"diet villain" ALERT: JUNKSTER

JUNKSTER: Eating too much junk food

Junk food is more than fast food, pizza, ice cream, potato chips, cookies, candy, donuts, etc....

Junk food makes up about 50% or more of today’s American diet, and many people lack an understanding of how its prevalence affects body fat and health issues. MY DIVA DIET wants you to know that junk food is just what its name implies, and it underlies many of our worst food choices, wreaks havoc on our health, and is a major factor in our obesity epidemic.

* Notes

• Junk food goes far beyond candy, cake, donuts, and commonly prepared desserts:
  
• It comprises most fast food.
  
• It includes soda and other sugary drinks.
  
• It also comprises many of the packaged, processed, and refined foods so popular today, including but not limited to crackers and snack items, frozen and canned foods, cereals, etc.
• It also includes items made with hidden flour, sugar, sodium, and fake fats.
  
• It incorporates many foods that are man-made, especially wholesome foods that are:
• Manipulated in any form
  
• Made with artificial ingredients
  
• Packed full of preservatives and additives
  

* Junk Food Rules

• In general, stay away from fast food and the other junk food items listed above, as well as the ones you already know about.
• Be cautious and extremely selective when choosing man-made food products—less is better here.
• Eating junk food once in a while might be okay, but some choices are better than others.
• Do a little research: in addition to reading labels, check some of the charts available on restaurant menus and at fast-food eating places.
• There are much better choices than junk food when you want dessert or just a sweet treat, such as frozen yogurt, sorbet, pudding, and gluten-free fig bars.

* FYI’s

• JUST read labels of some commonly used food items, like chips, fruit snacks, cookies, donuts, cake, crackers, Cheetos, etc., which at first glance, you may think are low in calories or fat, but when you analyze their ingredient panels you’ll discover that most contain anywhere from twenty to seventy-five items, including trans fats, sugar, flavor enhancers, preservatives, MSG, white and wheat flour, milk, nuts, cheese cultures, and other unwholesome ingredients.
  
• Even when trans fats are omitted (a recent trend), these foods contain saturated fat and other harmful ingredients.
• Most man-made foods (including the fat-free products) do not have any fiber or nutritional value.
  

Other items to consider labeling as JUNK FOOD are frozen food items like frozen dinners; processed meats and meat products like hot dogs and lunch meat; breads and cereals made with white flour and sugar; as well as most canned foods.  Especially those that have anywhere from 10 to 50 ingredients–which most man-made and man-manipulated food products do!  

Next blog will be about Frozen Foods!  

Anything that does not pass the "pure and wholesome" food test and has more than 5 ingredients must be examined thoroughly!