What has giving up fast food done for you?

CoachReddy

Re #1: For the umpteenth time, NOBODY here is arguing for a diet made up entirely of fast food. Of course a diet based completely around fast food would have ill effects. Vitamin deficiencies for one thing. (On the other hand, there are exceptions to every rule. Morgan Spurlock f*cked his health eating fast food for his documentary; whereas Tom Naughton improved his health eating fast food for his)

Re #2: you are coming back to your compounding interest hypothesis again. One meal had no effect. So why would one meal here and there have any major effect?

Diabetics prick themselves with a tiny needle multiple times a day... do you see them walking around bleeding all over the place?

they also prick themselves in different places to let the others heal right?

the one meal DID have a small effect - the person doing the study brushed it off as insignificant. I argue it's not insignificant if you continue to do it on a regular basis over time. i'll start looking around and see if i can find studies.

CoachReddy

Do you want me to make a doctors appointment, get a full panel, and post my results here? Because I'm about due anyway....

haha go for it and let's compare! i've got my numbers from my last physical. :P

hannahcall2

I started making way healthier way better tasting foods at home that take 5 minutes to prepare (finishing my last bite of a chicken burrito as I write). I can't remember the last time I ate fast food (except Subway) and I imagine the next time I do I will vomit (licking my plate). Experiment with food, and find out what gets you in the car so you can hurry home and make it.

vjohn04

Taso42: 1
Coach Reddy: 0

boom.

/thread

CoachReddy

that was quick:

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/10/even-in-healthy-eaters-high-fat-foods-quickly-affect-arteries/

In the study, a group of 20 healthy university students was fed a pair of commercially available breakfast sandwiches (the researchers declined to specify which ones to avoid singling out one chain at the expense of the overall finding) that included processed cheese, egg and ham on a bun and added up to 860 calories, 1,500 milligrams of sodium and 50 grams of fat—roughly as much sodium and fat as an adult is supposed to eat in a day.

Just two hours after eating the pair of sandwiches, the students’ blood vessels already showed the ill effects of the high-fat meal. Their VTI numbers were 15 to 20 percent lower than on other days when they hadn’t eaten any breakfast. Although the effect was temporary—the students’ VTI numbers returned to normal over the course of the day—it still demonstrates the fact that high-fat foods can do more harm, more quickly, than researchers had previously assumed.

“The real question is: what’s this doing to blood vessels over a period of time?” Anderson said. “Previously, our lab has shown that this VTI measurement, in a group of 400 middle-aged men studied for a decade, was associated with heart attack or stroke, so we think it’s a good barometer of blood vessel health.” Over the course of decades, reduced blood flow in these types of small blood vessels can cause plaque and cholesterol to build up.

taso42

Do you want me to make a doctors appointment, get a full panel, and post my results here? Because I'm about due anyway....

haha go for it and let's compare! i've got my numbers from my last physical. :P

Ok. After my next physical I'll update this thread. Keep in mind I'm 11 years older than you.

I may have the results from my last one in the filing cabinet upstairs. The doctor made a point to tell me that my cholesterol was not only within range, but excellent; and I had no deficiencies, not even vitamin D, which is out of the ordinary for Seattle.

kimberlykalie

Buy yourself a really good looking insulated lunch bag. Then pack it with healthy individually wrapped snack food items such as almonds, fruit or applesauce cups, even individual snack size nut butters with whole grain crackers. Each morning you can add a cold pack, mini carrots, hard cooked egg, pickles, tuna or other appealing foods. Sometimes I carry healthy cereals in a little dish. Over pack your bag, because then there has to be something in the bag that is appealing to you. If it is close at hand in the car you will avoid that desire to hit the drive through.

taso42

so after ONE meal there were actual differences in how the body responded, even though they weren't "significant", so the ACTUAL conclusion to draw from this is that tiny difference repeated every day for a year, two years, 10 years, could eventually amount to a LARGE difference!

NO NO NO. This is not how studies work. You don't make up some hypothesis and say this is the conclusion. You do a study, examine the results, and then report the conclusion.

I'm tired of this. Can we end it? Or at least argue about something else. How about cardio vs strength or iso vs compound? How about meal timing? Carbs? Anything. This has become so tiring.

CoachReddy

so after ONE meal there were actual differences in how the body responded, even though they weren't "significant", so the ACTUAL conclusion to draw from this is that tiny difference repeated every day for a year, two years, 10 years, could eventually amount to a LARGE difference!

NO NO NO. This is not how studies work. You don't make up some hypothesis and say this is the conclusion. You do a study, examine the results, and then report the conclusion.

