We're a busy society. Information flows faster today than it did last year, and much faster than it did 100 years ago. However, our bodies haven't changed as much. For the most part, the same nutrients we needed 100 years ago, we still need today.

For the sake of convenience in our increasing busy lives, needing to fuel our bodies while we process more and more information with the same amount of hours in the day, we have all resorted to "junk food" at some point. It comes in a handy package, it's located at every corner store and vending machine, and it's conveniently preserved for whenever you might be able to sneak in a quick snack.

Additionally, for the sake of cost savings, it is easy to turn to items which can be preserved versus those that take more care to transport, or don't keep as long, which makes them more expensive. We use processed, refined items that have less nutrients than the comparable natural, whole product.

So, in the name of convenience and cost savings, we have gotten farther and farther away from the things that give our bodies the maximum amount of energy. Seems counterproductive, doesn't it?

What if you had a survival guide, so that you could pick out the most healthful of your given choices, when you have no other option? Would you use it? If so, read on.

What if you could make a few swaps in your staple pantry items while shopping at the same grocery store and using the same amount of time, and make your everyday meals more healthful? Would you do it?

And lastly, what if you could spend 5-10 minutes a day, creating comparable snacks to your favorite "junk foods" at home? You could save yourself many calories, and actually get more usable energy from your food? Would you do it? If so, read on.

You need no special tools, and really no more resources than are already available to you, in order to achieve any of the things mentioned above. Are you ready to find out how to make "junk food" healthy?

Here are some quick tips whenever you're trying to remove some guilt from your "junk food":

• Minimize the number of ingredients, especially ones with complicated names.

The more complicated named ingredients, the more preservatives, the farther it is from nature, the fewer enzymes and useful energy it has left. MSG, sugars coded as Sucralose, Saccharin, Aspartame or Acesulfame, or Sodium Nitrite, artificial colorings; these are all things that your body can’t use, and in fact have shown in studies to cause harm. http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/nutrition-labels-9/healthy-ingredients?page=2 Minimizing these kinds of ingredients will definitely benefit you. If the ingredients list for an apple was 20 items long, would you still want to eat that apple? Probably not. Either it's an apple, or it's not.

• Choose "healthier fats" over "bad fats".

Simply put: saturated fats and trans fats = bad. Monounsaturated fats and Polyunsaturated fats = good. http://www.healthcastle.com/goodfats-badfats.shtml Good fats can be found naturally in things like avocados, walnuts and salmon. A good oil substitute is olive oil, although it doesn’t have the same frying capabilities of the lighter oils. But let’s be blunt: anything fried is not going to rank high on the healthy list. Which leads us to our next tip.

• Know the cooking or preparation process.

Fried means that a high temperature oil sizzled on your food item for long enough that the fats in the oil transferred to the food, and that most, if not all, of the nutrients have been cooked away. Choose a baked item, or “popped” item, which is the most popular new preparation method for healthier alternative potato chips. Some other comparisons are roasting or poaching over pan-fried (see fried in there) or steaming over stir-frying (see fried popping up again!). http://www.pioneerthinking.com/healthycooking.html

• Choose whole grains over refined starches.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/whole-grains/NU00204 Refined starches have been stripped down, removing the bran, fiber and most of the vitamins and minerals. Refining starches makes them more shelf-stable, but they also give our bodies less nutrients per quota. http://womenshealth.about.com/od/fitnessandhealth/a/detoxdiet.htm Less nutrients means more work for our body to digest the food, and less usable energy to help us get through the day. So, choosing whole grains is always going to be better for your body, and give you more sustaining energy than refined grains.

• Choose natural sweeteners over refined sugars, or at least choose unrefined sugar.

Natural sweeteners, like those found in plants and fruit, are going to provide more vitamins and minerals and therefore energy for our bodies. Just like whole grains, unrefined sugar has vitamins and minerals that are stripped during the refining process.

What are the food items that come to mind when you hear "junk food"? Is it cake? Ice cream? Or maybe, chips, cookies, candy, crackers, cheese, indulgent dips or the like?

