I remember when I was trying to quit smoking years ago hearing that smoking one cigarette was so harmful that it reduced your life expectancy by approximately 11 minutes.

I had tried to quit smoking several times before that and had always failed. It is so hard.

There was something so startling in that estimate about the 11 minutes per cigarette of time alive I was losing that I think it helped me kick the habit.

It worked. I haven't smoked a cigarette in 30 years.

The 11 minutes per cigarette warning was the first thing I thought of when I saw this information from a study done by a nutritionist at the University of Michigan, about how bad eating or drinking ultra-processed foods -- or UPFs -- is for you.

The study ranked more than 5,800 American foods and determined their health costs by analyzing them based on their additives and micro- and macro-nutrients, like fats, calories and sugars.

That's interesting, but the thing that grabbed my attention was that the nutritionist used the same 'minutes of life" system to explain how bad junky foods are for you.

If you eat too much of this stuff and you are trying to get healthier, this list may have the same impact on you that the '11 minutes warning' had on me for the cigarettes back in the day.

1- Hot Dogs: The study found that a hot dog costs you an average of 36 minutes -- and if you wash that down with a soda, you're shaving off another 12 minutes from your life.

2- Cured Meats: Cured meats like prosciutto, could cost you 24 minutes of life.

3- Eggs and Breakfast Sandwiches: Eggs and breakfast sandwiches were third, with each shaving 13.6 minutes off someone's healthy lifespan.

4 -Cheeseburgers: Cheeseburgers, which take off nine minutes, raise the risk of an early death because they are red meats.

5- Bacon: Bacon, which takes off six minutes of life, may also raise the risk of an early death because it is a processed meat.