-"the ingredients in fast food have similar addictive effect compared to alcohol, cigarettes & drugs...loaded with sugar, highly processed carbs, saturated fats and trans fats. And those are just the ingredients we know about...many ingredients have not been tested."
-One research study found that "rats have shown that eating high levels of fat can cause the brain to secrete a chemical that encourages more eating and discourages physical activity" and it it only takes one high fat meal to kick off this process.
-"Both the sugar and the fat evoke brain chemicals called beta-endorphin and dopamine, which are also activated by heroin and cocaine...when you put the two together, it's more than one plus one...it's called a potentiated effect, with a bigger addiction response...it's like doing 2 drugs at once."
-"once you're inside, it's hard to choose the salads and other less-noxious menu items, b/c smelling the sugar and fried foods incites pleasure chemicals in the brain--the same chemical fix you get when you eat these items".
-"After their meals, people tend to feel happy and satisfied. Later, however, their insulin levels crash, and their mood drops. They crave more of the same fat- and sugar-laden foods, and will only feel better once they eat them."
-"Fast-food devotees overeat to feed their addiction and b/c they're not getting all the nutrients they require--even though they may consume as many calories in a single fast food meal as they need in an entire day to maintain their weight" Calorie dense and nutrient poor.
-"When they refine wheat into white flour, they take out 22 vitamins and minerals...they 'enrich' it by adding back only 4 vitamins and iron."
(this one struck home):
-2 groups of monkeys; one group ate 8% of their daily calories from trans fats and a control group didn't eat trans fat at all. The trans fat eating monkeys gained 3x as much weight as the control group, even though they ate the same number of calories AND much of the weight was BELLY FAT!!
-"Begin by admitting there is a problem, then make a plan to stop...for a week eat a lot of fruits and vegetables; healthy oils; lean meat; plenty of water; avoid trans fats, sugars, alcohol, caffeine."
There you have it...This is just some of the article. it was pretty intense to read and think that i am having Quade follow these eating habits and also Price is being exposed (in womb and through nursing).
I won't judge ANYONE who goes to fast-food restaurants and you may still see me in the drive-thru of my favorite places. But i think this article really opened my eyes to my choices that i was making. Maybe it has opened your eyes as well...feel free to keep them shut and take a big bite of a juicy hamburger...i promise i won't judge you for it.
8 comments:
sorry holly! i had already written this post before i got your comment! hopefully you didn't read it if you didn't want to!
I stand by my choice to eat the Happy Meal instead of a regular-sized meal.
Seriously though, I've been reading so much lately on how jacked up (the official term) food is now - scary! Currently reading Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" and its pretty interesting. We should all go in together and buy a grain mill so we can process our own whole wheat to cook with - I'm just sayin'...
la, la, la, la, la....NOT READING!!!!! :-)
the smell of fries is like a drug...i agree. proud of you for taking care of your family like you are....we're on board for an outdoor picnic with cheese and crackers and wine :)
I have a wonderful book, that I TOTALLY recommend...it is called
Super Baby Food. It tells how to make all of your baby food and has really fun cool ideas for toddler foods as well. It has a ton of info regarding nutrition for babies and toddlers. (it also contains information on how to make nontoxic household cleaners, and fun homeade crafts for your kids). I make my stuff in batches so it is so much easier. Also, you can save tons of money doing healthy meals! Just take it step by step and don't get overwhelmed, because that will just defeat the forward progress! With a bit of planning, it can be done!!! Thanks so much for sharing your insight, Heather--I love bringing awareness to this stuff since nutrition is what I have studied...it also make me think of my personal addiction to sweets....tomorrow is another day:)
Hi there...did you really have to put a pic of Quade eating an awesome sweet dish....yum yum. Makes me crave chocolate:)
We are not too bad in this area yet. Really the only fast food that we eat is Chick-Fil-A but Katherine and I are there about once a week. I rationalize that chicken nuggest are much better than a burger but she refuses the fruit cup in favor of my fries. She has not ventured to McD's yet but that is because I do not like it. After a 5 day vacation though I see that there are a lot of bad choices we can make that are not fast food as well. It is so hard with a toddler when you just want them to eat anything.
We're with you 95%. The other 5% is reserved for chic-fil-a- (for the every-other-month-go-out-to-eat-date). Sometimes I think I can tell a difference in behavior based on what Silas eats. And I'll tell ya- the post-fast food behavior isn't as pleasant.
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