How do you avoid unhealthy food?

[Bible_Belt]

Because the sh1t is everywhere:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/18/health/ultraprocessed-industry-profits-wellness

What are your tricks to avoid the garbage food that is killing us all?

For me, I eat a lot of peanut butter and cottage cheese. I grow a large market garden in the summer and I'm trying to be able to grow what I eat, which is probably in winter going to be potatoes, sweet potatoes, and winter squash.

When I go to Walmart, I barely go down any of the grocery aisles, because it's mostly junk. There's a soda aisle, candy, chips, frozen crap. The one thing they have that I like is roasted pumpkin seed kernels, which are accidentally healthy. It's like getting peanuts at a quickie mart instead of doritos, not meant to be healthy but better than the other junk.

So what do you eat?

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I eat mostly one ingredient foods that I prepare myself and have a list of about 60-70 "approved foods" that I make my meals from.

 

[Vanderdonck]

I have a couple of "junk" foods that I still buy. Plain tortilla chips to have with salsa. Dark chocolate. I eat these in small amounts. Mostly I stick to vegetables, eggs, meats, nuts, and fruit. Peanut butter is good too.

Really the key is don't buy it and you won't eat it. But don't deprive yourself of indulgences either. Just don't lie to yourself and rationalize a poor diet.

 

[Mike32ct]

I’m good at not having junk food in the house. I have fruit and peanuts or walnuts on hand.

But I have to do a lot more in terms of cooking at home. I’m guilty of too much take out.

Restaurant food (in person or take out) has ridiculous amounts of sodium. For example, real (not processed) chicken breast is almost non-existent at restaurants in the US today.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I have a couple of "junk" foods that I still buy. Plain tortilla chips to have with salsa. Dark chocolate. I eat these in small amounts. Mostly I stick to vegetables, eggs, meats, nuts, and fruit. Peanut butter is good too.

Really the key is don't buy it and you won't eat it. But don't deprive yourself of indulgences either. Just don't lie to yourself and rationalize a poor diet.

Dark chocolate is not a junk food. It's actually pretty healthy overall unless you are eating large quantities of it and it's at least 70% dark.

Theobromine helps burn fat and it's a strong anti-oxidant as well.

 

[Free_Agent]

My main staples are:

Oatmeal
Eggs
Greek Yogurt
Cottage Cheese
Chicken
Salmon
Tuna
Ground Turkey
Sweet potatoes
Brown Rice
Apples, Blueberries, Strawberries, Blackberries

I'll make pizza 1x a week. I also have a 150kcal ice cream usually every night.

 

[BadBoy89]

Last 6 months I've had really bad heartburn after eating, like I was having a heart attack, easy.

Now I stay away from Soft Drinks, Donuts, Processed Foods. I try to eat only between 11 - 7 pm and make sure to talk a walk after eating to digest properly. And I don't snack.

Feel much better.

 

[Travel memoir21]

Lol yall are going to be eating plenty comes Thanksgiving.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Restaurant food (in person or take out) has ridiculous amounts of sodium. For example, real (not processed) chicken breast is almost non-existent at restaurants in the US today.

Panda Express is like that. It looks healthier because of the vegetables, but the chicken and beef have absurd sodium. It's like drinking soy sauce.

 

[ManFromTartarus]

It's actually pretty easy for me, in that I don't like most UPFs.
Frozen premade foods are almost inedible to me, flavored chips are gross, the only soda I will occasionally drink are SanPelegrino (mostly juice, water, sugar), and I don't have a red meat or pork addiction, or a sweet tooth.

Being a fisherman (recreational & commercial) seafood has been a big part of my diet, along which vegetables, has helped me stay away from heart problems as I age.

I'm no saint about food though, and periodically indulge in some things that aren't so good, cheesesteaks, fried foods, etc. but I'm confident that it's OK on occasion if your main diet daily is healthy one of home cooked meals or at a quality restaurant.

 

[NiHaoMike]

Panda Express is like that. It looks healthier because of the vegetables, but the chicken and beef have absurd sodium. It's like drinking soy sauce.

The question is, what form is the sodium in? If it's just ordinary salt, it can be countered by drinking more water (in fact, those very active and needing to drink a lot more water need to also increase salt intake to avoid electrolyte imbalance), but not so if it's something like MSG or sodium nitrate.

 

[Bible_Belt]

The question is, what form is the sodium in? If it's just ordinary salt, it can be countered by drinking more water (in fact, those very active and needing to drink a lot more water need to also increase salt intake to avoid electrolyte imbalance), but not so if it's something like MSG or sodium nitrate.

They list their beef and broccoli as having about the same sodium content as a single hot dog...but there's got to be more to it than that. If I have Panda Express for lunch, I am desperate for water all afternoon and evening. Other high sodium foods like pickles and hot dogs don't have that effect.

