Does healthy eating mean completely avoiding junk food?

mshannond

I confess, I have been a previous healthy eater.
I would rarely ever cheat & feel awful if I did- as if the junk food would poison my body (if I ate too much it sort of did & I'd feel very sick) however after a few months I wasn't content.
My homemade healthy brownies, muffins, 'Nutella' & the expensive healthy ice cream by booja booja no longer made me happy. I craved real junk food.

I now incorporate a small piece of junk food every 2 days- a kit kat, a packet of crisps, even a granola bar that most people would see as healthy. I find it's stopped my occasional binging and I eat LESS junk overall.

Can I consider myself a healthy eater if I eat occasional bits of junk food? It's rarely over 250 calories a time, unless I'm at a special occasion.

Angierae75

There are those who want to eat "clean" that wouldn't eat that kind of stuff, but for me, moderation is key. Completely depriving yourself of treats will just make you binge later, or make you give up on your diet completely.

Weightwatcher72

During my lunch most days I include a little fun size piece of chocolate usually maltesers or a freddo bar, but not always. As said moderation is the key and you've got to have a little of what you fancy or the diet isn't going to work long term x

MKEgal

If you make something forbidden, you give it power.
Have whatever foods you want, just don't go overboard.
Yes, it's better to have more whole, natural foods and less processed food, but don't get hung up on it, don't make it an absolute.

StaciMarie1974

IMO its the big picture that counts. I have candy, sweets as I see fit. No particular rules other than fitting into my daily goals. Meaning I still need protein, veggies, etc.

independant2406

I think the problem a lot of people have (including myself when I say this) is we try to take everything to extremes. Although I do think junk food is terrible for us and a waste of calories that could be more nutritious...it is a source of comfort food sometimes and just a convenience at others.

Why not shoot for 80% healthy calories and 20% junk food calorie combination if that's manageable for you? or 90-10? Whatever percentage works for you inside your goals and is something you can maintain for life is best. I don't think anyone's ideal would be 100% no junk food ever... just not sustainable. Do something that is as healthy as you can stand, but not so healthy you'll give up in 1 month, 6 months or a year from now.

Need2Exerc1se

Can I consider myself a healthy eater if I eat occasional bits of junk food? It's rarely over 250 calories a time, unless I'm at a special occasion.

Most likely yes.

It depends on what else you eat. Balance is the key to long term heatlh. It's possible to eat only "healthy foods" and still have an unhealthy diet if you are not balancing your nutritents.

McGristy

For my snacks for the last week I've had dessert each night (330 calorie pumpkin spice cupcakes, package of mini powdered donuts, brownie), along with chips with my lunches and full fat cheese on my taco dinner. It's not about not eating junkfood, it's calories in vs. calories out. Consume less then you burn and you'll lose, no matter what you put in your face. Should you try to make healthier choices overall, yes. Eat what you want, only make sure it fits in to your net calories for the day

chivalryder

Just gonna throw it out there: Nutella is one of the least healthy foods you can eat.

Luv2eatSweets

I luv candy, I luv it I tells ya. I gotta have it.

PwrLftr82

http://whole30.com/2013/08/moderation

I can't do moderation, it just doesn't work for me. I envy those people who can!

ETA: I don't think it's "wrong" to eat "unhealthy" foods, I just have a tendency to binge if I eat them.

ZombieMom79

I try to eat clean 95% of the time. My trainer who has provided me with meal plans has suggested to me to incorporate one cheat meal (not day) meal into my week. So every Friday or Saturday night treat myself. It has kept me sane.

Now that being said, this past week I have been in the "I want to eat nothing but junk food" and a bad purchase from Costco had resulted in a small bowl of chips every evening and then last evening I threw them out. I was eating just because they were there. Not because I was hungry.

ASH2038602

Don't get so caught up on the label of being a "healthy eater." Do what works for you, and is sustainable long term. For some people never eating processed food is sustainable, but for most of it its not. If you are still meeting your goals, and it prevents you from having a binge then go for it.

