Healthy Junk Food

Cawk n bawllz

Hi. I'm a fatty fatty fat fat and I love eating and I was wondering if any of you can give me any recipes for healthy foods which could easily substitute junk food.
I'm looking for healthy snacks with the more-ish and tasty qualities of junk food.

For example I've taken to eating carrots instead of chocolate and crisps.
Would be amazing if there was healthy food out there equally as appealling as all that lovely lovely junk food.

Faith

Moved from The Cooking Club.

EileenG

Very dark chocolate is pretty healthy. But you need to go at least 70% and 85% or 90% is better. The good news is that the darker the chocolate, the harder it is to binge, and the healthier it is.

Raw nuts are a good bet too, especially if they are not salted. I'd suggest that over Christmas, you keep some pistashios on hand, shelling them slows you down.

I love brussel sprout soup. I know, sounds horrible, but it's not. Boil a couple of handfuls of sprouts in some chicken stock and when they are soft, liquidise them. You get a lovely creamy soup that's filling, doesn't taste of sprouts, and has really low cals.

Mary-Ellen

I'll be snacking on olives

A few other healthy ones
cellery/apple with peanut butter (some from health food shops don't have sugar added),
carrots, cucumber, cellery sticks dipped in salsa/hummus

If I'm feeling snacky in the evenings but not hungry I steam some frozen cauliflower and broccoli chop it up and add far too much tabasco and maybe some cheese.

Cawk n bawllz

Much appreciated, ladies!
I love snacking and I've been wanting to replace the junk food in the house with healthy snacks because I spend a lot of my day working on my computer (graphic design) and at night I play computer games so I'm a compulsive nibbler. It doesn't have to be fatty or sugary foods, I'll just eat what ever is there.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Except OLIVES!!!

Cawk n bawllz

Oh! And a tip from me - coffee suppresses hunger. It can tide you over til meal time when you're feeling peckish. Something I read in Men's Health but I'm sure it works for women too.
Oh and if you can have it without sugar even better, obviously.
Also since I quit sugar in coffee I've found that I can appreciate the subtle differences in taste now.
Coffee connoiseur here. :P

zero_hope

Cawk n bawllz wrote: »

Hi. I'm a fatty fatty fat fat and I love eating and I was wondering if any of you can give me any recipes for healthy foods which could easily substitute junk food.
I'm looking for healthy snacks with the more-ish and tasty qualities of junk food.

For example I've taken to eating carrots instead of chocolate and crisps.
Would be amazing if there was healthy food out there equally as appealling as all that lovely lovely junk food.

Sausages with high fat content, made only of meat - no added sugars, soy extracts etc.

Cawk n bawllz

zero_hope wrote: »

Sausages with high fat content, made only of meat - no added sugars, soy extracts etc.

Where does one acquire such a fine sausage?

Ralph2810

Well for a start healthy junk food is non existent. Junk food by nature is food that will treat your body like a bin, by rotting away your inside by inflaming the bodies cells.

When it comes to replacing bad eating habbits it has to be done correctly and not taken to the extreme. Fare play for wanting and activly changing your habits, but you have to be careful, if you cut out what food you really love cold turkey you will relapse and hard.

In any health food shop there is a sweet aisle that has many healthy and genuinely tasty treats, if you stock your house with some of these and eat them when you want some junk that will greatly help.

As for chocolate as said before darker is better, also linked to lowering blood pressure and stress levels. But that dosn't mean you can't eat milk chocolate now and again.

When advising someone on changing eating habits, it's sometimes easier to say what food to avoid rather then eat.
You should eat very little if any of the following:
Saturated fats that are in
Take aways
Mcd
Bk
Crisps
Pizza
Anything fried in fat should be avoided.
Overindulgence of sweets.

Other than that there is a world of culinary choice. It's not the foods you have to break it's your habits. It can't be simpler.

Cheers
Ralph2810

Frogdog

Ralph2810 wrote: »

When advising someone on changing eating habits, it's sometimes easier to say what food to avoid rather then eat.
You should eat very little if any of the following:
Saturated fats that are in
Take aways
Mcd
Bk
Crisps
Pizza
Anything fried in fat should be avoided.
Overindulgence of sweets.

Other than that there is a world of culinary choice. It's not the foods you have to break it's your habits. It can't be simpler.

Cheers
Ralph2810

Oh deary me.

Saturated fat? In take-aways? McDonalds? Burger King? Anything fried in fat?

