Strawberry Mint Lassi

Junk Food

July 21st is National Junk Food Day.

Not really. A bona fide national day requires an Act of Congress and whatever you may think about the government, it’s unlikely that representatives from any political party would support such a notion, especially now, when our population is getting fatter and fatter.

But across the U.S. lots of folks know about this particular occasion, whose sole purpose is to encourage everyone to pig out on snacks, candy, soda and whatever else you can eat that’s fattening and has no nutritional value.

Who – or what – made up this bogus holiday? A rebellious teenager whose parent is vigilant against soda, candy and chips? A health-conscious grown-up who needs an excuse to binge one day a year? A lobbyist for the beverage/candy/snack food industry, which just wants everyone to buy more, more, more?

More to the point, is there really a need for a special day to do all the things so many of us already do on a regular basis? Consumption of so-called junk food has skyrocketed in recent times.

According to the CDC, about two-thirds of all Americans over age 20 are overweight, about one-third are obese; children are fast following, with more than 10 percent overweight. Other countries are catching up. But you know the story by now and don’t need the government to tell you what’s clearly in plain sight – look around – or that obesity and certain illnesses such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes go hand in hand.

First Lady Michelle Obama has taken childhood obesity on as her particular calling in the Let’s Move! Campaign ( HYPERLINK "http://letsmove.gov" http://letsmove.gov). One of its first goals is the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act (CNA), one of the rare bipartisan efforts pending in Congress. The CNA review, scheduled for 2009, was postponed to 2010, giving the government more opportunity to improve school lunches.

But there’s more to overweight and obesity than school lunch, which, after all, focuses only on children, not anyone reading this. Doctors, scientists, teachers, nutritionists and others all have opinions on how so many of us got so heavy and what we need to do to slim down and become healthier. Thousands of books are written on the subject. In our personal efforts, we join diet support groups and go to the gym. The junk food industry is big time. So is the diet industry. So is the insurance industry whose customers need coverage for the ailments that result from being overweight.

Still, the majority of us are fat and getting pudgier all the time.

Every five years the government issues nutritional guidelines, and the 2010 preliminary report has just been published ( HYPERLINK "http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/DGAs2010-DGACReport.htm" http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/DGAs2010-DGACReport.htm). It reaffirms an old maxim we all heard from our grandmothers: eat in moderation and don’t eat more than you can burn off. The report suggests we eat more plant-based foods, whole grains, low-fat dairy and seafood. That we eat less salt and be more aware of how many calories we are consuming.

Which gets us back to junk food. People differ on the specifics, but everyone agrees that junk food is the opposite of healthy, that it is often high in calories, fat, salt or caffeine and offers little or no nutritional value. Typical junk foods range from chips and candy to cheeseburgers and fries to sugared breakfast cereals, doughnuts and the like. Some consider foods such as pizza junk, but others say that because it contains cheese and (typically) tomato, it can pass as a healthy-enough grilled cheese sandwich, especially if it has other vegetables and, hope against hope, a whole-wheat crust.

Apparently, one of the real problems with junk food is that its fat content triggers the brain to want more food, making it hard to satisfy real hunger even if, say, you eat a whole 7-ounce bag of potato chips (about 1100 calories). And the sugar in candy consumption keeps insulin levels up, which confuses your metabolism and sends false signals that you need more to eat. In addition, people who eat junk have less room for nutritious foods. In severe cases that could lead to malnutrition, which seems counterintuitive when a person is hefty.

Whether or not you celebrate National Junk Food Day (if you don’t regularly eat junk food consider how you would feel if you indulged headlong for the entire day) and whether or not you are among the majority of Americans who are overweight, it’s likely that you like to snack. Who doesn’t! And while no one wants to be lectured at, you should know that there are beverages and snacks that are healthy and also delicious, and that are easy to make at home. If you grab for one of these instead of that sugar-laden soda, fat-filled doughnut or calorie-packed candy bar, you might be surprised that you’re filled up emotionally and nutritionally, that it tastes better than you could have imagined and that you feel better after eating than you do after consuming junk. You might shed some pounds too.