The human body is not unlike that of an automobile: place inferior gasoline in the tank, fail to change the dirty filters, allow the various fluids to be come sludgy and the vehicle will cease to run. People whose diets consist mostly of refined, sugary, high sodium and processed foods deprive their bodies of vital nutrients that keep mental and physical processes running at optimum levels.
High Octane Fuel
Spurlock photo by Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Morning News
Morgan Spurlock illustrates this with bold accuracy in his Supersize Me narrative where he spends an entire month eating three meals a day of nothing but McDonald's fare. It's just a few days before Spurlock realizes a tangible change to his expanding body and a few more when he experiences cognitive and mood issues. By month's end, he's amassed an assortment of physical and mental ills that can not be ignored.
The Ugly Truth
The Ugly Truth
Not only does he gain 24.5 pounds, increase his cholesterol by 65 points and body fat from 11% to 18%, and turn his liver to fat, but he also doubles his risk for heart disease and heart attack. "I felt depressed and exhausted most of the time, my mood swung on a dime and my sex life was non existent. I craved this food more and more when I ate it, and got massive headaches when I didn't."
Spurlock's experience and accompanying facts did not bode well with the fast food giant, yet it did demonstrate beyond any doubt how people who consume more than a small amount of adulterated food establish a dangerous precedent. The occasional fast food burger and fries creates no real problem for a body that's otherwise fortified with a balanced combination of fruits, vegetables, grains and lean protein.
The ease with which non-nutritive foods can be obtained is a primary reason why junk food is chosen over other options, according to Marion Nestle, New York University's professor of nutrition, food studies and public health. A person's choices have tremendous impact on body performance: the type, quantity and nutritive value can either fortify against disease or invite it. Moreover, the positive assimilation of food-based nutrients, vitamins and minerals serves to increase immunity and thereby stave off illness. As such, proper nutrition (coupled with exercise) is a cornerstone of prevention.
Spurlock's experience and accompanying facts did not bode well with the fast food giant, yet it did demonstrate beyond any doubt how people who consume more than a small amount of adulterated food establish a dangerous precedent. The occasional fast food burger and fries creates no real problem for a body that's otherwise fortified with a balanced combination of fruits, vegetables, grains and lean protein.
The ease with which non-nutritive foods can be obtained is a primary reason why junk food is chosen over other options, according to Marion Nestle, New York University's professor of nutrition, food studies and public health. A person's choices have tremendous impact on body performance: the type, quantity and nutritive value can either fortify against disease or invite it. Moreover, the positive assimilation of food-based nutrients, vitamins and minerals serves to increase immunity and thereby stave off illness. As such, proper nutrition (coupled with exercise) is a cornerstone of prevention.
High Octane Fuel
Providing the body with nutritionally viable food sources is not a challenging objective, yet the ever-growing obesity problem continues to be a prevalent issue in today's overprocessed society. To walk down the aisle of most grocery stores is to wander through an environment of artificially-colored, nutritionally-deplete and altogether fake food that has overtaken the basis of contemporary diets.
Kids living in this era of convenient yet harmful choices have little knowledge why boxed cereal for breakfast, a Lean Pocket, chips and soda for lunch, and a Hungry Man frozen meal for dinner have a collective impact upon body and mind, and that impact is not good.
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