I'm tired of this. Can we end it? Or at least argue about something else. How about cardio vs strength or iso vs compound? How about meal timing? Carbs? Anything. This has become so tiring.

can we at least agree that his study was terribly flawed? One meal? 6 people? Hardly overwhelming evidence of anything... also he's just a dude who did a study... it wasn't backed by any publication or medical establishment. He literally DISMISSED his own results! He said there WAS a difference, but for some reason that wasn't important!?

sigh... i know this is getting ridiculous.

can we just compare our vitals and be done with it? :P

EDIT: oh, and i know that's not how studies work. I would have seen those results and said "this requires further study to see if these minor effects get better, worse, or stay the same over time". New hypothesis.

Queen_JessieA

I don't eat out at fast food places a lot, but I have never felt the desire to give them up completely. I adore me some CFA!! I love their chargrilled salads and chargrilled chicken sandwiches...and their carrot and raisin salad. Yummy!

taso42

can we just compare our vitals and be done with it? :P

What's your squat, deadlift, bench, and bodyweight, brah?

CoachReddy

can we just compare our vitals and be done with it? :P

What's your squat, deadlift, bench, and bodyweight, brah?

**** that **** - lets just whip 'em out right now.

rbjd2004

Cutting out fast food (and having a scale in my home that I can use whenever I want... even daily) has made me very aware of bloating. I VERY rarely eat fast food, but when I do I'm usually 2-3 pounds heavier the next day. It's all water weight, but I now recognize the sluggish feeling and the sodium overload of it.

Even if I'm imagining it, I think that's okay. I just feel better when I cook at home and know what's actually going into my meals.

Edit: My biggest tip is to just stick with the change. I used to feel like cooking/food prep was a chore, and now it's part of my routine. I don't even realize or care how much time it takes. I eat a lot of chicken and salad heavy with tomatoes and sweet peppers or both. Some people cringe at my recipes because they're pretty acidic... I have never been affected by heartburn unless I go out for a big BBQ meal or something, so I don't notice it at all. Find what works for you, and just stick with it. After a few weeks you will hopefully notice a difference and stick with it. If not, well, as you can tell from this thread, plenty of people have had success without nixing fast food. Do what feels right for you!

carleighsmama

We don't eat a lot of fast food in our household. My favorite fast food is Subway. I'll never completely cut fast food out of my life. It's a fun treat to have here and there. I have always taken my own food to work because eating out five days a week is not in our budget.

Erikalynne18

my co-workers look at me with funny looks... i'm guessing they have bets going on when I'll cave lol.

(I work at a fast food restaurant... CONSTANT temptation).

oh, also I've lost 20 lbs :P

arenadiva21

As long as it fits in your macros then you can eat fast food every day for all meals.

Love Fanboys!

Sarauk2sf

That is insulting. I stated a few criteria for "health" earlier in this thread. Here are a few off the top of my head:
- free of disease
- strong immune system
- well-functioning organs
- good blood pressure
- good blood cholesterol
- good resting heart rate
- good strength
- good body composition
- feeling of well being
- free of vitamin deficiencies

My whole premise here is that eating fast food, or any sort of food for that matter, within the context of a good diet will absolutely not prevent one from achieving the criteria above, or any other criteria that can be considered "good health". Let's go as far as replacing the word good with the word excellent. I will dare say, that I, DavPaul, AnvilHead, and a great many others on this website are in EXCELLENT health even while consuming "fast food" regularly.

Just to reiterate another main point of this whole philosophy - no one food can be considered healthy or unhealthy. All food is healthy (fine, let's take synthetic trans-fats as the exception). A person's overall diet is what makes them healthy or unhealthy.

I am 100% certain that I am in much better health than a great many people who have never consumed fast food in their life. Of course this is not BECAUSE I eat fast food, but despite it, because my diet AS A WHOLE is exceptional.

got it. here's a hypothetical for you to ponder: what about a person who eats exactly the same diet as you, but replaces your fast food with whole foods? no difference in your health?

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

3foldchord

Why give it up? I like my cake and eat it too

The OP said it would always end up making her feel bad. (Dang, now I forget if the OP was a gal,or a dude)
Anyway, that seems reason enough to try a change of being fast-food-free.

The question wasn't 'is fast food bad and to be avoided'..

cmriverside

So, if I eat an egg on an english muffin with a slice of cheese and ham, but I make it at home, and it takes me about 8 minutes......is that fast food?

megsmom2

I haven't given up anything. We still go for fast food occasionally. I order sanely..and enjoy my meal. Not often. But now and then hurts nothing. The moment I tell myself "never" its setting up a rebellious binge so I never say never.