Do you know what you're talking about?

There's very few, if any, chippers/take aways that cook with saturated fat anymore, unfortunately. Saturated fat has been replaced with vegetable oil, sunflower oil and all those other nasty oils. Chippers years and years ago used to cook their food in beef fat, not anymore as it's too expensive. Now they use those oils that have hydrogenated fat (trans fat, the nasty one), which seriously impact our health. If only we ate more saturated fat we wouldn't be in the state we are in right now with regard to poor heart health/disease, high cholestorol, diabetes, cancer, etc. Do you know as a world population we have never eaten as little fat in our diet as we do now? Yet the above diseases etc. have spiralled out of control? Maybe there's a link, just maybe!

I think you should educate yourself about fat and saturated fat before you make outlandish claims like the one I quoted.

Ralph2810

God your an idiot,

Did you say we should eat saturated fat?

Coronary heart disease= number one killer

LDL cholesterol = coronary heart disease

Saturated fats= LDL cholesterol.

So are you an idiot?, grow up and educate yourself instead of trying to be smart!

busyliving

Frozen grapes are lovely...just like sucky sweets

EileenG

Ralph2810 wrote: »

God your an idiot,

Did you say we should eat saturated fat?

Coronary heart disease= number one killer

LDL cholesterol = coronary heart disease

Saturated fats= LDL cholesterol.

So are you an idiot?, grow up and educate yourself instead of trying to be smart!

I'm just going to stand here and watch the carnage....

groovyg

Ralph2810 wrote: »

God your an idiot,
Did you say we should eat saturated fat?
Coronary heart disease= number one killer
LDL cholesterol = coronary heart disease
Saturated fats= LDL cholesterol.
So are you an idiot?, grow up and educate yourself instead of trying to be smart!

Do you work for safefood.ie by any chance??
Alot of people on here would disagree with that statement.

Maybe have a read of the stickies, this post in particular explains alot
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=70308648&postcount=66

Frogdog

Ralph2810 wrote: »

God your an idiot,

Did you say we should eat saturated fat?

Coronary heart disease= number one killer

LDL cholesterol = coronary heart disease

Saturated fats= LDL cholesterol.

So are you an idiot?, grow up and educate yourself instead of trying to be smart!

I think this is where your argument falls down. Less of the personal abuse please.

Brian?

EileenG wrote: »

I'm just going to stand here and watch the carnage....

.

zero_hope

where is the evidence that sat fat causes heart disease?

imitation

Frogdog wrote: »

Chippers years and years ago used to cook their food in beef fat.

I came here intrigued by the possibilty of "healthy junk food" but now I'm jonesing for animal fat chips, thanks a bunch !


More on topic, there is sadly no such thing really as far as I can see. If you put a choclate bar on the table and some sliced carrots 9 out of 10 people will probably go for the bar. The best solution is to have 3 square meals that remove that urge to have something snacky in between.

Gummy Panda

Ralph2810 wrote: »

God your an idiot,

Did you say we should eat saturated fat?

Coronary heart disease= number one killer

LDL cholesterol = coronary heart disease

Saturated fats= LDL cholesterol.

So are you an idiot?, grow up and educate yourself instead of trying to be smart!

This seems like a good argument...

/gets popcorn with real butter

Cawk n bawllz

I appreciate the advice but I know my stuff when it comes to healthy living. Last summer I mowed off those pounds I gained at college.
I can tell you going cold turkey is very easy if you're determined to lose weight. Give it about four days and those fridge picking impulses will vanish.
I went to the gym 4 days a week and I replaced my 3 meals a day with five smaller ones and that really helps with peckishness coz there's not so much time between meals. I stuck to cous cous with chopped vegetables mainly and dinner would usually consist of chicken fillets, brown pasta and vegetables.
I steadily lost all the excess pounds and felt absolutely fantastic every day!
No more rolling out of bed sluggishly and feeling out of breath with a brisk walk.

However, my original question was does anyone know of a healthy food recipe that would have all the luscious more-ish qualities of junk food?
Some little meals like that would be nice for when I'm too busy to make it to the gym 4 times a week.

Also, I'm new-ish here and I find it kinda funny how you guys always accuse each other of being affiliated with certain companies.
Keep on keepin' on. :P

moonage

Peaches/stawberries/any other fruit with cream.

rubadub

Frogdog wrote: »

Chippers years and years ago used to cook their food in beef fat, not anymore as it's too expensive.

