Junk food - a dense source of calories which triggers the reward centre in our brain, increases our desire for more and shuts down our natural ability to say enough is enough.
No surprise to learn the consumption of this stuff is correlated with bulging waistlines.
But what if we had to make it all ourselves?
In his excellent mini-book, Food Rules author Michael Pollan lists a series of simple eating strategies which can help us improve what we eat, when we eat and how much we eat.
One of my favorites is "Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself"
Think about it. If you had to buy all the ingredients and spend time creating your favorite junk foods in the kitchen would you overeat chocolate cake? Or ice cream? Or french fries? You might enjoy them now and then but you are hardly going to indulge everyday. We only overeat this stuff because industry has made it so easy and effortless to do so.
A few blogs posts back I discussed the merits of creating a bespoke set of food rules which help us consistently make better choices throughout the day.
This is one such example (and a great one at that!)