Does fast food affect how you feel?

fteale
fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
I often see people saying they have digestive problems or feel sluggish after eating junk food. I can't say I have ever experienced this. I don't eat fast food (being vegetarian), but the only food I find makes me feel really grotty after are pasta and white bread, which make me feel sick after one or two bites, so I don't eat them at all. Greasy food doesn't bother me at all! Is it something to do with bad meat? OR are some people just very sensitive to their digestive processes?
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Replies

  • sheila569
    sheila569 Posts: 269 Member
    When I used to eat french fries a couple times a week it never bothered me. Haven't had any since December - now ever the smell of the greasy bag that my daughter brings into the house makes me sick. So, I don't think its the meat, I think its the grease. If you didn't eat it for a while and then tried to eat it, you may feel the same way.
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    When I used to eat french fries a couple times a week it never bothered me. Haven't had any since December - now ever the smell of the greasy bag that my daughter brings into the house makes me sick. So, I don't think its the meat, I think its the grease. If you didn't eat it for a while and then tried to eat it, you may feel the same way.

    As I said I don't really eat fast food, I have fries maybe twice a year at most, but I have never found it bothers me when I do.
  • opuntia
    opuntia Posts: 860 Member
    OR are some people just very sensitive to their digestive processes?

    For me, this is the case. Hypersensitivity to my body in general, and to external stimuli. And I have digestive problems too. If I eat junk food, I feel it the next day. I get pain, discomfort and difficulty focusing. But from what I observe, this is not the norm. Although quite a few people say they get a heavy feeling in their stomach after eating junk food.

    I suppose too it depends how you define junk food - I mean processed food with artificial additives. Fries aren't necessarily junk food in my definition.
  • GnochhiGnomes
    GnochhiGnomes Posts: 348 Member
    I often see people saying they have digestive problems or feel sluggish after eating junk food. I can't say I have ever experienced this. I don't eat fast food (being vegetarian), but the only food I find makes me feel really grotty after are pasta and white bread, which make me feel sick after one or two bites, so I don't eat them at all. Greasy food doesn't bother me at all! Is it something to do with bad meat? OR are some people just very sensitive to their digestive processes?

    The only time it affected me was when I had my very first taste of a cheese burger from burger king when I was like 15. It gave me diarrhea for like two days, but that's common for people who don't have meat for quite a while.

    Other than that fast food affects me in the same way that 'whole foods' affect me.
  • momtokgo
    momtokgo Posts: 446 Member
    Fast food does terrible things to me. It makes me sluggish and I just feel gross. And the digestive issues. Ugh. The day after fast food I am useless. By fast food I mean deep fried. There are other things to get at a fast food restuarant that won't have the same effect.
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    Depends on the food, but yes.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    To me it's more a matter of quality. For the same calories, I could eat a cheeseburger at McD's that'll only satisfy me for an hour or two or I could go home and have a nice big chicken salad wrap and be full for hours. I'd much rather pick the chicken salad wrap because having to eat again that afternoon is a waste of calories and money.
  • taylor5877
    taylor5877 Posts: 1,792 Member
    Bad and fatty fast food yes...

    The grilled chicken select (Mcdonalds) that I got yesterday with no mayo and an extra chicken patty? No...
  • I used to ADORE fast food. I couldn't get enough.

    Nowadays, because I've distanced myself from it so much, it actually starts to make me feel a little sick, if not guilty. Grateful for it really. :)

    Although, I don't think I'll EVER leave my complicated relationship with chicken. It's just too damn good.
  • TheBrolympus
    TheBrolympus Posts: 586 Member
    It's the abundance of sodium in the fast food that does me in. Even if I keep my calories within my limits on a day with fast food, I will generally gain weight from water retention. I usually don't feel bad after eating it as long as I eat a NORMAL portion. :)
  • coliema
    coliema Posts: 7,646 Member
    When I used to eat fast food, maybe once a week if that, it didn't bother me but now it makes me sick. Except Taco Bell, lol.
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,010 Member
    Not really.
  • 100%. I had my gallbladder removed at 21 though, so anything with too much fat/oil makes me feel yucky.
  • Mbishop7684
    Mbishop7684 Posts: 171 Member
    Mine is a digestive system thing.

    Fast food completely messes with my digestive system. I never noticed that it did until I started eating healthier and then I realized on the rare occasion when I have a big mac or a breakfast sandwich from McDonald's my body because incredibly bloated, I retain water and weight.