What is it that makes these foods "junk"? It's the ingredients and the process of making them. If something is fried, the nutritional value has been severely depleted, making it "junk" to our body. Something like a typical cake only has refined flours and sugars, in combination with high bad-fat ingredients like cream, butter, and egg yolks. Although your body can get energy from these things, it doesn't contain a high amount of nutritional value that can sustain your body. These items also normally take longer to digest because the enzymes that aid in digestion have been depleted. This means the food stays in your system longer and the digestive process robs your body of the energy you could have used for your daily activities.http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/enzymes.htm/

So, our goals are going to be the following:

1. Know the preferred process for making the product (cooked vs. raw, fried vs. baked, etc)
2. Know what ingredients are superior to one another (refined grains vs. whole grains, bad fats vs. good fats, and the other tips in the quick tips section)
3. Keep it as close to it's original form as possible. It's simple, the closer it is to it's original form, the more nutritional value and helpful digestive enzymes it has retained.

How much time do you have to pack a breakfast, lunch or dinner? How much time to have to make these meals? How much time do you have to grab a quick bite?

If you have no time at home, but have to grab something on the go, then you will want to focus on knowing what preparation processes are superior and what ingredients are superior. You will often need to decide between your available options, and have to pick the lesser junky of the two.

If you can spend 10 minutes a day, then you have time to pack some snacks at home. You can plan ahead by grocery shopping and picking out more healthful items, and you can take them with you as-is, or do some quick combining and prepping to make some very tasty food to give you all the energy you need for the day.

If you have 30 minutes or more a day to plan or make your food, you may want to focus on filling your pantry and fridge with the healthiest of ingredients, and learning how to combine these to make tasty, satisfying and convenient food to get you through your busy day.

The easiest step we can make is by evaluating the options we have at our corner store or vending machine, and choose the healthiest given our limited options.Using the quick tips outlined above, you should be able to pick out which of the items you have to choose from is superior.

Here are some examples (comparing equal quantities of each):

1. Lays Potato Chips versus Pop Chips – Lays are fried, Pop Chips are popped. Pop Chips would be superior.
2. Avocado versus Sour Cream – Sour Cream has more fat, and more bad fats. Avocado would be superior.
3. Beef Jerky versus Pretzels – Beef Jerky has more fat, but also more vitamins and minerals. Beef Jerky will also most likely have been treated with sugar during the drying process, so it’s higher in sugar. Pretzels are made from white flour, and the nutrients are gone. So far, their pretty much tied. The tie breaker would probably be that Beef Jerky has less ingredients, and is closest to it’s original form. Beef Jerky would be superior in this comparison.
4. Granola Bar versus Chocolate Chip Cookie – The granola bar has been dried, versus the cookie having been baked. The cookie is made of white flour and refined sugar, and has contains bad fats (egg yolk). The granola bar is made of oats and nuts, and possibly dried fruit. The granola bar would be superior in this comparison. NOTE: Be aware! Just because it’s called a granola bar, or health food, doesn’t mean it’s healthy! Watch out for lots of added sugar, or other counterproductive ingredients like fats.
5. Pasta salad versus Macaroni and Cheese – Macaroni and the pasta salad noodles are made from white flour. The cheese is high in bad fats. Pasta salad usually has mayonnaise and egg in it, increasing the bad fats over Macaroni and cheese. Macaroni and cheese would be superior.http://babyfit.sparkpeople.com/food_comparison_sides.asp NOTE: If the pasta salad in question also has celery, olives, shredded carrots, cucumber or other vegetables, increasing the vitamins and minerals, you would have to weigh this against the higher fat content and decide what is best for you.

If you are craving caramel corn, you can not be blamed. It's sweet, crunchy, chewy, salty and therefore, tasty. There will be three ways to curb your craving with less guilt: (1) find a lower calorie, lower fat, lower sugar option, (2) make your own on the go, or (3) make your own at home. These are listed in order of complexity. Below are the details.

(1) Nowadays, there are many substitutes available for our favorite junk foods. If there are multiple choices, browse through them using the quick tips above, and choose the best option. First, which has the fewest chemicals? Then, which one uses the least added sugar? Go through those steps, and pick the best from what you're given.

(2) The best way to curb your craving is going to be eating the real thing, but in moderation. The best way to do it in moderation is to buy a small amount of the real deal (in this case, genuinely sticky, caramel covered, corn), and then combine it with an equal part of the closest to nature version of your item (in this case, natural popped, pop-corn). You are going to get exactly what you were craving, but you'll eat less of it, feel more full even when eating less and have more useable nutrients. It's a win-win!

