Consumers are generally aware that eating a diet laden with fast food and processed foods is bad for their health. Children often recognize the signs for fast food establishments before they even know how to form full sentences.
Consumers are generally aware that eating a diet laden with fast food and processed foods is bad for their health. Children often recognize the signs for fast food establishments before they even know how to form full sentences.
Sure, treating yourself or your child to these types of meals as a treat on occasion may not have any significant effect on health, but doing so on a regular basis can lead to a wide variety of health problems including some people may not be aware of.
The most obvious problems are obesity and high cholesterol, but another major and often overlooked health problem that can result from eating fast food is hormone imbalances.
Hormone imbalances are part of the reason obesity is such a problem with people who consume fast food on a regular basis, beyond the calorie density and fat content of the foods.
Why is diet so important?
Nutrition is how our body gets fueled. People need a balance of minerals, vitamins, fiber, and healthy fats to keep their bodies running properly. The foods that provide these things also provide calories, which act as an energy source for the human body.
Most naturally occurring foods have high concentrations of vitamins and nutrients that the body needs without being very calorie dense. This is ideally what humans should consume on a regular basis for optimum health and well-being. Some naturally occurring foods do have a fair amount of calories but also remain nutrient dense. Examples of these are nuts, meat, and even fruit. These are still very healthy items for people to consume but can cause some problems when eaten in excess. Moderation is key with these more calorie dense foods.
Modern technology and the food industry have created foods that are not only calorie dense but also very nutrient poor, meaning there is little to know benefit for consumption. These foods include candy, many types of oils, and packaged foods such as chips and convenience snacks.
Fast food is the worst offender, being the most nutrient poor, calorie dense, and high-fat option available. Since fast food is very convenient and cheap to consume in most areas, it has become a staple of the diet of many households. People simply do not want to take the time to grocery shop and cook healthy meals that are more nutritionally sound. Doing this regularly quickly promotes unhealthy weight gain and health problems.
Weight Gain Hormones
There are a few main hormones that are part of weight gain: cortisol, insulin, estrogen, and testosterone. In addition to a few lesser known hormones such as leptin and ghrelin.
The most commonly referred to hormone dealing with weight gain is associated with stress and known as cortisol. When the human body is under stress, this is the hormone that is produced. At low levels, such as those induced by exercise, this hormone can actually have weight loss benefits because it helps the body process fat into usable forms of energy and also helps control appetite. It is when this hormone is too high for too long that it becomes a problem and can contribute to weight gain.
Another hormone is insulin. Most people only associate insulin problems with diabetes, but do not take into consideration the effect diet has on their hormones. Insulin helps your body process sugar and when the body cannot properly process sugar, it gets stored as excess body fat.
Estrogen is the hormone responsible for storing fat. The catch here is that high levels of body fat increase the level of estrogen the body produces and therefore increase the amount of fat stored, creating a difficult cycle to break.
The last hormone is testosterone, which is reduced by excess body fat. Testosterone helps the body function by providing energy, promoting memory, and even helping bone density. People with low testosterone often feel tired, depressed, and have trouble remembering things.
Restoring Balance
The good news is that even if your hormones are imbalanced as a result of a bad diet, there are things you can do to fix it. The first step is to work on improving your diet and starting an exercise program. In addition to that, a custom Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy program with LifeBoost may be exactly what you need to get you back to your best version of you. If you aren’t sure where to start or would like assistance with your new healthy lifestyle, contact LifeBoost for a quick and easy consultation.