    Then again, my body does this after I eat any time of red meat...steak or McDonald's so... take that as you will :-)
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    If I eat a lot of food high in sodium, which would include fast food, I feel bloated. But one meal of fast food does not make me feel any different. The only thing that nearly always gives me GI trouble is fatty beef steak. I eat it rarely but it never sticks around long when I do.
  • cblevitron
    cblevitron Posts: 243
    I think for a lot of people it's the grease of the fried foods.
  • jcjsjones
    jcjsjones Posts: 571 Member
    It has changed for me. I used to be a junk and fast food junkie. Now if I eat it it makes me sick to my stomach. I have also found that ground beef now does the same thing. My husband and I switched to turkey in January, and when I go to a friend's house my parents for a cook out I try to stick with chicken or even hot dogs. For some reason hamburgers really bother me.
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    I believe that most fast food restaurant use some type of flavor enhancer that does not agree with me. I have Crohn's disease, thus an ultra sensitive digestive system. ANYTHING that I eat from Mc Donalds makes my mouth swell and gives me severe belly ache. This even includes their smoothies. The only fast food places that don't seem to bother me at all are Wendy's and Chick-fil-A.
  • ElviraCross
    ElviraCross Posts: 331 Member
    I always have a stomachache after eating fast food. And I just feel crappy because I know that my body didn't benefit from at all. I really don't eat it tho so I don't worry about it too much.
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    Does that include Japanese fried food like tempura?
  • Fast food makes me feel sluggish, bloated,and just plain icky. I used to eat fast food three times a day if not more, and I always regretted eating it afterwards.

    McDonalds by far gave me the worst feeling of bloat. My body always felt puffy, especially my face. I don't have urges to eat that type of food anymore because I hate the feeling it gives me afterwards.

    Although, I still enjoy the Ice Cream treats :)
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Some people may have legitimate digestive issues to certain foods, but the vast majority of people who claim that "fast food only" makes them feel different, it's purely psychosomatic. They've spent so much time convincing themselves that a fast food burger is so much worse than a home made burger that their mind causes the body to react. It's basically the placebo effect in reverse.

    In the case of true digestive issues from food, you'd get similar stories to people already in this thread, where they feel I'll effects from eating a specific food, regardless of whether that food actually came from fast food or not. Also, an underlying illness that causes problems. Barring that, it's a total mental game.
  • LosingWeight4Good
    LosingWeight4Good Posts: 156 Member
    I used to ADORE fast food. I couldn't get enough.

    Nowadays, because I've distanced myself from it so much, it actually starts to make me feel a little sick, if not guilty. Grateful for it really. :)

    Although, I don't think I'll EVER leave my complicated relationship with chicken. It's just too damn good.

    ^^This for me too. Fast food totally affected how I felt physicially and more importantly mentally.
    Sure it was magical in the beginning. Sure it left me satisfied back then, but I knew it wasn't a healthy relationship. I knew I was getting used, and I felt so gross after. Those late night booty calls ruined my swagger, so I had to cut all ties. I distanced myself from the abusive relationship that I had gotten caught up in.

    Now, I can drive by his place and I don't even remember what the attraction was. He took so much from me, but really gave so little. And he certainly doesn't smell good. In fact, I gagged a little the last time I caught a whiff of his old tired game. Good riddance. I have moved on!
  • kaotik26
    kaotik26 Posts: 590 Member
    Maybe it's the meat part of it. I just feel like I have a rock in my stomach. I can do a couple french fries but a cheesburger? Nuh uh
  • HelloSweetie4
    HelloSweetie4 Posts: 1,214 Member
    I used to eat fast food all the time. Since I stopped eating it so much, the few times that I've had to have it (because i was on the go and couldn't make dinner) it's made me feel so gross. The rest of the day I would have stomache pains and feel so tired. I try very hard no to have it at all now, because I don't want to feel like that again
  • super_monty
    super_monty Posts: 419 Member
    Makes me feel bloated, greasy, fat, depressed, I swear it causes a poor nights sleep and hard poo!!!!!!
  • Tina0807
    Tina0807 Posts: 212
    Fast food makes my stomach hurt. I hate it. About 15 minutes after eating it I feel like *kitten*
  • FungusTrooper
    FungusTrooper Posts: 227 Member
    Everyone is different. For instance, the idea of feeling sick after two bites of normal white bread is pretty laughable to me.
  • It affects how I feel-in a good way. I pretty much love fast food and have to work at limiting it. It just makes me more satisfied than healthy food.
  • FireBrand80
    FireBrand80 Posts: 378 Member
    Yes, and I think it's almost entirely mental.