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How much do you love junk food? If you’re an American, the answer is probably “a lot.” And hey, it’s not that bad to splurge on junk food once in a while, right?
Wrong.
As much as we’d like to think that we can afford to indulge, even one meal that’s completely, totally stuffed with junk can have an adverse effect on our bodies. Here are just some things that a diet filled with junk can do to you in a short period of time.
- Your arteries narrow. Sure, you already know that eating junk clogs your arteries and raises your cholesterol. But even one meal high in saturated fat can have an effect on your arteries. One study, in which several men ate meals high in saturated fat, found that their arteries narrowed by 24% within hours after eating. And that’s just in the short run.
- It plays tricks on your brain. High-sugar foods create the same effect in your brain as substance addiction. They release opioids and dopamine, meaning you start to associate these junk foods with feelin’ good. This just makes you want more of them, and then you enter what is a very real addiction spiral.
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- The crash takes a toll. Just like you get an addictive rush from junk food, you also get a devastating crash. A “sugar rush” is your insulin spiking, and a “sugar crash” is your body soaking it quickly and leaving you with nothing. That absorption is what leaves you tired and cranky and wanting more.
- You start looking worse. High-fat, high-sugar foods can leave your skin looking inflamed or dull. You’ll look more tired and less alive the more junk food you eat. Just stay away.
- Your metabolism slows. Even eating junky food for five days can slow down your metabolism and have a negative effect in the long run. A study done on high-metabolism college-aged men showed that eating a high-fat, high-sugar diet for five days made their muscles less capable of making sugar into energy.
Crazy, right? As much as we all love junk food, there really is just no way around it: there's no dosage of it that's good for you.
How much junk do you eat on a weekly basis?
Photo Copyright © 2011 johnjoh/Flickr
