Calories in clean food vs junk food?

nikkiclaire123

personally i noticed a MASSIVE distance in my running performance when i ate good whole food vs junk. i cut almost 2 mins from my 5km time in 2 weeks when i cut out junk. weight loss wise it might not make such a difference, my brother eats 1meal a day and its usually either burger king burgers or dominos pizza and desserts and hes very very skinny

Cadori

Preservatives aren't ALL they add ... there are chemicals added to junk food and processed fast food to make you want more. Intentionally! MSG is in EVERYTHING you eat in restaurants and frozen dinners and cans and bags (unless it says otherwise). It comes under many different names and (autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed protein, etc.) and you can learn all about it at MSGTruth.org (I was just having a similar conversation on another thread, so going to share this here too). The calorie may be a calorie but the added chemicals can really mess with your metabolism and your hunger. MSG is among the worst. Why do they add it to foods? From MSGTRuth.org:

Why do food companies add MSG to foods?


IThere are several reasons:

MSG tricks your tongue into making you think a certain food is high in protein and thus nutritious. It is not a "meat tenderizer". It is not a "preservative". The food industry is trying to confuse the issue by focusing on the "fifth" taste sense they call umami. Free glutamic acid is detected by the taste buds as a simple way to signal the presence of protein in a food, just as there are fat receptors to detect fats and receptors that sense carbohydrate or sweet flavors. The purpose is to help us discern real food from inedible matter. It changes your perception of not simply taste but the nutritious qualities of what you put into your mouth. However, and here is the main problem with free glutamic acid - It is the very same neurotransmitter that your brain and many organs including your ears, eyes, nervous system and pancreas in your body use to initiate certain processes in your body.

MSG stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin. So many diets these days are concerned about the Glycemic Index of foods and yet none of them address the fact that MSG and free glutamic acid stimulate the pancreas to release insulin when there doesn't even have to be carbohydrates in the food for that insulin to act on. The food industry has found their own "anti-appetite suppressant". It's a convenient way to keep consumers coming back for more. The blood sugar drops because of the insulin flood. And you are hungry an hour later. Sound familiar?

The body changes excess glutamate to GABA. GABA may be addictive. It is calming and affects the same receptors in the brain as valium.

Cost. The illusion created by adding MSG to a food product enables the food processor to add LESS real food. The illusion of more protein in a food allows the food producer to put LESS protein in it. The consumer perceives the product - say chicken soup - to have more chicken in it than is actually there. Example: A well-known brand of dehydrated chicken noodle soup. Is that chicken in there, or a piece of confetti?

=============================
So while a calorie is a calorie as a unit of energy, not all calories are created equally. Some nourish, some really mess you up and make your road a lot tougher than it has to be.

MSGTruth.org

EDIT: Think about this: Rats aren't fat naturally.Scientists inject them with MSG to make them fat so that they can do obesity related research on them. What do you think that means for those who eat MSG several times a day? Just something to think about.

Thank you for posting this. I still eat MSG, as I am sure most of us do, but since becoming more aware of it I can avoid it easier. I used to crave McDonalds every day. After breaking myself of eating it, my cravings left and it has been months since I have had food from there.

agree knowledge is power , my buddy and I are doing our own research on leptin production and its importance in monitoring hunger signals and thus our weight gain.

This board relies to much on "BRO Science" and hostile attacks with no real science based evidence to support the attackers poistion other than their POV.

Yeah yeah, you and your body have a trainer and a doctor and a nutristiont and you throw out perfectly good food because you lack the fundamental human trait called willpower, and insist on making anything that doesn't make your personal approved list seem like the debil.

We get it. We know. You and Buddy are super smart and clearly doing a way better job than the rest of us.

Am I the only one who gets the creepy vibe that her "buddy" is a ventriloquist dummy or a stuffed Pomeranian?

brower47

Hi

If I were to eat 1200 calories in junk food vs eat 1200 clean what difference would it make?

I know that eating clean is the best way to go just interested in the difference??


Thanks so much (:

"Clean foods" tend to have more vitamins and minerals than "junk food". Of course, defining those is an exercise in futility, hence the word "tend". Some processed food has a lot of micro nutrients while some whole foods have very few.

