UTAH TECH UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE | March 29, 2024

Even unhealthy foods can be healthier alternatives

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It all boils down to becoming Jared from Subway or Ronald McDonald.

It’s easy to gain weight from eating the junk that tastes the best, but just because it tastes the best does not mean it will make you feel the best.

I tried all of the yummy unhealthy things that I could find for three days, and it left me feeling run down with caked-on clown-makeup covering my breakouts. 

I started off with an unhealthy breakfast. I’m the type of person who likes my breakfast to be quick, so I usually just eat a couple of Pop-Tarts on my way to class.

Nothing against Pop-Tarts, because they are delicious, but I felt hungry an hour later, yet I had already consumed 400 calories. That’s about one-third of what average female adults under 5 foot 5 inches should be eating a day. 

On top of that, there is almost no nutritional value. Yes, technically the crust counts as a grain, but the amount of non-processed fruit in a Pop-Tart is so insignificant that you can’t count that as anything. 

So I switched my breakfast. I Googled quick breakfasts and basically every website said something about apples. According to an article on Livestrong.com, “Does an apple have have more caffeine than coffee?”, by Alex Folkl, a medium-sized apple has about 80 calories and the amount of complex sugar actually gives you a boost of energy. It’s not the same amount of energy a cup of coffee provides, but there’s no crash after the caffeine.

So even though that’s a pretty small breakfast, it leaves room to be hungry for lunch.

You can’t justify a Big Mac to sound healthy. The limp lettuce and transparent tomatoe  are outweighed by the 29 grams of fat in the burger.

Compare that to a turkey breast sandwich from Subway. The 280-calorie six inch averages at about 3.5 grams of fat.

When you’re out and about at some kind of event, do you go for nachos or a pretzel? 

Well, the artificial cheese on nachos is unhealthier than a super salty pretzel. 

Adjunct nutrition professor Jennie McBride said as long as the pretzel is not jumbo-sized or lathered in butter, a pretzel is always a better option. It may be salty, but it is also full of better carbs. Plus salt is a known substance, whereas nacho cheese is sort of a mystery. 

While my best friends go by the name of Ben and Jerry, they are a better alternative to another favorite, the chocolate chip cookie. 

Chocolate chip cookies that are the size of the palm of your hand generally have 200 calories each, whereas a serving the size of your fist of Ben & Jerry’s “Cherry Garcia” has 230 calories. While the ice cream has more calories, it also comes with a serving of dairy, which gives it more nutritional value than a cookie.

Start your day off right with an apple, instead of processed meals, and finish it with a serving of ice cream, a healthier alternative to other desserts.