We've all heard the term "junk food" before as foods that are bad for us and that we shouldn't eat, and chances are you've probably also heard the term "superfood," but what exactly is it that makes a super food super and a junk food junk? Go ahead and leave me a comment. Leave me the three worst, junkiest junky McJunky junk of the junk foods are, and if you can think of one, leave me an example of a superfood. Leave me a comment and stay tuned for this video on super versus junk food. [PAUSE VIDEO FOR COMMENTS] So there are specific factors that will make a superfood a superfood and a junk food a junk food, and I'm actually going to go through each factor in this video. The first factor is nutrient density, and what nutrient density is is how much nutrition is cram-packed into that food. Superfoods have a really high nutrient density because there are tons of nutrition packed into them. That's your macronutrients, like your carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and also your micronutrients, your minerals and your vitamins. Another great example would be to think about a granola bar or something like this. It contains some amount of nutrition, but its nutrient density is a lot lower than a superfood, because you'd have to eat fifty, or maybe even 100 granola bars to get the same amount of nutrition found in a coconut or an acai berry. The second factor is for calorie density. What that means is in the given amount that you're eating, how many calories does that food contain. I think that most people understand that junk foods are high calorie, high fat foods, and one of the reason that this makes these foods junk foods or unhealthy foods is that you don't want to be ingesting a whole, whole lot of calories. Calorie density and nutrient density are kind of related if we think about how we want to get x amount of nutrition, how many calories of that food do we need to consume to get that amount of nutrients. Junk foods, which are really high in calories, you're going to need to eat a whole lot more of them to get the same amount of nutrition that you would get from eating a superfood which is really low in calories. Factor number three is fiber. Fiber is a big buzz word when we're talking about nutrition, and for a very good reason. Fiber is absolutely necessary for our GI tracts to function appropriately. And not only to digest the foods that we're eating but to expel the foods that we're eating, and then we don't need anymore. Fiber is also the thing that helps fill you up, that helps you feel satiated, satisfied, and it's important to know that most processed foods actually have the fiber taken out of them because it will help to extend the shelf life. One great example is the Big Mac. A Big Mac contains three grams of fiber and almost 600 calories. An apple also has three grams of fiber but only about sixty five calories, do per calorie, the apple has nine times the fiber as the Big Mac, and if you were wanting to fill up and get the fiber, you could either eat the apple and have sixty five calories, or a Big Mac and have almost 600 calories. Factor number four is the glycemic index of foods. What that means is how quickly after you eat the food does it turn into sugar in your blood? Junk foods are usually a very high glycemic index. What that means is pretty shortly after you've eaten the food, it has flooded your blood with sugar. It has flooded your body with sugar. Now, our bodies need sugar in our blood. We need that because that is how we get energy, but there are a couple of problems with flooding your body with sugar too quickly. One of them is that instantly your body is going to start freaking out and it's going to flood with insulin, because insulin is going to help take that sugar and move it around the body so that it can be used. Another thing is the excess sugar that can't be used is going to be stored as fat, and none of us want that, right? A low glycemic food, on the other hand, has a much more slow and steady release of sugar into the blood, and fiber is actually one of the things that contributes to the slow, steady release of sugar, and some of the benefits are that you're not going to be flooding your body with so much sugar that it's going to have a huge insulin burst; it's going to be a slow, steady stream of sugar so that your body can use it all. It actually gets to use that sugar and not store it as fat. You're also going to be able to use that sugar longer because your body is getting that steady flow of energy and you're not going to bottom out. You're not going to sugar crash, and you're not going to be hungry again just a little while after you eat. The fifth factor is whether the food is natural or man made. Most of the junk foods are man made foods. They are made from man made chemicals. They don't come naturally out of the ground. You don't just see a Twinkie Tree or a Ding Dong bush. Natural foods, foods that do come from the ground, have a lot more health and nutrition in them. I will actually go into detail about them in a different video. It's important to recognize that more often than not, junk foods are man made chemical foods and superfoods are natural foods. If we put all the factors together we an see that junk foods are low nutrient density, high calorie, high fiber, low glycemic index and processed, where as superfoods are high nutrient density, high fiber, low calorie, natural, and they have a low glycemic index. Why does any of this matter? And what does it have to do with you? It's really just as simple as that junk foods are going to contribute to weight gain, they're going to keep you hungry, they're going to contribute to nutritional deficiencies, and they're not going to give you the energy you need to make it through your day and to function like a happy, normal person. Superfoods, on the other hand, are going to contribute to you feeling full, feeling satisfied, having the energy to go about your day, they're going to help you lose weight by maximizing the amount of nutrition you're getting with the lowest amount of calories, and they're going to, in general, contribute to your body being healthy and you being happy. I just gave us all of the factors that make a superfood, but I didn't really give you any superfoods, so stay tuned for my future video where I'm going to count the top ten superfoods. And in another video, I'm going to tell you why you may feel like you're addicted to junk food. Are food manufacturers actually putting things in the foods to make us have addictions to them? Please leave me a comment and let me know if you have any questions or if you have any ideas for future videos that you'd like to see. Be sure to subscribe to our channel, give me a thumbs up if you liked this video, and if you learned anything be sure to share it with your friends. Thanks!