Healthy Junk Food

Healthy Junk Food
Just how healthy is it?

Remember the futuristic cartoon television show The Jetsons? My favorite scenes took place at mealtimes, when Mrs. Jetson proudly lifted the tureen to reveal a colorful array of pills that simulated the taste and flavor of everything from steak to Pineapple Upside-down Cake. The show’s creators envisioned an idyllic future where apron-clad robots performed the housework, meals consisted of a variety of flavorful, nutrition-packed pills, and food cravings – even hard to resist junk food cravings - could be squelched merely by swallowing a capsule.

Fortunately, this rather antiseptic view of our culinary future never materialized. Forget the super pills – today’s foodies still want to indulge their hedonistic longings for sweets and anything that is deep-fried, crispy and coated with salt. They just don’t want to be stricken with a bout of dieter’s remorse the following morning. Savvy food manufacturers are only too willing to cater to these calorie-conscious consumers by offering snack foods claiming to be both nutritionally sound and soul-satisfying. A new type of product is showing up that, for lack of a better term, can be labelled “healthy junk food."

Topping the list of healthy junk foods are protein and energy bars. One of the more tempting brands is the Soy One line of protein bars. Bigger than most bars, covered with a thick coating of yummy chocolate, they feature wickedly delicious names like “Raspberry Crème” and “Caramel Crunch.” Yet they are low in fat and boast up to a whopping 60 milligrams of cancer fighting isoflavones, thanks to the addition of soy protein.

Less decadent but lower in calories are the Body Smart and Balance energy bars. Designed for athletes and athletic wannabes alike, they feature protein-rich foods like toasted soybeans, nuts and honey. While they may lack the sensual appeal of Soy One bars, let’s face it, at 192 calories a Honey and Nut Balance Bar still beats out the typical dieter’s dull lunch of cottage cheese topped with a dollop of low-cal dressing.

For pizza lovers, Amy’s Kitchen carries a line of pizzas containing only natural and organic foods. You’ll feel positively virtuous after snacking on their Soy Cheese pizza, topped with a bubbling mozzarella-style cheese made from three types of soy foods. And the flavorful sauce made from organically grown tomatoes will ruin you for canned tomato sauce forever. Other Amy’s products include a pesto pizza and a vegetable-loaded combo.

Advertising honchos at GMB Enterprises showed sheer genius in comprehending the psyche of the frustrated, snack-deprived dieter with their brilliantly named “Guiltless Gourmet” line of tortilla chips. Baked instead of fried, the cholesterol-free chips boast a mere two grams of fat per eighteen-chip serving. But forget the nutritional data. Freshness and intriguing flavors set Guiltless Gourmet chips apart from other brands - it’s heavenly just to open the bag and inhale the aroma of stone ground yellow corn mixed with exotic seasonings such as chili lime. There is even a white popcorn version.

Of course, if you’re a traditionalist who insists the only worthwhile chip is a potato chip, try Terra Blues. As the name implies, the purple-tinged chips are made from blue potatoes – the Peruvian Blue, to be exact. Along with their eye-catching appearance, Blues taste great – one bite and you’ll immediately conjure up an image of sliced potatoes bubbling away in the deep fryer. Yet, its makers claim that Terra Blues contain forty percent less fat than the leading potato chip brand.

Which brings up a point. So far, this latest snack food movement sounds like a dieter’s dream come true. But is it, really? How nutritionally savvy is it to eat two chocolate-coated protein bars for lunch, or nosh on a bag of organic chips while watching the evening sitcoms? Just how healthy is this “healthy junk food”?

Alas, the notion that we can succumb to the lure of our junk food cravings without fearing the dietary consequences remains a distant dream. Healthy junk food is not about to replace standard diet fare in the near future. But we can get more bang for our caloric buck if we choose wisely on those occasions when we do indulge our cravings.

Take protein and energy bars, for example. “Not all bars are created equal,” says nutritional consultant Dr. Lee Coyne. Coyne, whose nutritional coaching aided local climber Jamie Clarke in his quest to scale Mount Everest, warns against bars that rely on sugar as the main source of energy. Checking this is a breeze, thanks to labelling laws requiring ingredients to be listed in order of the quantity used. Bars naming honey or fructose as the first ingredient are less nutritious than a bar deriving its main source of energy from a soy product.

Health-conscious foodies should also choose chip brands with care. Coyne was particularly impressed with Terra Blues’ brief list of ingredients. Blues are additive-free, and rely solely on salt for seasoning. Even better, they are made from nutrient-rich organic potatoes. While better tasting and healthier than the average store-bought chip, Guiltless Gourmet contain more additives and spices than Blues. Furthermore, they are made with non-organic, stone-ground corn, “which is basically cornstarch."

While it’s hard to imagine a pizza lacking any nutritionally redeeming qualities whatsoever – after all, a judicious choice of toppings gives you a balanced meal containing all four basic food groups – Amy’s reliance upon natural ingredients distinguishes their product from the typical offerings at the local pizza joint. Still, going organic doesn’t make Amy’s pizzas nutritionally pure. For example, over one-third of the calories in their Soy Cheese pizza come from fat, although Coyne noted that this is difficult to avoid with cheese, even soy cheese that is made from soy milk. Furthermore, as a proponent of the popular 40-30-30 diet (40 percent protein combined with 30 percent carbohydrates and fats) Coyne advised adding meat to increase the protein level and balance the pizza’s thick crust. But he would definitely try one – just not every day for lunch.

Sigh...Oh well. Even if we still can’t eat whatever we want, healthy junk food still offers a tastier, nutritious alternative to typical junk food fare. And this list is by no means exhaustive. We haven’t begun to delve into the world of healthy ice cream, not to mention soy cheese puffs and other protein-packed munchables.

Mmm…. a chocolate fudge frozen dessert made with nutritious soy milk. George Jetson never knew what he was missing with the pills.