We are not kidding. Swearing off fast food restaurants will actually change the way you feel, both physically and in terms of your mood. Here’s a test that we feel completely confident about.
Fast Food Challenge
If you are a real fast food junkie, give yourself a one-month break. During that time, eat healthier foods, like many more vegetables, fresh fruits, nuts, whole grains like brown rice, whole grain breads with lots of seeds or nuts, even whole grain cereals.
After you have treated your body to these much lighter foods for a good four weeks, go back to a fast food restaurant and get some super-sized greasy meal, complete with giant burger, large fries, maybe even chili fries, extra large soda or chocolate shake, etc.
Check out how you feel. Your stomach will likely be sore after an hour. The food will sit for hours in your stomach, because you’ll have a nightmarish time trying to digest it. You’ll feel so lousy that you won’t be hungry again for about six hours. Your mood will deteriorate.
This reaction is marked when you have avoided greasy, chemical-laden food for a period of time and then return to punish yourself anew. That’s why the test requires that you eat better food for a month or so. It just shows you that your body can and will recover if you treat it better by feeding it the type of fuel it needs.
One only needs to go on a road trip to verify this. So many of the roadside restaurants, particularly diners, only serve fried or otherwise incredibly greasy food that it is difficult in the USA to get a decent meal on the road. We LOVE road trips because of the adventure that inevitably awaits us, but the downside is definitely the struggle to digest the lousy food that we encounter.
The conclusion that we have drawn is that healthy food actually goes easy on your body. It provides the nutrients you need without sending you on a downward digestion spiral that will change your mood and screw up your day. Why bother with the junk food at all?
