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We've all heard the term "junk food"
before as foods that are bad for us and that we shouldn't
eat, and chances are you've probably also
heard the term "superfood," but what exactly
is it that makes a super food super
and a junk food junk? Go ahead and leave
me a comment. Leave me the three
worst, junkiest junky McJunky junk of the junk
foods are, and if you can think of one,
leave me an example of a superfood.
Leave me a comment and stay tuned for
this video on super versus junk food.
[PAUSE VIDEO FOR COMMENTS]
So there are specific factors that will make
a superfood a superfood and a junk food
a junk food, and I'm actually going to go
through each factor in this video.
The first factor is nutrient density,
and what nutrient density is is how much
nutrition is cram-packed into that food.
Superfoods have a really high nutrient
density because there are tons of nutrition
packed into them. That's your macronutrients,
like your carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and also
your micronutrients, your minerals and your
vitamins. Another great example would
be to think about a granola bar or something
like this. It contains some amount of
nutrition, but its nutrient density is a lot
lower than a superfood, because you'd have to
eat fifty, or maybe even 100 granola bars
to get the same amount of nutrition
found in a coconut or an acai berry.
The second factor is for calorie density.
What that means is in the given amount
that you're eating, how many calories
does that food contain. I think that most
people understand that junk foods
are high calorie, high fat foods,
and one of the reason that this makes
these foods junk foods or unhealthy foods
is that you don't want to be ingesting
a whole, whole lot of calories.
Calorie density and nutrient density
are kind of related if we think about
how we want to get x amount of nutrition,
how many calories of that food do we need
to consume to get that amount of nutrients.
Junk foods, which are really high in calories,
you're going to need to eat a whole lot more
of them to get the same amount of nutrition
that you would get from eating a superfood
which is really low in calories.
Factor number three is fiber.
Fiber is a big buzz word when we're talking
about nutrition, and for a very good reason.
Fiber is absolutely necessary for our GI tracts
to function appropriately. And not only to
digest the foods that we're eating but to
expel the foods that we're eating,
and then we don't need anymore.
Fiber is also the thing that helps fill you
up, that helps you feel satiated,
satisfied, and it's important to know
that most processed foods actually
have the fiber taken out of them
because it will help to extend the
shelf life. One great example is the
Big Mac. A Big Mac contains three grams
of fiber and almost 600 calories.
An apple also has three grams of fiber
but only about sixty five calories,
do per calorie, the apple has nine times
the fiber as the Big Mac, and if you
were wanting to fill up and get the fiber,
you could either eat the apple and have
sixty five calories, or a Big Mac and have
almost 600 calories.
Factor number four is the glycemic index
of foods. What that means is how quickly
after you eat the food does it turn into
sugar in your blood?
Junk foods are usually a very high
glycemic index. What that means
is pretty shortly after you've eaten the
food, it has flooded your blood with sugar.
It has flooded your body with sugar.
Now, our bodies need sugar in our blood.
We need that because that is how we get
energy, but there are a couple of
problems with flooding your body with
sugar too quickly. One of them is that
instantly your body is going to start
freaking out and it's going to flood with
insulin, because insulin is going to help
take that sugar and move it around the body
so that it can be used.
Another thing is the excess sugar that
can't be used is going to be stored
as fat, and none of us want that, right?
A low glycemic food, on the other hand,
has a much more slow and steady release
of sugar into the blood, and fiber is
actually one of the things that contributes
to the slow, steady release of sugar,
and some of the benefits are that you're
not going to be flooding your body with
so much sugar that it's going to have a huge
insulin burst; it's going to be a slow, steady
stream of sugar so that your body can
use it all. It actually gets to use that sugar
and not store it as fat. You're also going
to be able to use that sugar longer because
your body is getting that steady flow
of energy and you're not going to bottom
out. You're not going to sugar crash,
and you're not going to be hungry again
just a little while after you eat.
The fifth factor is whether
the food is natural or man made.
Most of the junk foods are man made
foods. They are made from man made
chemicals. They don't come naturally
out of the ground. You don't just see
a Twinkie Tree or a Ding *** bush.
Natural foods, foods that do come from
the ground, have a lot more health
and nutrition in them. I will actually
go into detail about them in a different
video. It's important to recognize that
more often than not, junk foods are
man made chemical foods
and superfoods are natural foods.
If we put all the factors together
we an see that junk foods are low
nutrient density, high calorie,
high fiber, low glycemic index and
processed, where as superfoods
are high nutrient density, high fiber,
low calorie, natural, and they have a
low glycemic index.
Why does any of this matter?
And what does it have to do with you?
It's really just as simple as that
junk foods are going to contribute
to weight gain, they're going to
keep you hungry, they're going
to contribute to nutritional
deficiencies, and they're not
going to give you the energy you
need to make it through your day
and to function like a happy,
normal person. Superfoods,
on the other hand, are going to
contribute to you feeling full,
feeling satisfied, having the energy
to go about your day, they're
going to help you lose weight
by maximizing the amount of
nutrition you're getting with
the lowest amount of calories,
and they're going to, in general,
contribute to your body being healthy
and you being happy. I just gave us
all of the factors that make a superfood,
but I didn't really give you any
superfoods, so stay tuned for my
future video where I'm going to
count the top ten superfoods.
And in another video,
I'm going to tell you why you may
feel like you're addicted to junk food.
Are food manufacturers actually
putting things in the foods to make
us have addictions to them? Please
leave me a comment and let me know
if you have any questions or if you
have any ideas for future videos
that you'd like to see. Be sure to
subscribe to our channel, give me
a thumbs up if you liked this video,
and if you learned anything
be sure to share it with your friends.
Thanks!