The Junk Food Nutritionist

Every day it seems that there are new diet products on the market. Are the chemicals used in them safe? Artificial and natural no and low calorie sweeteners which are often added to these products are considered safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).   Similar agencies have also approved these sweeteners for use in other countries.  That said, there are still possible side effects, just like medications recognized as safe may result in side effects. Let’s explore these sweeteners and their potential health risks, starting with the oldest first.

May is Mental Health Month and I’ve been getting questions about food’s effect on mental health, especially junk food.    One common question is , “ Do diet drinks affect the brain and cause depression?”   Yes.    In particular, the artificial sweetener aspartame , found in diet soda, is often blame d .   Aspartame has been studied for its potential effects on the nervous system, including mood . Unfortunately, two studies have found that drinking aspartame-containing beverages increased risk of depression and one study also worsened symptoms in those who already had diagnosed depression .     If aspartame causes depression, why do you say, "Everything in moderation?"   One single can of diet soda doesn't cause depression. One teaspoon of aspartame in your tea or coffee doesn't cause your existing depression to worsen.  Even one can of soda a day in addition to one teaspoon of aspartame add...

I haven’t shared an entrée recipe in a while. Sometimes I think about sharing one but worry that it detracts from the “junk food” aspect of the blog. Well, today’s dinner was deli cious junk food. Carbs or starches often get labelled as "junk." The star of tonight's meal was two carb-heavy ingredients: mashed potatoes and white flour.   Seriously. These two carbs come together to make a dish called gnocchi. Often, chefs will add egg, but I don't cook with eggs and my gnocchi turned out just fine. Here's what I did... I combined 1 cup of leftover mashed potatoes with ½ cup of white flour. I kneaded them together on a cutting board. (Any flat surface will do.) Then, I rolled the dough into a rope and cut it into segments. I was raised eating gnocchi without any fancy lines. If you want to make lines on it, like many stores sell it, you can roll the dough against the tines of a fork.   I brough...

I’ve been having cravings lately. No, I’m not pregnant. But I am a woman and cravings are pretty typical in womanhood…not to mention, they're pretty common in stress. Anyway, what this means for you…One morning, I was planning to eat my no-sugar-added wheat squares (like frosted shredded wheat squares only without the sugar). Suddenly, I craved Puppy Chow (not the actual dog food but the human snack). It goes by other names, one of which is apparently a registered trademark, so I can’t mention it here…. Being the dietitian I am, I decided not to just pull up a recipe online and follow it. Nope. I made my own lower sugar version, which I actually think is way tastier than the powdered sugar-coated version…

Over the past month, I’ve looked at several healthy-seeming snack foods and shown you which aren’t as healthy as you might think.  Today, I have one more snack for you…Flavored squeezable applesauce pouches.  You might be thinking, “No way is that healthy. It has to be full of added sugar and artificial flavoring.” But that’s not true. At least, it’s not true for Musselman’sSqueezables . I’d call these a health food. In addition to unsweetened applesauce, Musselman’s Squeezables come in fun flavors: Sour Raspberry, Sour Cherry, Sour Lemon, Strawberry, and Honey Cinnamon.     None of them contain artificial flavors or artificial colors. The Honey Cinnamon applesauce contains honey, but none of the others contain added sugars.  The main ingredient, of course, is apples. The three berry-flavored ones contain raspberry puree, cherry puree, and strawberry puree respectively. The lemon one contains lemon juice. Of course, there’s cinn...

I have a go-to no sugar added dough recipe that I use for scones and biscuits. So, when I was looking for something to serve with tomato soup, I decided to use it to make cheesy biscuits.  The beauty of this recipe is it works with both animal dairy products and vegan non-dairy versions. This recipe also can be doubled or quadrupled to serve more people. When I make larger batches, I sometimes need to adjust the milk to flour ratio. If you feel comfortable measuring by feel, I recommend you do so rather than measuring out the milk exactly. Easy Cheesy Biscuits Serves 2

A reader asked me to compare the nutrition of junk food options out there and advise readers on best to eat. So, today we’ll look at gummy candies... Gummy candies are usually mostly sugar. They're low in protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals. Healthier choices might be foods that contain more nutrients (like protein, vitamins, and minerals) or healthier choices might be lower in added sugar or other artificial ingredients. I've included some of each. Gum Drops Take gum drops, for example. They're corn syrup, sugar, corn starch and/or modified food starch, coloring, and flavoring. 4 large gumdrops are 150 calories, all of which come from the 37 grams of carbs. There's no protein, fat, vitamins, or minerals.

Yesterday, we discussed things to think about before deciding to avoid added sugar for your New Year's Resolution. Today, I present a sample meal plan taken from my own life. Breakfast: Banana and oatmeal cooked in milk, vanilla, ground flaxseed and cinnamon Tip: Flavored oatmeal packets contain sugar, but you can easily and quickly make your own flavored oatmeal by adding extracts, spices, fruit, etc.) Another Breakfast Idea: I have been making no-sugar-added scones for years without any sugar substitues! It's flour, baking powder, butter, and your choice of mix-ins. The scone pictured above was made with cinnamon and raisins, but you can use other dried fruits, other spices, nuts, extracts, flavored oils, cacao nibs, anything.