Chief_Rocka

I would that a religious aversion to an arbitrary list of foods is unhealthy

cwolfman13

I personally think total avoidance is pretty unrealistic. You also have to look at the bigger picture here...if you're getting in all of your nutrition and meeting your goals, how exactly would having a bowl of ice cream of something for desert undo all of that? When you look at the big picture, having some "junk" here and there is pretty much irrelevant.

Also, look at it this way...if someone eats primarily junk...but every once in awhile has a day that is full of nutrition and well balanced and maybe goes for a run...is that someone all of a sudden a healthy and fit individual?

I personally eat some "junk" pretty much every day...I also take in roughly 6-8 servings of fruits and veg (mostly veg) and get anywhere between 120 - 145 grams of protein (most of which is lean sourced) daily. To boot, the majority of my fats come from things like nuts, avocados; avocado, olive, and coconut oil, etc...my handful of gummy bears after dinner are pretty irrelevant to the whole.

Need2Exerc1se

Just gonna throw it out there: Nutella is one of the least healthy foods you can eat.

I don't know that I'd go that far. It's a nice treat if you don't mind paying big bucks for your chocolate, but it's not what most would consider a "healthy food".

futuresize8

I always enjoyed listening to Susan Powter, not because I agreed with everything she said (I so do NOT agree with all of it!!), but she often said things that gave me something to think about.

She referred to the occasional soda or artificially flavored treat as "poison." As in sarcastically saying something to the effect, "of course a little poison won't hurt you! Go ahead!"

This would be one place where I don't agree, unless there is a control issue where someone has difficulty only having one reasonable portion and can't have those foods in the house without giving into a binge, or unless there is a medical issue involved.

If I never ever got to have a serving of something I enjoyed, despite my fairly strict intake otherwise, I think it would be disappointing somehow. It wouldn't ruin my life to never eat another Grippo's BBQ Chip again, or another Skittle, but having a treat now and then makes me happy. In moderation.

You're still a healthy eater if you're making good choices and watching proportions most of the time, in my opinion!

SLLRunner

I confess, I have been a previous healthy eater.
I would rarely ever cheat & feel awful if I did- as if the junk food would poison my body (if I ate too much it sort of did & I'd feel very sick) however after a few months I wasn't content.
My homemade healthy brownies, muffins, 'Nutella' & the expensive healthy ice cream by booja booja no longer made me happy. I craved real junk food.

I now incorporate a small piece of junk food every 2 days- a kit kat, a packet of crisps, even a granola bar that most people would see as healthy. I find it's stopped my occasional binging and I eat LESS junk overall.

Can I consider myself a healthy eater if I eat occasional bits of junk food? It's rarely over 250 calories a time, unless I'm at a special occasion.

Yes, as to the bold part!

You can consider yourself a healthy eater under any circumstances because it's all in the perception.

For me, I work hard to come as close to my macros as I can, and this includes food that others would consider unhealthy.

SLLRunner

Just gonna throw it out there: Nutella is one of the least healthy foods you can eat.

Really? Why?

SLLRunner

I always enjoyed listening to Susan Powter, not because I agreed with everything she said (I so do NOT agree with all of it!!), but she often said things that gave me something to think about.

She referred to the occasional soda or artificially flavored treat as "poison." As in sarcastically saying something to the effect, "of course a little poison won't hurt you! Go ahead!"

This would be one place where I don't agree, unless there is a control issue where someone has difficulty only having one reasonable portion and can't have those foods in the house without giving into a binge, or unless there is a medical issue involved.

If I never ever got to have a serving of something I enjoyed, despite my fairly strict intake otherwise, I think it would be disappointing somehow. It wouldn't ruin my life to never eat another Grippo's BBQ Chip again, or another Skittle, but having a treat now and then makes me happy. In moderation.

You're still a healthy eater if you're making good choices and watching proportions most of the time, in my opinion!

While I disagree with low fat and that some foods are poison, and that fat made people fat and not food, I loved that she was telling people to eat.

McGristy

Nutella is the sweet, sweet nectar of the gods.