Effects of Unhealthy Fats and Large Meals

Have you seen the movie, “Super Size Me”? If you haven’t, I highly recommend it. It’s an eye opener to the effects of fast food  (what I prefer to refer to as DEAD food), on the human body. A man by the name of Morgan Spurlock decided to take it upon himself, and perform an experiment of the effects of fast food on the body, McDonald’s, in particular. He begins by going to his physician, getting his health stats, and used them as a baseline throughout the movie, as he challenged himself to eat nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days. It’s a low budget film, but gets its point across, sometimes in rather vulgar, but truthful ways.

Most people don’t eat McDonald's fare for every meal everyday, but many do patronize it everyday. Let’s face it, with all the ‘food’ stuffs that are currently classified as food, but rather are DEAD foods (meaning, they have been adulterated, processed, refined, and had things added to them to keep them stable for a shelf life of several years). Live foods are rich in enzymes, rich in flavor, easy to digest, and will quickly spoil if not eaten, and/or stored properly. LIVE foods FEED the body, DEAD foods tend to deplete, and in many instances, lower the vitality of the body,

Turns out, this man becomes ill, overweight, lethargic, gets high blood pressure, and experiences several other discomforts. You see, food fare such as Mcdonald's, or candy bars, or ice cream, or anything with a high unhealthy fat ratio, will leave the immune system, and circulatory system feeling groggy. The cells in our system that fight disease now must work through sludgy blood to get to where they need to be, transit time is slowed tremendously. Some people have performed this experiment on their own. They ate clean (live fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, lean proteins, and no mucus forming foods), for an entire week. Then they hit their cardio first thing in the morning hard, say the stairs. They made note of the highest level they could maintain for 1 minute, and the highest level they could maintain for 30 seconds. They waited three days to fully recover from their max levels on the stairs. Then, they ate one day of mucus forming foods: cheese, boxed cereals, pasta, eggs, perhaps a bowl of ice cream before going to bed. They woke and tried to perform the same cardio, at the same levels, at the same time of day. The result? They couldn’t hardly breathe, let alone keep the pace they had previously enjoyed just a few days prior. Of course, I don’t suggest anyone try this without the approval of your doctor, it could be risky. In fact, studies have shown that having either a meal with a large amount of unhealthy fats, or even an unusually large meal (such as one would have at Thanksgiving), quadrupled the chance of having a heart attack within the next two hours!!!!!

The reason for this is because cardiac output of blood is increased and diverted to the intestinal circulation to aid with the overwhelming task of digestion, which can take as long as 6 hours, or more, leaving other organs, including the heart and brain, relatively deprived.  As described earlier, circulation in general becomes less effecient.

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

Basically, eat clean, at least 80% of the time, ideally all the time. When holidays or other special occasions come around be sure to:

1. Eat clean prior to attending the event, this way you’re less likely to over do it.

2. Stay away from the small unhealthy finger foods. Look for a fresh vegetable tray. Skip the dressing.

3. Look for clean salads, or better yet, offer to bring one yourself.

4. Opt for a smaller plate if you’ve already had some munchies. Use a dessert plate for your dinner instead of the full size dinner plate.

5. Stay with modest portions on meats, and small portions on potatoes, stuffing and the like. Fill half your plate with fresh vegetables/salad.

5. Stay with water, tea, or other beverages low in sugar, if any.

6. Eat slowly, very slowly, enjoy the taste, enjoy the conversation. Enjoy the atmosphere.

7. Commit ahead of time, there will be no seconds.

8. Stick with a piece of fruit for dessert, or if you feel you just can't do without it, share a dessert.

Of course, the holidays and special events of our lives are meant to be enjoyed. I think we all have splurges every now and then, let’s just make mindful choices when we’re in these circumstances, and take responsibility for them. Let's learn from past experience, and challenge ourselves to bump it up a notch each year.

Happy Holidays!