Tag Archives: junk food

The 10 Worst Restaurant Foods

Restaurant food choices are laden with shocking calorie counts.

What would we do without our healthy allies David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding, who brought us Eat This Not That!? They have done some homework for us on the WORST foods you can eat or even split with another person for 2024. And my friends, it doesn’t look pretty. Get out the smelling salts and sit down as you read on about how nutritionally-offensive some of your favorite restaurant and grocery store eats stack up:

(FYI: This list is in no particular order. It’s all bad news.)

1. Bob Evans’ banana pecan pancakes = 1,543 calories

2. Marie Callender’s Creamy Parmesan Chicken Pot Pie = 1,060 calories

3. Blimpie Veggie Supreme 12″ = 1,106 calories (more…)

Posted on March 3, 2024 by heather

Trans Fats: Do You Know What Foods Have Them?

Most of us know that trans fats are bad for our health. In fact, a recent survey showed that a convincing 73 percent of us do. But only 21 percent of Americans can name three food sources of trans fat without the aid of multiple choice.

The thing is, even if you don’t know that the following foods have trans fats, you should certainly know that they are bad for you:

French fries
Potato chips
Doughnuts
Pastries
Hard margarine
Vegetable shortening
Cookies
Candy

Trans fats have a double whammy effect on your health. They increase your bad cholesterol (LDL), and they even lower the good kind (HDL). (more…)

Posted on February 20, 2024 by Jason

Study Shows Junk Food Responsible for One-Third of Heart Attacks

Not too surprising to me or for most people, but a study was done which supported a known fact, linking junk food or a “Western” diet and heart attacks. More specifically, junk food was found to be responsible for a third of heart attacks.

Researchers examined diets of 52 countries, questioning more than 16,000 patients, in which 5,700 of them had recently suffered their first heart attack. The participants were divided into one of three groups based on their diet/reported food intake. One group was labeled ‘Oriental’ because of its high intake of tofu, soy, and other sauces, the second group was ‘Western’ because of its high intake of fried food, salty snacks, and meat, and the third group was labeled ‘Prudent’ because of its high intake of fruits and vegetables. (more…)

Posted on October 27, 2023 by Kinsey

The Secret War Against Health Food: 10 Things Food Producers Keep Secret

The statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are staggering: they report that about 32 percent of children are overweight, and 16 percent are obese – 11 percent were extremely obese.

The situation has gotten so dire that even the junk food companies are trying to get in on the health kick. PepsiCo says on its website that “we can play an important role in helping kids lead healthier lives by offering healthy product choices in schools.”

But are companies like Pepsi trying to do what’s right, or are they just shuffling the same deck of cards – the one that’s stacked against us? As this piece at Yahoo.com rightly points out, companies like Pepsi have one and only one obligation – to increase stockholder’s value. Which means, sell more product. That said, you could still increase the bottom line while making your products healthier. (more…)

Posted on October 23, 2023 by Jason

How to Avoid Empty Calories

A major component to weight lose is cutting the amount of calories you take in and increasing the amount of calories you burn. Watching portion sizes, eating a well-balanced diet, working out regularly, etc. are all essential to weight loss and weight maintenance. A tricky thing to watch out for is foods that provide you with empty calories. Simply put, empty calories are foods that have a high amount of calories and fat, but hold very little nutritional value. These empty calorie foods lack vitamins, minerals, and fiber, which as we all know are essential components in our diet. Empty calories are most commonly found in processed foods, a short list includes:
– Baked goods
– Fried foods
– Refined foods
– Candy
– Soda
– Chips
– Alcoholic beverages
– Juices (those that are not 100% juice)
– Butter and Margarine
– Sauces and Gravies

How do you avoid these empty calories?

Plan ahead. Know what you will be eating during the course of the day. Pack your lunch if you will not be home during the day. This will help you avoid joining the rest of your co-workers going to the local fast food joint. Pack fruit or cut up veggies for your day time snack, this can help you fight the after-lunch/before dinner hunger and will prevent you from wandering to the vending machines in search of empty calories… I mean a snack.

Avoid fried foods. Switch your fried chicken for a grilled or baked skinless chicken breast. Not only will this help to cut calories, but you may even notice you feel better (eating fried foods has a way of sitting heavy in the stomach and making you feel sluggish).

Drink water. Making this switch from soda to water will help slim down your waist!

Limit your sweets. Try to avoid eating sugary sweets and baked goods, replace them with fruit. Most fruits are sweet and all will provide you with vitamins and minerals!

Cut down on sauces and gravies. These can add some serious calories to your meal. If you can’t do it cold turkey, put the normal amount of sauce/gravy you would use on the side. Dip your food into it every other bite. You’ll be amazed at how much will be left over (which equals fewer calories you consumed).

Posted on July 24, 2023 by Kinsey

Oklahoma City loves junk food

To add insult to injury- Oklahoma City/Tulsa showed up as the number one “junk food obsessed city” on a new Forbes list. Correct me if I’m wrong- but aren’t Taco Bell tacos junk food? Even if they are on a “healthier” menu?

I’m not trying to beat-up on Oklahoma City today. I love that city- I went to college at OU. It’s heartbreaking to see how poor the health is due to obesity, 27% of the population according to this Forbes report.

Also on the list:
1. Memphis
2. Birmingham
3. San Antonio
5. Detroit
9. Kansas City
13. New Orleans
16. Atlanta

While the Oklahoma City Mayor, Mick Cornett, is encouraging his city to lose a million pounds and get off the list of fattest cities in the US, there seem to be a lot of obstacles. Allowing Taco Bell to partner with the OKC Million Pound Challenge seems like one that could have been avoided. Oklahoma City should stand as an example for the many other cities it shares a place with on the obesity list.

What do you think about the cities on the list? Are weight loss efforts taking place in your own hometown? What do you think about Taco Bell partnering with OKC?

Posted on April 29, 2023 by Natalie K