10 Healthy Junk Food Alternatives You NEED To Be Aware Of
Giving up junk food is an important step towards leading a healthier lifestyle. However, this does not mean you have to give up all the delicious food you love and only eating fruits and vegetables. There are many healthy alternatives to all of your favourite types of junk food that taste good and make you feel good.
Switching from junk food to healthier alternatives isn’t more expensive or less efficient like commonly misconceived. It can be hard to find these alternatives so we have compiled our favourites. From pizza to chips, lollies to chocolate, here are 10 healthy junk food alternatives that you should definitely know about.
1. Dark Chocolate
Giving up junk food doesn’t mean that you have to stop eating chocolate. However, you should switch from milk chocolate to dark chocolate and make sure you eat it in moderation. Dark chocolate is lower in sugar and has various health benefits.
These include being packed with nutrients and antioxidants, improving blood flow and lowering blood pressure, reducing risk of heart disease and improving brain function. Make sure you pick the dark chocolate that doesn’t have any extra added sugar.
2. Sweet Potato Fries
Sweet potato fries are a great junk food alternative to regular potato fries. These fries are high in fibre, calcium and just one sweet potato provides you with more than a day’s worth of vitamin A. The best way to enjoy them is baked – deep frying them they aren’t any better than regular fries. Make sure you don’t use too much oils and opt for olive oil.
3. Frozen Yogurt
Another healthy junk food alternative is switching from ice cream to frozen yogurt. Frozen yogurt has less calories and fat than ice cream does and as an added bonus also comes in a larger range of flavours that often aren’t options for ice cream. Self serve frozen yogurt places often have options to add different toppings to your frozen yogurt. The key to making sure it is still healthier, choose the healthy options such as fruit.
4. Homemade Pizza
Takeaway pizza is extremely high in sugar, calories and fat making it a junk food that you definitely need an alternative for. Homemade pizza is an easy alternative to takeaway pizza that still allows you to eat the food you love. You can either make pizza bases or an easier way to do homemade pizzas is to use pita bread for the base.
Buy a low-fat pizza sauce, and add toppings such as spinach, mushrooms, basil, chilli, feta, tomatoes, broccoli or artichokes. Additionally, skip the cheese on top for an even healthier pizza.
5. Popcorn
Swapping from potato crisps to popcorn is another healthy junk food alternative. Popcorn is a whole-grain food and is low in calories and high in fibre. However, this doesn’t mean that you can go to the cinema and eat a whole bucket of popcorn guilt free. The best option is to air-pop popcorn at home and add a little salt or other healthy flavourings to keep it good for you.
6. Dried Fruits
Switch out your lollies for dried fruits for another healthy junk food alternative that is absolutely delicious. Dried fruits are all natural and as such are a less sugary and unhealthy alternative to lollies. Dried fruits are a perfect snack and way to have fruit in the house without it going mouldy. You can get mango, apricots, apples and many many more!
7. Banana Bread
Bake some banana bread at home for a healthy junk food alternative to cakes. Prepare your banana bread with wholegrain flour for the benefits of essential vitamins, minerals and fibre. Banana bread is also a good source of potassium from the bananas, protein and healthy fats.
8. Homemade Smoothies
Opt for a delicious (and nutritious) homemade smoothie instead of a sugar-loaded chocolate milkshake. Switch from dairy to almond or soy milk and pack your smoothies with dark, leafy greens for iron and protein, nuts and seeds, Greek yogurt, berries, chia seeds, and protein powders.
9. Chocolate Coated Almonds
Chocolate coated almonds are an excellent healthy junk food alternative. Almonds have a lot of vitamin E, magnesium and potassium. They are also filled with healthy fats and protein. Make sure you get almonds that are coated in dark chocolate to make sure they are the healthiest option you can get.
10. Flavoured Sparkling Water
The final healthy junk food alternative is switching soft drinks for flavoured sparkling water. Flavoured sparkling water can often be found completely carbohydrate free and the flavourings used are much better for you than the ones often used for soft drinks.