Food is food. Pay attention to macro and micro nutrients, plan them around your caloric needs (deficit for losing, surplus for gaining and balanced for maintaining).

CyberEd312

I just had 2 Chocolate chip cookie dough Pop Tarts. You mad???

I had 4 thick and fluffy Eggo Waffles with maple syrup (yep the real stuff) and 2 Gone Nutty chocolate peanut butter pop tarts and a glass of chocolate milk for breakfast so I imagine I will join you and we will just be hated together... :drinker:

zyxst

I just had 2 Chocolate chip cookie dough Pop Tarts. You mad???

I had 4 thick and fluffy Eggo Waffles with maple syrup (yep the real stuff) and 2 Gone Nutty chocolate peanut butter pop tarts and a glass of chocolate milk for breakfast so I imagine I will join you and we will just be hated together... :drinker:

So jealous of you. Dietary restrictions suck.

DamePiglet

Don't forget to stop eating tomatoes as well. If correlation = causation, then tomatoes are extremely dangerous, even fatal.

"Ninety-two point four per cent of juvenile delinquents have eaten to-
matoes.
Eighty-seven point one per cent of the adult criminals in penitentiaries
throughout the United States have eaten tomatoes.
Informers reliably inform that of all known American Communists
ninety-two point three per cent have eaten tomatoes.
Eighty-four per cent of all people killed in automobile accidents during
the year 1984 had eaten tomatoes.
Those who object to singling out specific groups for statistical proofs
require measurements within in the total. Of those people born before the year
1850, regardless of race, color, creed or caste, and known to have eaten
tomatoes, there has been one hundred per cent mortality!
In spite of their dread addiction, a few tomato eaters born between 1850
and 1900 still manage to survive, but the clinical picture is poor-their
bones are brittle, their movements feeble, their skin seamed and wrinkled,
their eyesight failing, hair falling, and frequently they have lost all their
teeth.
Those born between 1900 and 1950 number somewhat more survivors,
but the overt signs of the addiction's dread effects differ not in kind but only
in degree of deterioration. Prognostication is not hopeful.
Exhaustive experiment shows that when tomatoes are withheld from an
addict, invariably his cravings will cause him to turn to substitutes-such
as oranges, or steak and potatoes. If both tomatoes and all substitutes are
persistently withheld-death invariably results within a short time!
The skeptic of apocryphal statistics, or the stubborn nonconformist who
will not accept the clearly proved conclusions of others may conduct his
own experiment.
Obtain two dozen tomatoes-they may actually be purchased within a
block of some high schools, or discovered growing in a respected neigh-
bor's back yard!-crush them to a pulp in exactly the state they would have
if introduced into the stomach, pour the vile juice into a bowl, and
place a goldfish therein. Within minutes the goldfish will be dead!
Those who argue that what affects a goldfish might not apply to a human
being may, at their own choice, wish to conduct a direct experiment by fully
immersing a live human head* into the mixture for a full five minutes."

^^^ Copied to notepad. Brilliant!

ndj1979

Preservatives aren't ALL they add ... there are chemicals added to junk food and processed fast food to make you want more. Intentionally! MSG is in EVERYTHING you eat in restaurants and frozen dinners and cans and bags (unless it says otherwise). It comes under many different names and (autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed protein, etc.) and you can learn all about it at MSGTruth.org (I was just having a similar conversation on another thread, so going to share this here too). The calorie may be a calorie but the added chemicals can really mess with your metabolism and your hunger. MSG is among the worst. Why do they add it to foods? From MSGTRuth.org:

Why do food companies add MSG to foods?


IThere are several reasons:

MSG tricks your tongue into making you think a certain food is high in protein and thus nutritious. It is not a "meat tenderizer". It is not a "preservative". The food industry is trying to confuse the issue by focusing on the "fifth" taste sense they call umami. Free glutamic acid is detected by the taste buds as a simple way to signal the presence of protein in a food, just as there are fat receptors to detect fats and receptors that sense carbohydrate or sweet flavors. The purpose is to help us discern real food from inedible matter. It changes your perception of not simply taste but the nutritious qualities of what you put into your mouth. However, and here is the main problem with free glutamic acid - It is the very same neurotransmitter that your brain and many organs including your ears, eyes, nervous system and pancreas in your body use to initiate certain processes in your body.

