How Bad is Fast Food?

Fast food is obviously not that healthy, but how bad is it for you? I know it's high in fat, cholesterol, sodium, calories, etc., and can lead to obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease. But is this only a problem for those people who eat it all the time and don't exercise significantly?The reason I'm asking this is because I eat alot of fast food. Specifically, on average, a double quarter pounder meal from McDonald's daily. Plus, I drink a lot of Coca Cola, atleast a liter a day. I've never worried about my diet but I feel I'm getting older (21) and should probably take my health more seriously.I've always justified my eating habits by the fact that I'm very skinny (6'4 195lbs), and lean (10% body fat) and seem not to be able to gain wait, plus I exercise alot. More specifically, I lift and run everyday for about 2-3 hours, and on top of that I play sports such as Ultimate Frisbee and Freestyle grappling weekly.I don't want to give the impression that all I eat is fast food. I also eat alot of fruits and vegetables.So do I have anything to worry about? Does exercise negate a moderately (I hope moderately, I'm not really sure) bad diet?Coffee House, naturally.

Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

Neither exercise nor being thin will protect you from the harmful effects of having too much salt and "bad" cholesterol in your diet. The calories from sugar will probably be burnt off safely, but eating better will give you a more balanced nutrition and help your digestive tract - more serious, however, is the effect on your blood sugar levels. Every time you drink coke, you send your blood sugar rocketting, your body uses insulin to control this but keep doing it and eventually the mechanisms will wear out causing diabeties (likely). Sugary, acidic drinks will also damage your teeth and can contribute to stomach ulcers. High levels of caffeine are bad for you on many levels. Artificial sweeteners have their own side effects. Asides from the harm these things do directly through bad nutrition they also mean you're not eating a meal with good nutrition - you're not getting high quality proteins, fibre, vitamins and complex carbohydrates for example. Being that tall puts you at a higher heart attack risk anyway, so look after it.Your high exercise lifestyle means you will need a high calorie diet; but you're better off getting this from high quality food like eggs, and foods high in complex carbohyrdates like pasta that in empty calories like Coke and McDonalds.Finally, it's an expensive way to eat. You can eat healthier, tastier food for less.

Just because you are thin and exercise doesn't mean you aren't affected by your diet.There's all sorts of cancers that a poor diet can lead to, and there's also diabetes and tooth decay from the massive amounts of sugar you are getting in soda.Not to mention that McDonald's food is just really poor quality food, and therefore not likely to nourish your body as well as better quality food. Certainly, compared to real food, it doesn't taste as good, either. Soda is non-food, completely bereft of nutrients, and will actually dehyrate you because of the caffeine. Drink water.Fast food wastes a lot of natural resources in the way it is produced on large commercial farms and in the way it's trucked and flown many thousands of miles, and also the animals that supply the beef and chicken are not raised or slaughtered in a very humane way. Even the way commercial eggs are produced results in a pretty awful existence for those chickens.This message has been edited by schrafinator, 07-20-2005 09:07 AM

Hey Jack, does Gatorade, Powerade have the same effect on your bloodsugar? I usually drink 2 QTs of Powerade a day, but I run 4-8 miles a day.OP, why not hit subway or buy the McDonald's turkey sandwiches instead? As far as cokes go, I was addicted to them for years (still am if I let myself). Of course when I was 21 I was 6'2" 140. Then I balooned up (over 7 years...lifted weights too, but added 40 lbs of flab) to 240. My ideal weight for me is about 185 and I'm at 210 right now. Moral of the story, the cokes will catch up to you.This message has been edited by Tal, 07-20-2005 09:05 AM

---

I helped scare an old person-I stopped someone from keeping more of their money-So what if people want to have say in the places they live and the cars that they drive-I gave money to an environmental group that helped keep us dependant on foreign oil-I help the enemies of democracy get stronger by telling them laws don’t matter-What if one day I need an abortion-Sex with an intern, everybody does it-I help teach kids around America that America is always wrongDo you know what your DNC stands for?

Yes, Gatorade and Powerade are still loaded with sugar and they will both create the acids that lead to tooth decay, and contribute to insulin spikes.If you eat a normal healthy diet, you already have plenty of electrolytes stored in your system to relace the ones lost during a typical workout.Only people doing extremely strenuous exercise in extreme conditions get close to depleting their electrolytes.

