The Junk Food Nutritionist

The term "junk food" was not something I remember defining in school and it wasn’t on the CDR exam to become a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist.  So, I asked other dietitians how they define it.  Most of them said they didn’t like the term “junk food” and didn’t even use it. Julie Seale, RD , explains, “ This places moral qualities on foods, which can then lead to feelings of deprivation, guilt and potentially binge eating. Instead, I think of those less nutritious foods as ‘sometimes’ foods.”   Jenny Jackson, RD , also referred to them as “less nutritious foods.” She added, “ These foods can be different for different people [due to medical conditions]. There are also foods that are made in manners which are more ethical which makes them more acceptable and desirable for some people, and that is a decision for each person to make based on their own values.” Jenny brings up two good points. First off, without going deep into medical nutriti...

I spent the past month writing a series trying to determine whether or not certain snack foods were junk foods. It made me ask myself, “What is junk food?” The thing is, we all define it differently.