What Is Vegan Junk Food? Is It Healthy To Eat?

Junk food is pretty much the same if you are vegan or non-vegan. We can define junk food as food that is convenient, often delicious, but nutritionally poor. Nutritionally poor depends on your diet of course, but a vague definition is something high in sugar, and saturated fats, while also being low in protein and micronutrients such as vitamins, fibre, and iron.

This definition essentially puts all diets that do not restrict certain food groups (unlike keto and paleo) in the same pool, avoiding junk food is a good practice. In this current marketplace, the junk food options for vegans and omnivores are pretty similar. Junk food can consist of burgers, pizzas, greasy takeaways, desserts, and chips. At PlantX, we carry all these items!

To clarify it even further, let's take chips as an example. Chips are salty, and crispy, and have a lovely oily coating from the frying. While they are delicious, this vegan junk food contains very little protein and micronutrients, while containing high levels of saturated fat and carbs. This means that it tips our balanced diet towards being more unhealthy.

That being said, a little bit of the best junk food now and then won’t hurt a bit! If you’re trying to lose weight, obviously try to indulge less often, but otherwise, it’s all good! Here at PlantX, we have the best vegan junk food snacks for you to enjoy, as well as some easy meals to prepare to show you how to stop being a junk food vegan.

Chocolate

Let’s start with an obvious one: chocolate. Chocolate is derived from the cacao plant, though modern chocolate has a lot of sugar added to it. Cacao has a lot of health benefits, but chocolate is quite processed and does not have these same benefits. Sugar can be incredibly addictive, making your brain desire more the more you eat.

Vegan chocolate has come on leaps and bounds in the last decade. From being a chalky, dry replica to becoming frightfully close to the version containing animal products.

At PlantX, we don’t discourage eating vegan chocolate, we encourage it! We think it’s important to reward yourself and indulge when appropriate. These bars from 7th Heaven are some of our favourites to do so. They’re incredible with the best texture and flavour.

Check Out - Best Vegan Chocolate Bar You Should Try

Pretzels

Pretzels, though we love them, are fairly bad for you. They’ve not got a lot of nutritional value and have a lot of bad ingredients. Healthy vegan junk food can make an argument for itself, but not with pretzels.

That being said, if you like pretzels then you should be able to enjoy them! These chocolate-covered pretzels are some of our favourites. The chocolate and salty flavours mix so well together that they are the perfect snack for a movie night!

Chips

Another North American favourite. Though many chips are vegan, many flavours have a cheesy flavour that is not. These cheddar and sour cream chips from No Whey are completely vegan and insanely good!

Chips are very bad at making you feel full, but they are amazing. They are a favourite to pair with a beer at a picnic or in front of the game on the weekend. Have these on hand for your vegan loved one or the whole family!

Also Read - 9 Vegan Chips To Satisfy Your Crunchy Cravings

Pizza

Here’s a big one for us, pizza. Though this deep-dish pizza might cause some controversy among pizza authenticity experts, we love it. It is gluten-free, has a great amount of protein, and a lot of nutrients are present in the sauce. However, it is high calorie and shouldn’t be eaten all the time.

If you have a fast metabolism then absolutely go for it! We have a few options to choose from, with some having a higher protein content. If you don’t have a high metabolism, try and share this with a few others to minimize the junk food impact on your body.

Mac n Cheese

A modern favourite among vegan junk food snacks. This isn’t healthy vegan junk food, though it is not super high in calories. There is a good amount of carbs in this so if you’re eating it before your workout, you won’t feel the impacts as badly.

This vegan mac n cheese is one of the easiest vegan junk food snacks on the market. It is a recreation of a nostalgic American classic. Simply add hot water to this and you’ll have a fantastic meal in minutes. Be sure to keep this as a treat, however, having too much is not super good for you!

Check Out - Ultimate Guide To Vegan Cheese

Alternatives

So far, we’ve given you a lot of options for how to eat a lot of junk food. We intended to show you what vegan junk food looks like. Many people think being vegan is healthier, and we tend to agree, but it isn’t healthier if you’re just eating chips all the time. It is healthier in the sense that you are not eating as much saturated fat and other hidden ingredients in animal products.

Having said that, we should show you what healthy vegan food looks like, while also being convenient. This Indian protein bowl is a fantastic option. It is as easy to prepare as any of these other options and has 12g of plant protein per serving! Learn how to stop being a junk food vegan with us today by buying some of these amazing, healthy meals.

We hope you have enjoyed learning a little bit about how to combat vegan junk eating. The best thing to do is try to eat as many whole foods as possible, avoid fast food whenever possible, and by keeping a colourful plate.