SOme still do, I was asking about it in the veggie forum, and there was another thread about it elsewhere. If you look on musgrave cash & carrys current takeaway price list flyer it only has 2 items, batter flour and beef dripping

102825 UK Pure Beef Dripping
1 x 12.5kg

http://www.musgravecashandcarry.ie/files/r113/r113-fastfood.pdf

the italian chipper association seems to have a animal fat supplier as one of its sponsors.

I would suggest asking in your local chipper and ask inferring that you would prefer it to be animal fat. I think some might be lying to people who ask, expecting them to lose a customer as animal fat still has such a bad name.

craggles

If you're interested in what kind of fat/oil chippers are using then frankly you shouldn't be eating from a bloody chipper.

Cawk n bawllz

That's true. It's not like the oil is the only difference between chipper food being healthy or bad for you. Food from a chipper is all bad bad food.

El_Dangeroso

Cawk n bawllz wrote: »

That's true. It's not like the oil is the only difference between chipper food being healthy or bad for you. Food from a chipper is all bad bad food.

Yep pretty much anything deep-fried is not good for you due to the really high temperatures used, that would damage any fat no matter how inherently stable.

But when I do indulge.. the places that do use animal fat in general are much nicer than veg oil and on balance 'healthier' the way light cigarettes are 'healthier' than rollies.

slowburner

Ralph2810 wrote: »

God your an idiot,

Did you say we should eat saturated fat?

Coronary heart disease= number one killer

LDL cholesterol = coronary heart disease

Saturated fats= LDL cholesterol.

So are you an idiot?, grow up and educate yourself instead of trying to be smart!

If we were to eliminate saturated fats from our diet we would have to exclude some beneficial food groups, such as oily fish and nuts.
We need saturated fats - 60% of our brains are made of the stuff and the heart needs to draw on SF reserves when stressed.
We are built to eat the stuff.
We are not built to eat hydrogenated fats - the so called 'healthier' alternatives.
Healthier, they are not.

rubadub

craggles wrote: »

If you're interested in what kind of fat/oil chippers are using then frankly you shouldn't be eating from a bloody chipper.

I don't follow your logic, what ingredients a chipper (or any eatery) uses might be the deciding factor for people to eat there or not. Some people are eating tablespoons of coconut oil everyday for health reasons, very high in sat fat by the way.

Cawk n bawllz wrote: »

Food from a chipper is all bad bad food.

Some people would have no problem eating a chicken sandwich they made at home, but think an almost identical unbreaded pan fried fresh chicken fillet burger in a chipper is the devil.

Hard vegetable based cooking fats are not necessarily hydrogenated fats and do not necessarily contain trans fats. I think some people use these interchangeably.

http://www.princesgroup.com/news/home-baking-brands-remove-hydrogenated-vegetable-oil/

Home baking brands remove hydrogenated vegetable oil
2006
Cookeen, Trex, Crisp 'n' Dry and Pura are in the home baking category which is currently enjoying sales growth thanks to a resurgence in home cooking. Months of tests have been carried out in order to remove HVOs while maintaining the quality and consistent baking results which consumers demand.

When they hit the shelves in October, they will be among the first home-baking products in the UK to have removed the oils, following retailer assurances that many own label products will be HVO free by next year.

Crisp 'n Dry is a brand of vegetable oil manufactured by Edible Oils Limited and marketed by Princes Limited. The manufacturer claims this vegetable oil leaves food dry after frying (hence its name Crisp 'n Dry), compared to other vegetable oils which require the fried food to be dried with kitchen paper to absorb excess oil.

Crisp 'n Dry was previously marketed by Spry, then Unilever, before being acquired by Princes Limited.

Crisp 'n Dry contains no cholesterol and the block of Crisp 'n Dry no longer contains trans fat.

El_Dangeroso

rubadub wrote: »

Hard vegetable based cooking fats are not necessarily hydrogenated fats and do not necessarily contain trans fats. I think some people use these interchangeably.

They are still bad for you because of other potentially problematic compounds that harderned oils contain, had a paper about it around here somewhere, can't lay my hand to it now. We don't have a great history of manipulating fats that hasn't had unintended negative consequences.

Plus it's not the trans-fat structure itself that is the most problematic aspect. Naturally occurring trans-fats like CLA are health promoting for example.

I really don't think there's anything healthy about keeping any oil at very high temperatures for hours and most things in takeaways are deep-fried.