Talking Junk

Very often you will hear people preach about how junk food is harmful and is a common factor of why people become increasingly obese. Junk food is the root of all evil. Eat it and die! I say there is no such thing as junk food. Just like every animal has its purpose in the ecosystem, every food has its purpose when it comes to nutrition.

McDonald's is not junk food. Pizza Hut is not junk food. Neither ice cream nor jelly beans are junk food.

"But won't these make you fat?"

Answer: Honey, if you overeat something as healthy as wild salmon... it'll still make you fat. Salmon isn't junk food, is it?

It is pretty much simple maths. When it comes to fat loss or fat gain the equation goes like this:

Calorie in > Calorie out = Fat Gain

Calorie in < out =" Fat">

However, the equations above only applies to mere mortals whose most taxing activity involves racing towards the closing door of an elevator. But for fitness junkies like you and me, the rules are slightly different.


There is an ideal time for all types of food. A Big Mac would be beneficial for someone who is undertaking a muscle gain programme. When could someone like this eat a Big Mac? Post workout of course. Post workout is when the muscle absorbs nutrients like a sponge absorbs water. All those disgusting excessive calories, fat, carbs, and protein would be easily absorbed by muscles in order to repair itself after a hard session of weight training.

Same goes to sweet stuff (which are mostly high GI) like jelly beans and Coke can be consumed post workout just because the body could handle and NEEDS all those calories.

'Clean food' like chicken breast, wholemeal bread, wild salmon, salad etc (which are low GI) is best consumed on non-training days and also a few hours prior to training. This will give you 'slow burning' energy (for lack of a better analogy) that would give you steady energy output throughout your training session.

Let me know your thoughts on this.