Modals in The Article
This is your body on fast food
A client recently
asked me, “How often can
I get away with eating junk food?” She knows that my nutrition philosophy is
the “80:20 rule”: Eat healthy foods as often as possible (at least 80 percent
of the time), but also enjoy the occasional less healthy food (less than 20
percent of the time), if that’s what you really want.
I’ve seen this
approach work well with my clients who were previously chronic dieters yet
hadn’t been able to lose weight. Once I give them permission to have “forbidden
foods,” those foods lose their power and they’re able to make healthier choices
the bulk of the time.
There is some
evidence that “cheat meals” (although I hate that term) can help boost fat loss and mental health
among dieters. Yet I wanted to give my client a more quantifiable answer. Could
a few days of junk food or even a single fast food meal make a difference in
your overall health?
Junk
food and fast food defined
What is “junk
food”? Essentially any food that is highly processed, high in calories and low
in nutrients. Junk food is also usually high in added sugars, salt and
saturated or trans fats. Some evidence points to junk foods as being as
addictive as alcohol and drugs.
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“Fast food” is
food that is prepared quickly and is eaten quickly or taken out. Although there
are a growing number of healthier fast food options, most fast food can still be classified
as junk food.
Long-term
effects of eating junk food
Eating a poor
quality diet high in junk food is linked to a higher risk of obesity,
depression, digestive issues, heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes,
cancer, and early death. And as you might expect, frequency matters when it
comes to the impact of junk food on your health.
A review of studies on fast
food and heart health found having fast food more than once a week was
linked to a higher risk of obesity, while eating fast food more than twice a
week was associated with a higher risk of metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes
and death from coronary heart disease.
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Short-term
effects of junk food
It’s human nature
to think about benefits and risks over the short term rather than considering
the impact our choices have over the long term. So how does consumption of junk
food affect your body over the short term?
A
few days of junk food
Just a few days of
junk food could change your metabolism. A small study of
12 healthy young men found eating junk food for just five days led to a reduced
ability of their muscles to turn glucose into energy, even though they didn’t
eat more calories as part of the study. Over the long term, this change could lead to insulin
resistance and eventually type 2 diabetes.
Another effect of
just a couple of days of junk food is poor digestion. Because junk food lacks
fiber, eating too much of it could lead to constipation.
One
junk food meal
That single fast
food meal can
narrow your arteries, leading to an increase in blood pressure.
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And the quick
spike in your blood sugar from eating junk foods high in refined carbohydrates
and added sugars can cause a surge in insulin, leading to a quick drop in blood
sugar. That leaves you feeling tired, cranky and hungry for more.
Just one serving
of junk food can
increase inflammation throughout your body. Further, an Australian
study suggests that in people with asthma, a fast food meal high in
saturated fat can
increase inflammation in the airway, potentially making an asthma attack more
likely. . So it seems the quick hit of junk food, while fleetingly rewarding,
does carry short-term risks.
The
good news: Every healthy meal helps
The amount of
inflammation and oxidative stress your body will experience after eating
occasional junk food seems to be a function of the “big picture” of your
choices over time.
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If you want to
enjoy junk food once in a while but are concerned about the impact on your
health, take a look at your overall health habits. Do you smoke or overdo it on
alcohol? Are you exercising regularly and eating plenty of nutritious foods
such as vegetables, fruit, legumes, fish, nuts and seeds, and whole grains?
When it comes to your health, it seems you can “get away with” the occasional junk food more
easily when you follow a healthy lifestyle most of the time. So think about
your ratio of healthy to less healthy foods. Are you achieving 80:20 or is
there room for some improvement?
When you’re making
the choice between a healthier option and junk food, consider that just one
healthy meal a day worked into the typical American diet could reduce overall
stress and inflammation in your body. Every meal is an opportunity to
positively impact your health.
Based on the
current research, my advice to my client essentially remains the same: Once
you’re aware of all of the short-term and long-term impacts of junk food and
you still really want some, have it less than once a week and really savor it.
Then get right back to enjoying nourishing, nutritious foods.
Passive Voice in The Article
Listening to Music Good For Your Health
If you’re looking for an easy
way to transform your mood, cue the music.Studies have shown that music can
buoy your mood and fend off depression. It can also improve blood flow in ways
similar to statins, lower your levels of stress-related hormones like cortisol and ease pain. Listening to music before an operation can
even improve
post-surgery outcomes.
How can music do so much
good? Music seems to “selectively activate” neurochemical systems and brain
structures associated with positive mood, emotion regulation, attention and
memory in ways that promote beneficial changes, says Kim Innes, a professor of
epidemiology at West Virginia University’s School of Public Health.
Innes coauthored a 2016 study that found music-listening could boost mood and
well-being and improve stress-related measures in older adults suffering from
cognitive decline. Her
study compared the benefits of music to those of meditation—a
practice in vogue for its mental-health perks. She found that both
practices were linked to significant improvements in mood and sleep quality.
“Both meditation and music listening are potentially powerful tools for
improving overall health and well-being,” Innes says. If the idea of listening
to music seems a lot more practicable to you than meditating, these findings
are great news.
But music can also agitate
and unsettle, experts have learned.
Along with inducing stress,
Loewy says, the wrong music can promote rumination or other unhelpful mental
states. One 2015 study from Finland found that music can bolster
negative emotions—like anger, aggression or sadness—much the same way it can
counteract these feelings. Why? The rhythm and other characteristics of the
songs we select can modulate our heart rates and the activity of our brain’s
neural networks, explains Daniel Levitin, a professor of psychology who
researches the cognitive neuroscience of music at McGill University in Canada.
Tracks with a slow tempo,
gradual chord progressions and drawn-out notes tend to be calming, Levitin
says, while chaotic and up-tempo music tends to have the opposite effect. But
all of this is subjective. Levitin says he’s encountered people who have said
that AC/DC is their relaxation music. “These were people who normally listened
to Swedish speed metal, so to them AC/DC was soothing,” he says. “There’s no
one piece of music that will do the same thing for everyone.”
There’s also no single
“music center” in the brain, he says. “One thing people find surprising is that
music activates nearly every region of brain we’ve mapped so far.” This hints
at music’s universality and power to affect us.
Handika Himawan
13116179
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