MSG stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin. So many diets these days are concerned about the Glycemic Index of foods and yet none of them address the fact that MSG and free glutamic acid stimulate the pancreas to release insulin when there doesn't even have to be carbohydrates in the food for that insulin to act on. The food industry has found their own "anti-appetite suppressant". It's a convenient way to keep consumers coming back for more. The blood sugar drops because of the insulin flood. And you are hungry an hour later. Sound familiar?

The body changes excess glutamate to GABA. GABA may be addictive. It is calming and affects the same receptors in the brain as valium.

Cost. The illusion created by adding MSG to a food product enables the food processor to add LESS real food. The illusion of more protein in a food allows the food producer to put LESS protein in it. The consumer perceives the product - say chicken soup - to have more chicken in it than is actually there. Example: A well-known brand of dehydrated chicken noodle soup. Is that chicken in there, or a piece of confetti?

=============================
So while a calorie is a calorie as a unit of energy, not all calories are created equally. Some nourish, some really mess you up and make your road a lot tougher than it has to be.

MSGTruth.org

EDIT: Think about this: Rats aren't fat naturally.Scientists inject them with MSG to make them fat so that they can do obesity related research on them. What do you think that means for those who eat MSG several times a day? Just something to think about.

Thank you for posting this. I still eat MSG, as I am sure most of us do, but since becoming more aware of it I can avoid it easier. I used to crave McDonalds every day. After breaking myself of eating it, my cravings left and it has been months since I have had food from there.

agree knowledge is power , my buddy and I are doing our own research on leptin production and its importance in monitoring hunger signals and thus our weight gain.

This board relies to much on "BRO Science" and hostile attacks with no real science based evidence to support the attackers poistion other than their POV.

Yeah yeah, you and your body have a trainer and a doctor and a nutristiont and you throw out perfectly good food because you lack the fundamental human trait called willpower, and insist on making anything that doesn't make your personal approved list seem like the debil.

We get it. We know. You and Buddy are super smart and clearly doing a way better job than the rest of us.

Am I the only one who gets the creepy vibe that her "buddy" is a ventriloquist dummy or a stuffed Pomeranian?

LOL yes, I was thinking the same thing...or just an alternate personality...

lindustum

This helped me decide on what to eat to fulfill my calories. Also, junk food usually doesn't have the essential nutrients that your body needs.

That is fantastic, it visually shows the difference, not only that Real Food takes ever so much longer to digest so it doesn't leave you hungry and wanting to eat more. Processed food does just that, burns off real fast and then we want to eat more and more.

It's really NOT that fantastic. You can physically fill up your stomach with water- would that satiate you? Chicken is healthy (tons of protein) and oil is healthy too, albeit in moderation (OFC). Get educated about macro-nutrients and what foods contain which- rather than artificially filling your stomach with as low-cal as possible. The image suggests that it is better to eat veg and beans than oil and chicken- but they are all healthy, and all have their uses.

samiyan05

I don't have big technical or medical knowledge to help you with this obviouslyheated debate but I can speak from my experience.

I eat terribly I try to eat salads and make good choices but I know I mess up more than I should.
I eat sweets and junk more often than I'm sure is good for me but I'm usually really good about eating the right amount if calories for the day..

I'm sure eating fruits and vegetables and lean meats are better for your health than junk food... I mean they have to be... But as far as weight loss is concerned, I've lost almost 50lbs even with my bad choices...

I work out as much as possible and try like crazy to stick to portion control and within my calories for the day.

I'm always going to try to eat better but I don't think it matters as much what you eat so much as how much if it and getting off your butt...

But that's my non medical opinion lol

pavrg

Hi

If I were to eat 1200 calories in junk food vs eat 1200 clean what difference would it make?

I know that eating clean is the best way to go just interested in the difference??


Thanks so much (:

The 'clean' foods will give you more vitamins and minerals that your body needs for enzymes to break down the food you eat (which could be circumvented with a multivitamin).

