Junk food is simply in what it states; its JUNK. What is consisted in junk food is either food that is too high in fats, trans fat, high sugar contents=high in calories or high in carbohydrates or high in all of these ingredients are present. Also junk food is processed food which is simply this; foods that were processed or refined to make them more consumer-friendly and easier to transport but have been stripped of most — if not all — of their nutrients and fiber along the way. Carbohydrates provide energy for the body, particularly for the brain and the nervous system. An enzyme called amylase (from the liver) that helps break down carbohydrates into blood sugar, or glucose, which the cells of your body absorb for energy (our fuel for the body) that it needs at that time and whatever glucose it doesn’t need at that time we can’t get rid of it as waste but instead it gets stored in the body. Where? Well first the liver but if a large meal or even just a moderate to small meal high in carbs or starches the liver can’t store all that so than it goes to the fat tissue to be stored=weight gain. Remember sugars or calories get broken down to further simple sugars and even some fats depending on its make up. So if sugar is primarily the ending result of what foods are made up of unless fat free food than know the size of the meal plays a part in controlling your weight. Depending on the amount of sugar in the meal your having will determine how much sugar will need to be stored in fat tissue. First the glucose needs to be utilized by the body by all cells and tissues at that time of digestion than with left over glucose that the body doesn’t need to utilize it has to use other compartments to put it in. Second the sugar goes to the liver where it is being used as a storage unit for the remaining sugar in the blood but it can only fill up so much so it’s limited in the amount that can go in it. Than when the liver gets full it than goes into fat tissue storage. So let us review this again; first the meal is digested and sugar will be dumped in the blood stream where the cells pick up the glucose and deliver it to all tissues that need there fuel=glucose, for at that time. 2ND step is the extra sugar gets stored in the liver than 3rd the extra sugar that can’t be stored in the liver when that organ reaches its max level of storage that it can fit in it in that goes to the fat tissue where that rest of the sugar gets stored=fat deposit in our body. So determined by the size or the portion of the meal you have takes part in determining how healthy it is. If it is fast food than consider it unhealthy especially if fried (no healthy energy). So what is the answer here if you want to look good and eat fast foods at times (from pizza to buffalo wings to onion rings) you have to eat that way in moderation which is saying do this occasionally. If you are in your body mass index weight range with exercising on a regular basis than your even ok to eat fast food 2 times a week but if you eat this food constantly your still building up risk factors to prone yourself to cardiac disease, diabetes, stroke, hypertension, to cancers.
If you don’t know your BMR than Calculate Your BMR
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Examples
Examples of processed carbohydrates include most baked goods, white breads, pastas, snack foods, candies and non-diet soft drinks. Other examples of processed carbohydrates are bleached, enriched wheat flour and white sugar. Because these foods have been stripped of their nutrients and fiber, they are often referred to as “empty calories.”
Effect on Health
As our bodies try to digest the huge amounts of starches and simple sugars in a meal that is dominated by processed carbohydrates, hormone production, such as that of insulin, fluctuates dramatically. This causes blood glucose levels to experience spikes and dips, a situation that may increase the risk of developing chronic illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart disease. In addition, our bodies are ill-equipped to handle the array of artificial flavorings, colorings and preservatives that are frequently part of the processing of refined carbohydrates. Know when your glucose levels dip rather than stay at a steady rate by eating 5 to 6 HEALTHY meals a day with one being lean in meat and green in vegetables you put yourself at risk of putting obesity on. When you eat 5 to 6 small healthy meals a day this won’t allow your sugar to spike and dip causing excess of glucose that doesn’t need to be utilized by the body to store in the liver to freely floating in the blood stream that gets dumped into fat tissue that will cause weight gain by storing it in your fat tissue. If you regularly eat only 3 meals a day you cause the spike and dip of glucose putting yourself at high risk for this to occur in you, unless you have a high metabolism naturally.
Alternatives
Instead of getting your carbohydrates from processed or refined foods, choose to get your carbohydrates from foods like beans, legumes, whole-wheat bread, brown rice, whole-grain pasta and other grains that may be unfamiliar to you, such as quinoa, whole oats and bulgur. These alternatives are becoming easier to find in mainstream grocery stores. Not only will these sources of carbohydrates help to protect you from a range of chronic diseases, but they will also make your meals more enjoyable and interesting.
Need assistance to reach this kind of an eating pattern with learning more about HEALTHY foods for the body that you should be eating out of the 4 food groups (that includes each group letting you know what is lean, leaner, and leanest)? I found a M.D. who wrote a book that was very helpful. His name is Dr. Anderson with his book “Dr. A’s healthy habits”. His book helps you learn how to eat healthy in aiding you to develop healthier habits in your lifestyle forever not just diet for 3 or 6 or 12 months than put the weight all back on again. You learn about all the choices in what you want regarding foods, drinks, snacks and desserts or just learn about healthy foods through Dr. Anderson’s book to get the knowledge in what healthy dieting and healthy habits are that you make a part of your life. If you want to lose weight or prevent disease or illness in your life and even pass it down to your children to be passed down to further generations this is the a good pathway to follow. You reach that goal through learning proper healthy dieting, healthy habits and exercise with balancing it with rest. Hope I have helped you in someway and have given you another aspect of how to look at your health including your friends and family. For if we all thought this way, fast food businesses wouldn’t be the number one place in restaurant industry but at the bottom with our health care system better for all in our society as a whole showing a lot less disease/illness (since a lot of cardiac, obesity, diabetes II, and some cancers with more diseases are self inflicted due to our dieting and activity level of many American citizens.). We can make a change and our society has done so before. As the old saying history repeats itself time and time again, so can our society for the better of everyone. If only excess sugar in the bloodstream after eating could leave our system through our kidneys when filtering our blood dumping it in our urinary bladder and when urinating the extra sugar leaves the body or if it was dumped in our GI tract from our bile duct in our intestines and evacuated in our stool no one in the world would be fat. It doesn’t work that way instead it gets stored in our body. Unfortunately after the meal upon digestion sugar gets dumped in the blood, goes around the whole blood stream pathway being utilized by tissue where it’s needed and the extra sugar gets dumped into the liver but when that organ gets full than the left over sugar gets dumped into our fat tissue. This is how getting Obese happens naturally.