 

[nicksaiz65]

The game changer for me was when I stopped trying to do chicken broccoli & rice diets, and really dug into cooking, then made and meal prepped healthy versions of the foods I liked. I could not do the chicken broccoli & rice to save my life.

I don’t crave Chinese food because I can make General Tso’s Chicken or Korean Fried Chicken at home with chicken breast(wet brine to keep it juicy), eggs, Greek yogurt, spices, almond flour, parmesan cheese, and baking powder for the breading, no sugar, use sweetener in the sauce, and air fry.

I don’t crave desserts because I can make my protein ice cream, protein cheesecakes, protein panna cotta whenever.

 

[Scaramouche]

Hi Bibles,
Were the miracles of US Technology able to teleport me to the States for Dinner,I would like you to organise a get together with @ManFromTarterus A platter of his Fish and some of your Home Grown Spuds and Collards would be delectable...Should we also be entertaining the Angels from Paradise,then I could bring a Leg of NSW Lamb with me.

 

[tksniper]

I know a guy who literally reads every package before he buys anything. He eventually got a gut disease where none of his doctors can figure out what is wrong with him. You’re all going to die anyway. People who have never smoked cigarettes in their lives get cancer and there are people who smoke for 60 years who live to 90.
In fact, almost everyone in Asia smokes and they have the longest lifespans.

I think the more important question is “How do I avoid unhealthy thoughts?” There’s scientific evidence that people think themselves to sickness with negative thoughts and attitudes.

And people who try to live healthy lifestyles with the most negative personalities and attitudes are completely insufferable to be around.

It baffles me that most people forget they are going to die anyway, and in an attempt to prolong their lives, they become insufferable a$$holes to everyone around them.

 

[Scaramouche]

Hi Sniper,
Much in what you say....Food obsessions are often part of associated mental disorders....A lot to be said for regular plain meals but being able to enjoy a drink or slice of cake to be sociable.

 

[Snag87]

Dark chocolate is not a junk food. It's actually pretty healthy overall unless you are eating large quantities of it and it's at least 70% dark.

Theobromine helps burn fat and it's a strong anti-oxidant as well.

I’d say 85% dark to not be considered a junk food, and as you stated moderation still matters.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I’d say 85% dark to not be considered a junk food, and as you stated moderation still matters.

85% can be bitter for some...70% is more tolerable for many and still has health benefits.

I always believe if you want to maintain a certain eating pattern for a long time it has to be sustainable and as such, you have to not be afraid to treat yourself and in the grand scheme of things 70% dark chocolate is still better than 90% of the other things you could choose.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I know a guy who literally reads every package before he buys anything. He eventually got a gut disease where none of his doctors can figure out what is wrong with him. You’re all going to die anyway. People who have never smoked cigarettes in their lives get cancer and there are people who smoke for 60 years who live to 90.
In fact, almost everyone in Asia smokes and they have the longest lifespans.

I think the more important question is “How do I avoid unhealthy thoughts?” There’s scientific evidence that people think themselves to sickness with negative thoughts and attitudes.

And people who try to live healthy lifestyles with the most negative personalities and attitudes are completely insufferable to be around.

It baffles me that most people forget they are going to die anyway, and in an attempt to prolong their lives, they become insufferable a$$holes to everyone around them.

This is a logical mistake many make in that people think you can "eliminate" risks by being healthy and taking care of yourself.

You can't. At the end of the day genetics trumps everything and all you can do is minimize your genetic risk of things which should be thought of as a sliding scale.

For instance, if you have a risk level of 30-70%, you can minimize it to 30% but you CANNOT eliminate it. However, by not taking care of yourself you can raise your chances of serious health issues or even maximize that potential.

So again, it isn't about trying to eliminate any chance of something happening, simply lowering the probability, and if something does happen, hoping to minimize the "blast radius" of that, so to speak.

The science is pretty clear that obesity and chronic inflammation are the surest path to ensuring you maximize your potential at serious conditions and early death, and even if you don't end up dying you are much more likely to reduce the quality of life you have for multiple decades of your life.

So if you'd prefer to be greatly limited in your day to day life for 20+ years by not taking care of yourself then that's a choice you can make, but you probably shouldn't try to bag on people who choose not to impose those self-inflicted issues on themselves.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

By reading every single food label of every item I look at in every grocery store I visit. I started when I was around 20 and would research any ingredient I did not know, and I still do it to this day.

There are only a handful of ingredients that I consider acceptable in almost anything I buy. As a good rule of thumb, if something has more than 5-6 ingredients, it's probably poison, especially if it's something simple like bread.

I've found fresh pizzas that have less than 10 ingredients. Meanwhile a hot pocket will have a long paragraph of ingredients. Pretty easy to infer which one is healthier.