Fast Food Redemption

tidbits that tantalizeReally - This Isn't Healthy?

Fast food addicts have reason to rejoice. The years of damage you've inflicted on your not-so-svelte self can be undone with a single step: quit. Yeah, it's really that simple, say researchers studying the impact of burgers, fries and sodas.

Researchers at Saint Louis University Liver Center studied mice that were fed a fast food diet and whose activities were severely restricted. "We wanted to mirror the kind of diet many Americans subsist on, so the high fat content is about the same you'd find in a typical McDonald's meal, and the high fructose corn syrup translates to about eight cans of soda a day in a human diet, which is not far off from what some people consume," says Brent Tetri, M.D., a leading researcher in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, which can lead to cirrhosis and, ultimately, death. "But we were also keeping the mice sedentary, with a very limited amount of activity."

What's at stake? Well, we already know that fast food is loaded with fat and sugar. That's bad for the cholesterol, which is bad for the heart, which is bad for everything else in life. The sugar also raises the chance of developing diabetes. When you combine it all with a couch-potato lifestyle, you have the perfect recipe for a life riddled with disease and disappointment.

Now, scientists also find that cruising the fast food lane of life damages the liver. Doctors are actually seeing teenagers with cirrhosis. Yikes! It used to be you had to spend a lifetime devoted to hardcore drinking to earn that liver disease. I guess it all goes with the fast-living leads to fast-dying concept of the modern age.

What's the answer?

Ah, yes - that would bring us back to the "Q" word. Quit. Yes, put down the burger and, if you really want to get radical, pick up a carrot stick. Toss in a brisk walk around the block and you're well on your way to reversing the damage and reclaiming your cleaner, leaner liver.

To read more about the study, see this from ScienceDaily. To learn more about natural, healthy eating, see this from The World's Healthiest Foods.