Weight Loss Blog

One Meal Away From Bad Health

Want to know how many cheeseburgers you'd have to eat before they start doing damage to your body? The answer, according to a review of new dietary research, is just one. Just one high-fat, high-sugar meal can trigger a biochemical cascade, causing inflammation of blood vessels and immediate, detrimental changes to the nervous system, according to the paper, published this week in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. And just one healthy meal helps return your body to its optimal state. "Your health and vigor, at a very basic level, are as good as your last meal," says lead author James O'Keefe, head of preventive cardiology at the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo.

this from a recent story in Time magazine.

What happens when you eat, is that the food is digested into the various nutrients, amino acids (building blocks of protein), sugar and fat. If your last meal happens to be junk food, the rush in sugar causes a huge spike in your blood sugar leading to various short term conditions such as blood vessel constriction, tissue inflammation and free radical's that can damage all your cells.

The opposite is true as well.

Your health can be restored as quickly as the next meal. Make it a meal of lean meat, green vegetables, legumes, whole grains, sugar and salt free and things begin to reverse.

I'm not sure if you've noticed this effect after eating junk food, but I certainly have. Feeling good is as simple as eating a new meal of good healthy green foods.

The article in Time continues...

Regardless of its benefits, healthy food can leave you feeling unsatisfied if you're used to eating junk. Junk food distorts a person's hormonal profile, says O'Keefe.

"The more you eat it the more you crave it. It becomes a vicious cycle"

Just as we can be addicted to pop, coffee and cigarettes, Junk food can leave us feeling a way that we get used to. Making the switch to a healthier diet may take some adjustments and the need to overcome the "trick of the tongue". Good food may not taste so appealing in the first few bites, but your body will become accustomed to how much better you feel soon enough.

Labels: health

One Meal Away From Bad Health
was posted by Rob @ 1/23/2008 09:55:00 AM | Discuss this post or any other in my Weight Loss Forum

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