Hi Mr Jack,From what you wrote, I gather you know something about food. So I have a question for you, concerning eggs, which you mentioned as high quality food.I have eight chickens walking around my house, five young ones, of which one is a cockerel for certain, another one I don't know yet, and three of which young hens. The other three are older hens, who lay eggs. I have about three eggs a day, sometimes two. I eat one egg everyday, and my girl friend occasionally eats an egg, so the eggs keep piling up. Soon the young hens will start laying as well, adding to the build-up of what I shall call Mount Egg. Sometimes we bake a cake, or make lemon-curd or mayonaise or aioli, which all contain eggs. Sometimes I give away eggs to family and friends.My question is: how many eggs can I eat without causing health problems? I like eggs and I wouldn't mind eating more than one each day. But is it wise?P.S.: Maybe Schrafinator would also be interested in giving some advice, I should've thought of that before. For your information, Schraf, my chickens enjoy a free range of about 2000 m² and some of them eat out of my hand.This message has been edited by Parasomnium, 20-Jul-2005 02:29 PM

Yaro,The topic list says you replied, but when I click the link, your message isn't there. Apparently something went haywire. Could you post it again?

Ya, I noticed that too.I was simply secondinging your question. I have had high cholesterol in the past, so I tend to avoid eggs like the plague. But I continualy hear that they are good for you.I just wanted to know what the facts about that are.

I wouldn't describe myself as an expert; just an interested party - I've read a few books on nutrition, and diets for body building.Eggs contain lots of high quality protein, but also a high level of fat and cholesterol. However, not all cholesterols are bad for you - some, in fact, actually help clear fatty deposits from your arteries. I forget what the types are called, sorry. Egg yolks contain the kind of cholesterol that is good for you. All this means that eggs are wonderful food providing you're burning off their high calorific content.It also makes a difference how you cook them. Boiled, cobbled or poached eggs are best since you add no fat to them. Scambled eggs and omlettes aren't too bad since you don't normally add more than a small amount of fat. Frying is worst. You can mitigate these effects through using less oil/fat and prefering olive oil. When you're onto putting eggs in as an ingredient in things there's so many options it's impossible to say how healthy they are.So, a couple of eggs a day won't do you any harm assuming you get a reasonable level of exercise and aren't eating fatty foods at your other meals.But, basically speaking, if you simply avoid processed foods, eat enough fruit and veg and don't add much extra fat or salt to your meals, you'll eat a decent enough diet.Egg nutrition: Egg, whole, cooked, hard-boiled Nutrition Facts & Calories

quote:

---

Hey Jack, does Gatorade, Powerade have the same effect on your bloodsugar? I usually drink 2 QTs of Powerade a day, but I run 4-8 miles a day.

---

I'm not familiar with either of those drinks, I don't think they're sold over on my side of the pond. But as I understand it Gatorade is simply another sugary, fizzy drink - and they're all bad for you. Is Powerade a 'sports drink'? Sports drinks aren't quite as bad, as they at least have a decent level of other nutrition in them and, as you drink them only during hard exercise your body will (hopefully) be burning the fuel they give. Still, I wouldn't want to be drinking them every day.IIRC a two-litre bottle of coke contains as much sugar as you would have by filling a typical breakfast bowl with granulated sugar. You wouldn't even think about chowing down on that much sugar - don't drink it, either. (Incidently, alcopop drinks contain even more sugar)

Thank you!That was very helpful. I usually boil my eggs, because then I can more easily take them with me for lunch, at work. Occassionally I fry them, but I only use olive oil, so I guess that's not so bad either.To celebrate, tomorrow I am going to eat TWO eggs with my lunch. Yummy!Thanks again.

