plan, which contains your weekly meals and the rules to abide by, plays a significant role. It is common to get attracted by food, and peer pressure makes it even harder. A person must stick to their diet plan to see better results.
2.7. Eat More Protein:
Consuming protein to some extent can help with junk food cravings. Since cravings occur when people are hungry or thirsty, taking more protein can make a person feel full. Meat Items like fish, beans, vegetables, and nuts are terrific protein sources. So, when you are full, there is less room and less desire for junk food.
2.8. Do Not Go Hungry to the Markets:
Supermarkets are one of the bad ideas to go to when you are hungry as they allow you to put your hands on any food you want, and secondly, they display the unhealthiest foods at eye level. So, to avoid these, stop by the food corner and have a whole food meal before driving to the supermarket.
2.9. Chewing Gum:
The sweet and low calories in chewing gum give you a sweet taste without affecting your health. Research by a bunch of specialists has proved that chewing gum can manage the appetite for junk food.
2.10. Get a Good Amount of Sleep:
Sleep plays a credible role in junk food cravings. When you get deprived of sleep, Leptin, the appetite-controlling hormone decreases, while cortisol, the stress-causing hormone, increases, stimulating the appetite-controlling hormone. According to studies conducted by Northwestern University, sleep deprivation can increase overall hunger, which leads to cravings for sugar and salts.
3. Some of the Unhealthy Foods You Should Avoid are:
3.1. Sugary Foods:
Sugar is a food that gives 100% energy without any nutrients. Foods like soft drinks, fruit juices, cookies, sweets, candies, and chocolates contain more sugars than other food items.
Chemicals like serotonin in the brain, which make you feel good, get activated when you eat sugar. And this makes you crave junk food filled with sugar. So, junk food manufacturers and food giants ensure that they prioritize sweetness in all of their foods.
3.2. Caffeine:
Though coffee is the worldโs most widely consumed beverage, it has the most adverse effects on the body. Consumption of coffee can cause a deadly disease called insomnia, and it lets you stay asleep at the wheel.
The other issues are nervousness, nausea, restlessness, increased heart rate, and other side effects. Numerical studies say restricting coffee two hours before sleep can provide the best bedtime.
3.3. Soft Drinks:
Soft drinks are bad for the health as they contain sugar, caffeine, and added artificial flavors. These drinks are associated with dental caries, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Especially, soda holds a lot of added sugars.
Consuming drinks like soda excessively can conduct obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. According to researchers, Americans consume more coke and other sweet products, which is why one in four suffers from obesity.
3.4. Refined and Processed Food:
Processed foods like frozen or ready meals baked goods, including pizza, cakes, pastries, packaged bread, processed cheese products, breakfast cereals, crackers, chips, candies, ice cream, instant noodles, and soups, contain harmful ingredients such as fats, sugar, and salts, and lack the crucial fibers and vitamins.
Excess consumption of processed foods can cause constipation and sluggish bowels. In worst cases, it also leads to colon cancer.
3.5. Saturated Fats:
Dairy products such as butter, ghee, suet, lard, cakes, cookies, fatty cuts of meat, sausages, bacon, cured meats, chorizo, pancetta, and cheese, can develop cholesterol within the body. As cholesterol forms, the risk of heart and other diseases increases, reducing the productivity of life.
3.6. Animal Protein:
Animal protein is one of the best sources of energy for humans. The meat from chicken, fish, and egg products can provide enough proteins, but consuming meat in a larger quantity can also affect health.
4. Worldโs Top Junk Food Producers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKNCTXEYi48
- McDonaldโs
- Subway
- Starbucks
- KFC
- Burger King
- Dominoโs
- Pizza Hut
- Dunkin
- Hunt Brothers Pizza
- Tacobell
These are some of the top 10 prevalent fast food chains in the world worth billions of dollars, located in thousands of places all across the map, with millions and billions of people visiting them every new day.
The main aim of these chains is to provide the best customer experience to have the business going on, which is why from the moment a person enters in, the staff will care for them as guests, and finally comes the food of different flavors prepared by the world-class chef.
5. Food Swaps: Healthy Eating Tips When Cravings Strike
- Fresh Juice
- Greek Yogurt
- A hot drink
- Snack Bar
- Dark Chocolate
Fruit and Nut Butter, Cottage Cheese, Banana Ice-cream, Popcorn, Vegetable Chips, Olives, Edamame, Miso Soup, Trail Mix, Dates, Cold Drinks, Berries, and Hummus with Vegetables, are some of the easy healthy snacks swaps for unhealthy habits of eating junk food.
6. Some Interesting Facts About Junk foods:
- Americal consume 13 billion hamburgers each year.
- Lower and middle-class people eat more junk food than rich-class people.
- The to-become mother who eats junk food during the pregnancy increases the likeliness of her children eating junk food as they grow up.
- Americas eat over 1 billion pizzas each year, and most of them get sold on super bowl Sunday more than any other weekday.
- Pizza hut uses 300 billion pounds of cheese in a year.
- Fats in junk food can trigger the human brain to want more food and could last for a couple of days.
- People eat $2 billion of candy on Halloween alone.
- An average American eats 30 pounds of french fries and 4 pounds of potato chips in a year while they consume 22 teaspoons worth of sugar every day.
- 4 out of 5 children can recognize the McDonaldโs logo by the time they are three years old.
- Ice cream might be delicious and chilly when eating, but the fats it contains warm up the body.
7.ย FAQs:
7.1. Will Junk Food Make Me Fat?
Not all junk foods make you fat. However, foods with high calories, fats, and other harmful nutrients can lead you to develop obesity and heart-related diseases.
7.2. Can Junk Food Increase the Risk of Acne?
Yes, junk foods like burgers, nuggets, French fries, hot dogs, sodas, milkshakes, and high fat-containing food can cause acne to burst.
7.3. Will Junk Food Build Muscles?
Certainly not. Healthy muscles can only grow when a person consumes healthy food.
7.4. Can Junk Foods Cause Cancer?
Excessive consumption of highly processed foods can cause overall cancer and breast cancer.
Bottom Line:
All junk foods may not harm a person. While some fast foods are dangerous with high salts and sugars, others might not be so harmful, depending on their properties. But foods that attract people the most are toxic foods, either they are processed or contain high fats.
But a person must not consume more junk food because bad luck does not knock on the door before coming, especially considering heart diseases. So, eating junk foods once a week can work in most cases.
Also read: How Much Caffeine in Mountain Dew
Last Updated on by Sathi