They will also make you feel more full because you'll be eating a higher volume of it, which will result in you overall eating less.

For example, a pound of chicken breast is only about 500 calories. That's a lot of chicken to eat in one sitting, whereas a king size Snickers is about the same amount of calories.

The big picture that a lot of people miss, though, is that it's important to eat a varied diet. Unless you carefully plan out 3 exact meals to have everyday that contain all the nutrients you need, you won't get all of your nutrients by just eating chicken, broccoli, and brown rice all the time. So it's good to have 'bad stuff' if it's varied with the 'good stuff' because they all contain different nutrients. The only truly 'bad stuff' to stay away from is candy, soda, etc., but even that's okay in moderation.

This helped me decide on what to eat to fulfill my calories. Also, junk food usually doesn't have the essential nutrients that your body needs.

That picture is only accurate if the chicken is fried, you eat the skin, or you add some fatty toppings to it. 400 calories of chicken is actually about 12-14 oz; it will fill your stomach (I get plenty full off of 8 if I'm not having a side-dish with it). Also, I'm not sure in what world we live where people swallow whole vegetables.

wewon

This helped me decide on what to eat to fulfill my calories. Also, junk food usually doesn't have the essential nutrients that your body needs.

Good illustration.

At the end of the day its about preference.

Personally I would rather eat 1200 cals from my garden than to get my 1200 cals from slicing a big mac in 1/20 slices, weighing 7-8 fries and parsing out a soda into dixie cups.

Lichent

It is how the calorie is processed , metaboliises in your body, it is what it doe to your blood sugar and increase insulin so in a real sense a calorie is not a calorie .


http://www.youtube.com/user/drjasonfung?feature=watch

The_Gent_65

You will feel more full on clean food, other than that a calorie is a calorie

bcattoes

If I were to eat 1200 calories in junk food vs eat 1200 clean what difference would it make?

Assuming by "clean" you mean whole nutritious foods, 1200 calories of junk food vs. 1200 calories of clean food can make a very big difference in your overall health. Physical health, mental health (mood, attitude), engery levels can all be improved by a nutritious diet.

It can also make a difference for weight loss if the junk causes you to bloat and retain water. But it will likely make little difference as far as fat loss.

Lichent

http://www.dietdoctor.com/a-calorie-is-not-a-calorie

A calorie is not a calorie. There are plenty of studies demonstrating how different kinds of food affect us in different ways – despite having the same number of calories.

Recently another interesting study was published. The participants were served milkshakes that were identical in every way, except how rapidly digested the carbs were.

The milkshakes with rapidly digested carbs quickly resulted in a higher blood sugar. But after 4 hours the blood sugar was lower and the participants were hungrier. They also had increased activity in brain regions connected to cravings for food.

In other words: fast carbs makes you hungrier, increases cravings and makes you want to eat more food.

•NYT: How carbs can trigger food cravings
•The study
The findings are yet another reason why a calorie is not a calorie. Another reason why the weight advice to “just eat fewer calories” rarely works long term. Soon the only true believers will be found at the marketing department of Coca Cola.

More
•Why Calorie Counting is an Eating Disorder
•Huffington Post: Still Believe ‘A Calorie Is a Calorie’?
•New Analysis: LCHF Best For Long-Term Weight and Health Markers


http://www.dietdoctor.com/a-calorie-is-not-a-calorie

For me and my buddy common sense applies!!

MarioLozano16

You won't get the same amount of nutrients from dirty food silly

jennaworksout

is that a serious question??? :noway:

crempel83

Not to mention if all you eat is junk, you're probably going to feel like junk. If you eat whole foods that contain nutrients your body needs, you will feel a lot better.

goodnamegone

You'd have better skin with clean food and your energy would be different. It's all about quality. If I eat junk food I feel sick. I don't eat it anymore.

For me it's not just about calories it's about caring enough to eat good food. Losing weight is also about valuing and taking good care of myself.

1200 calories of junk food probably would be one meal? One and a half meals?

1200 calories of really good clean food? I think you could eat all day on that depending on what you eat.