No junk food for 2 years (and counting)

BuellerFerrisBueller

I've been avoiding all junk foods and restaurant foods since the spring of 2020. February 2020 was when I last ate candy or restaurant food. Early March 2020 was when I last ate ice cream. I think I last bought fish sticks sometime in April 2020.

My motivation wasn't my weight, my figure, or my blood cholesterol. Instead, I figured I need all the immune system support and anti-inflammatory support I can get. Unhealthy foods weaken the immune system and promote inflammation.

At the same time, I've increased the quantity and variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and probiotic foods that I consume. Healthy foods support the immune system, fight inflammation, and may even have antiviral properties. (NOTE: My nutritional precautions are an ADDITION to vaccines, face masks, and physical distancing.)

Until this past February (when I first tried Cronometer out of curiosity), I was NOT counting calories or keeping track of my food consumption. I use Cronometer on a very sporadic basis to spot-check my diet. Once every several weeks, I'll pick one day to track everything. Yes, intuitive eating works for me. And no, I NEVER EVER starve myself or allow myself to go to bed hungry. Yes, I STILL eat lots food in winter, the season of endless hunger pangs.

I'm 30 pounds lighter now than I was in March 2020. Yes, that means I'd have to gain 30 pounds to return to my pre-pandemic weight. Avoiding junk food works wonders at enhancing summer weight loss AND reducing winter weight gain. Even at my peak weights in the early spring of this year and last year, I was still nearly 20 pounds lighter than I was in March 2020.

Yet it seems that most people have maintained or increased their junk food consumption during the time that I've been avoiding it completely. When I go to the grocery store, I still see people loading up their grocery carts full of junk food. I feel like I live in a different universe from everyone else.

Every time I pass by Culver's, White Castle, Five Guys, or Raising Cane's, I feel like Neo in _The Matrix_ passing by his favorite noodle restaurant. Given that the average national wastewater viral load (https://biobot.io/data/) shows the current surge to be the second worst, I won't be returning to the world of junk food anytime soon. I should take bets on which of my old favorites will no longer be delicious to me in the future.

AnnPT77

I don't avoid junk food, haven't made an extra effort to avoid it during the pandemic, but just plain don't care for most things that most people would call "junk food". (I'm not sure what the term means - seems like different people mean different things.) I just don't think most of those things taste good - haven't, post childhood. I know many people disagree. 🤷‍♀️

Here's the thing, though: My extent of avoiding what-I-think-may-be-junk-food as a thin person is no different than my avoiding it was nearly 7 years ago when I was class 1 obese, or during the roughly 30 years it took me to become obese. (I'm around BMI 21 now, 5'5", upper 120s pounds, female.) I've been vegetarian since 1974, I like veggies/fruits, strongly prefer whole grain foods to refined, etc.

I could've been a poster child for how possible it is to be obese with minimal/no junk food food. The last dozen years of that obesity, I was highly active, besides - training 6 days a week, even competing some as a masters athlete (in a sport where "masters" means old people) - not always unsuccessfully competing, either. I'm sure I was healthier than I would've been with worse nutrition and no exercise, but I wasn't healthy healthy: High blood pressure, high cholesterol, even stage III cancer along the way.

Dietary composition is not magical for either weight loss or health, even with a good exercise schedule.

I suspect a moderate amount of so-called "junk food", in the context of overall average good nutrition, isn't a total deal-breaker for health, either, though I can't personally demonstrate that.

Athijade

Nah... Doesn't sound like a life I want to lead.

paperpudding

My motto is to aim for an overall nutritionally balanced diet without avoiding anything I enjoy (obviously frequency, portion control etc come into that too)

There are some fast foods I like and have from time to time and I certainly like going out to restaraunts - so I have no intention of stopping those things

Your OP sounds rather self righteous to me - but if that is a lifestyle choice you want to make, go for it.

Not one I will be adopting myself though.

neanderthin

I know I live in a different universe when I go out and venture around with the majority and I mean almost all persons either overweight, obese or frail and weak looking. Don't let that discourage your goals.