Wednesday, July 29, 2009

You Are What You Eat


I watch Good Morning America (GMA) most mornings. If you do too you may have already heard this story, so sorry.

A few weeks back, Good Morning America did a segment on how a high fat restaurant meal immediately affects your body and the fat present in your bloodstream. I have to say I was somewhat disgusted.

ABC News producer Jon Garcia and reporter Yunji de Nies went to the University of Maryland Medical Center to put an appetizer, entree and dessert to the test.

Before they ate, researchers took blood samples and gauged the health of their arteries with an ultrasound. They both passed the tests and were deemed perfectly healthy.

The three-course meal: an appetizer (deep fried macaroni and cheese), entree (quesadilla burger) and dessert (mega-sized deep dish sundae) packed 6,190 calories and 187 grams of saturated fat. The USDA recommends that adults our age eat roughly 2,000 calories per day, and no more than 20 grams of saturated fat. This means this single meal packed more than three times the daily recommended calories, and nearly 10 times the saturated fat suggested by federal guidelines.

Neither could finish the massive portions. They both felt tired and sluggish after eating. Jon even got a severe headache.

They waited two hours and got new blood tests. Jon's blood samples showed an obvious, significant difference. While his pre-meal blood sample was relatively clear, his post-meal sample was extremely cloudy -- you could literally see the fat that was now flooding his system.

de Nies's blood also showed a difference, though not nearly as dramatic as Jon's. On the other hand, an ultrasound revealed a startling change. A large dose of saturated fat causes a chemical reaction, wherein the arteries narrow and do not dilate properly. This means the heart must work harder to pump blood through the arteries. In de Nies's case, her heart was working so intensely to pump blood through my narrowed arteries, you could actually hear the difference in my blood flow.

Today GMA aired a segment suggested by a viewer (not me) who asked how your body reacts to a healthy meal. The results were encouraging. The meal of soybeans, salmon, veggies, rice and a shared dessert of apple pie. Not only did the fat levels within the bloodstream not increase like they did with the fatty meal, they actually created positive cardiovascular results.

Watch entire video here.

I was much more motivated by seeing what a healthy meal could do for me that what a nasty one does to hurt my body. I can't really explain why other than I prefer to focus on the bright side and am more motivated by positive reinforcement than the negative.

Once again this proves what we all know... you are what you eat!
Shannan


Source: Good Morning America

1 comment:

Hanlie said...

That is an awesome video! Thank you for the link! You're right, it does motivate me to eat healthy and avoid the bad meals!

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