Gatorade and Powerade are both sports drinks. Let me give you the Nutrition Facts32 fl oz (% is daily value 2K diet)Calories 240
Sodium 55mg 8%
Potassium 120mg 1%
Total Carbs 68g 24%
Sugars 60gNiacin 10%
B6 10%
B12 12%Neither are carbonated.Ingredients: Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Maltodextrin (Glucose Polymers), Citric Acid, Salt, Potassium Citrate, Modified Food Starch, Coconut Oil, Potassium Phosphate, Sucrose Acetate Isobutyrate, Yellow 6, Niacinamide (Vitamen B3), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamen B6), Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12)

---

I helped scare an old person-I stopped someone from keeping more of their money-So what if people want to have say in the places they live and the cars that they drive-I gave money to an environmental group that helped keep us dependant on foreign oil-I help the enemies of democracy get stronger by telling them laws don’t matter-What if one day I need an abortion-Sex with an intern, everybody does it-I help teach kids around America that America is always wrongDo you know what your DNC stands for?

That's about as I suspected. So, er, what I said. I wouldn't want to be drinking significant quantities of that everyday.

First off, you should watch "Super Size Me" by Morgan Spurlock. If that doesn't make you want to drop the McDs habit I don't think anything else will.Second thing, and I hope someone will correct me if I am wrong, as I understand it not only is the fat and cholesterol high in McDs food it is the worst kind you could eat. There are three 4 different types of fats.Monounsaturated
Polyunsaturated
Saturated
TransThe first two are actually good for you. Saturated fat is both good and bad for you leaning on the bad. Trans fat is terrible for you and you get tons of it from fast food. Info about fat typesFDA on fatsYou can get some of the good fats from things like olive oil or fatty fruits like avacadoes. Saturated fat mostly comes from animal products. Trans fat is/was common in things like chips or basically anything you buy from the grocery store that has been fried.I couldn't believe how bad soda was for me until I stopped drinking it. After I hit about 23-24 I started to gain a lot of weight even though I was exercising regularly. I didn't want to change my diet so I just figured it would level out at some point and that I would just work out more. Well that didn't work and I went up 2 pants sizes and about 45 lbs. I then made the decision to figure out how to eat better without giving up things that taste good.I started by completely removing sodas from my diet as a regular thing. I will still drink them at parties or on those days where I just need some caffein. I lost 5 pounds just making that change and I feel a lot better now that I am not on the caffein roller coaster.I also cut out coffee with was very hard for me. Not only was I a caffein addict but I loved to put lots of sweetner and flavors in my coffee. At first it was hard because I usually counted on a cup-o-joe to pick me up in the morning but after the shakes wore off I found that a strong cup of pepperment tea did a BETTER job of waking me up and you don't build up a chemical tolerance to it like you do caffein. I had to experiment with a few different brands of tea till I found one that was strong enough.Next we got rid of all of the vegetable oil except olive oil in the house. I also got rid of all the butter except a particular brand that I like because it is made from flaxseed oil which adds omega-3 fatty acids to my diet. Flaxseed is a better source of omega-3 than fish because you don't get all the bad stuff that you can get from fish like the heavy metals and such. Since I hate fish anyway this was a win-win.We are a salsa and chips type of family so dealing with chips was a big deal. I found some brands that use regular vegetable oil and a brand of salsa that we like made from fresh ingredients with no sugar. Not only does it taste better but I eliminated a huge source of sodium from both the chips and the salsa in the process as well.I am a meat lover so I could never to do the veggie only or vegan thing. Instead what I decided to do was make sure I knew where my meat was coming from. I found a local place that raised their own cattle all free range with no hormones. They still fatten up their cows but they do it the good old fashion way. The steaks and burgers I get from there I rarely have to dress up as much as I used to and I don't get that weird tired feeling after eating a nice steak. The one downside, the meat goes bad faster so you have to get it to the freezer quick and don't leave it out fresh for too long.Instead of the snack machine at work I bring in sunflower seeds. The sodium is bad but sunflower seeds are a much better snack than Little Debbie anything.We started buying the juices that were either pure juice or sweetened with Splenda instead of sugar. Same for ice-cream. Spenda is one of the greatest inventions ever for the dieter that loves sugar.Overall I am still trying to get rid of the last 30-35 lbs that I want. I'll probably settle for 25 since I have bulked up a bit at the gym. I am doing much more cardio exercises than lifting now. My attitude is a little better and I am less tired. So far so good!

---

Organizations worth supporting:
Electronic Frontier Foundation | Defending your rights in the digital world (Protect Privacy and Security)
Home | American Civil Liberties Union (Protect Civil Rights)
AAUP (Protect Higher Learning)