(3) Lastly, you can take the time to make your own version of this junk food at home. See the following steps to find out how to do this.

Using the quick tips replace your pantry staples so that the ingredients available for your daily cooking are going to make food more healthful.

Here are some ideas and examples, based off the quick tips above:

1. Replace white flour with wheat flour. The simplest version is purchasing whole wheat flour, and replacing it for white flour called out in your recipes. NOTE: Do be aware that a 100% swap of wheat for white flour in your recipes may make them very hearty, and possibly no longer tasty enough to satisfy your taste buds. Trying replacing half the white flour for wheat, or more if it works for you.
2. Replace refined grains with whole grains. Don't stop at just replacing the flour in your recipes. Use whole wheat bread for your grilled cheese, whole wheat buns for your cheeseburger and whole wheat tortillas for your burritos and quesadillas! These items are often considered junk food, but when you replace refined grains with whole grains you've added nutrients like vitamins and fiber into your food. Look for baked goods that have at least 3 grams of fiber per slice or serving. NOTE: Beware of the difference between added fiber and dietary fiber. Dietary fiber in inherent to the food item as it occurs in nature. Added fiber is "added" during the manufacturing process.http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodSupply/FiberFactSheet.pdf Dietary fiber is the best source of fiber, as it is naturally occurring. Also, note that too much fiber has the same effects as too little fiber, which is causing a backup in your digestive system. In light of this fact, make sure you get lots of dietary fiber, and keep added fiber to a minimum.
3. Replace juice with fruit. Instead of drinking juice, eat the fruit! You are going to get the juice, but you’ll also get vitamins and minerals depleted during juicing, and the fiber that is removed when the fruit is juiced.
4. Replace granulated sugar with natural sweeteners, or at least unrefined sugar.
5. Replace most oils with olive oil. Olive oil has good fats. It won’t fry food as well, as it is thicker and will tend to soak into the food. But we already mentioned that frying probably isn’t the best way to cook your food anyhow.
6. Replace roasted, salted or sugared nuts with raw nuts. The raw nuts have all their vitamins in tact. Pair them with some dark chocolate, or eat them with a piece of fruit to get the sweetness you’d crave from honey roasted nuts. Pair the raw nuts with a salty snack to satisfy your salt cravings.
7. Replace high-fat, high-sugar condiments with tasty, guilt-free ones. Did you know that shredded zucchini tastes awfully creamy? Try replacing mayonnaise with shredded zucchini on your next sandwich. Use mustard, or other vinegar based condiments, rather than creamy, high-fat condiments.
8. Replace high-sugar, low-fiber cereals with high-fiber cereals, and mix in some fruit for sweetness. Unfortunately, those sugary, crispy, crunchy bits are not full of natural, useful nutrients that we can use to fuel our bodies properly. Find a cereal with at least 3 or more grams of fiber per serving, and when you mix it with your milk or yogurt, throw in some fresh fruit to give it that same sweetness you crave. Who needs Trix cereal in a package, when you have make your own at home, and derive more energy from it?
9. Add vegetables and fruit to EVERYTHING! By adding shredded carrots to a quesadilla you've majorly amped up the nutritional stats, and chances are you won't even notice the carrots amongst the tasty cheese and tortilla. Add fresh fruit to your milkshake, cereal, yogurt, salad and much more. Add fresh vegetables to your sandwich, lasagna, pasta sauce, or anywhere that you can sneak it in!

There are many suggestions out there for making your recipes more healthful. There are also more and more recipes available for making a healthier version of our favorite junk food, or even our favorite indulgent restaurant treats, at home. Search the web for your favorite junk food, and use words like substitute, alternative, healthier, etc.

Some websites that have a plethora of these kinds of recipes are: for fast food: FancyFastFood.comwww.fancyfastfood.com for cookies: lauraswholesomejunkfood.comhttp://www.lauraswholesomejunkfood.com/healthy-cookie-recipes.html for many different junk food makeovers: hungrygirl.comwww.hungrygirl.com, delish.comwww.delish.com, or try searching for your own!

In the case that you can't find a makeover for your favorite junk food, design your own! Use the quick tips to swap out ingredients that are junky for their healthier friends. Or also use the quick tips to add to your recipes to bump up the health stats. Experiment with different substitutions until you get the perfect guilt-free substitute for your favorite junk food. At this point, it would be called yummy health food. Awesome!