Healthy foods contain more vitamins, minerals, and healthier oils and fats, while junk foods are high in calories and unhealthy fats, chemicals, and sweeteners. Nutrition labeling is the best tool to determine the health of food, but visual cues and simple ground rules can also help. Fruits and vegetables are generally healthy, while high-calorie drinks should be treated like junk food. Processing techniques can also affect a food’s healthiness.
A variety of strategies can be used to identify healthy foods and junk foods. The division between healthy foods and junk foods is not absolute, but healthy foods generally contain more vitamins and minerals, lower levels of sodium and chemical additives, and healthier oils and fats. Nutrition labeling offers the most effective tool to determine the health of food. If nutrition facts are not available, then visual cues and some simple ground rules can do the trick instead.
Junk food is generally understood as food that is high in calories but low in useful vitamins or minerals. Such food often gets a lot of its calories from unhealthy saturated fat. A lot of junk food is also loaded with chemicals, sweeteners that add calories or sodium. Desserts and snacks are especially likely to fall into this category. Minimally processed foods, like fatty cuts of meat, are generally excluded from this category, even if they’re not terribly healthy.
In most countries, foods are required to carry Nutrition Facts labels, although minimally processed or unprocessed vegetables, meats, and other foods may be exempt from this restriction. When labels are present, the separation between healthy food and junk food is easy to spot. Healthy foods should provide essential macronutrients such as protein, useful fiber in the form of fiber or vitamins and minerals. Foods with high levels of trans fat, saturated fat, sodium, or calories from added sweeteners are more likely to qualify as junk food.
If food labels are not present, some simple ground rules can be used to resolve the question of healthy food vs. junk food. Natural foods are typically healthier than foods that have been chemically processed. Fruits and vegetables should almost always be considered healthy foods. Colorful fruits and vegetables are generally very healthy, as the rich shades of green, purple, and red are often produced by chemical compounds with significant health benefits.
Visual inspection can be helpful in making a distinction between healthy and unhealthy foods when eating out. Color remains a useful guide when evaluating the healthiness of vegetables. Foods that shine under a layer of fat are likely to qualify as junk food. High-calorie drinks, such as sweetened sodas and alcohol, should be treated like junk food, since they contain a lot of calories and few or no nutrients.
In some cases, the processing techniques used on foods can move them from one category to another. While apples certainly fall on the healthy side of the health food vs. junk food divide, the relative health benefits of eating an apple would be lost if that apple were first dipped in a thick, rich layer of caramel sauce. . An onion is a useful source of fiber, but it should be considered junk food when it’s breaded and fried.
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