Fast Food Fixes

On a recent episode of the Today show, Matt Lauer spoke to two nutritionists about whether or not so-called “fast food diets” worked.  In short, does eating sub sandwiches (a la Jared of Subway fame) and tacos (a la Taco Bell with their new Drive-Thru Diet and Fresco Menu) translate into actual weight loss?  

Both nutritionists said that weight loss is all a matter of strategy.  In other words, if you rarely consume fast foods, don’t start consuming them to lose weight.  That’s just dumb!

However, if you are someone who eats fast food on a regular basis, then yes, you can lose weight, provided you eat their low-calorie offerings and pay attention to the size of your portions.

But what the nutritionists failed to mention was the damage that the perpetual eating of fast foods does to the body (if you’ve watched the documentary “Supersize Me,” you know what I’m talking about). 

The bottom line is this:  I don’t advocate a fast food diet, whether it’s from Subway or Taco Bell or any other fast food joint.  You may lose weight, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the foods you’re eating are causing damage (by restricting the body’s ability to absorb key nutrients, for example).

Fortunately, there are at least three things that “eat drink and be merry” folk can do to limit the damage.  Here are three of them:

Take Lecithin

Lecithin is a lipid that helps nutrients flow into and out of cells.  Found in every supplement counter and store imaginable, lecithin is often billed as a weight loss promoter, supposedly emulsifying fat so that the body can flush it out rather than store it.

There’s scant evidence that lecithin can enhance weight loss, but there’s plenty of evidence suggesting lecithin helps decrease the amount of fat in your blood.  Lecithin supplementation works by keeping the blood vessels free and clear, reducing fat’s ability to attach to the walls of blood vessels and causing blockage.  So if nothing else, lecithin can help with heart health by reducing the risk of atherosclerosis.

Drink Raw Vegetable Juice

Any raw juice drink will do, but a favorite of mine is broccoli, spinach, celery and parsley.  Raw juice drinks are great because they’re loaded with fiber, helping you to feel fuller longer, thereby eating less.  But they also improve your digestive system by helping you to absorb nutrients better.  As Dr. Mercola says, the perpetual eating of foods that aren’t exactly nutritional heavyweights takes a toll on digestive health, diminishing the body’s ability to absorb key nutrients.  Raw juice drinks like mine can help correct that problem by, as Dr. Mercola says, “pre-digesting” foods for you.

Take Extra Vitamin C

When we think about taking vitamin C, we typically think of how beneficial it is for our immune system.  True, vitamin C does enhance the body’s immune system by fighting off free radicals that accumulate in our bodies.  But vitamin C is similar to raw juice in that it helps the body better absorb key nutrients. 

People that smoke should definitely be consuming vitamin C, as vitamin C is one of the top things nicotine deprives from the body.  Even if you don’t smoke, it’s just good common sense to supplement with vitamin C, as it enhances vitamin absorption.

Finding a quality vitamin C source should not be difficult.  Of the more than two dozen vitamin C supplements Consumer Labs has tested, all but one has been approved.  Dynamic Health Laboratories Liquid Vitamin C contains only 43.5 percent of the vitamin C their product claims to have.

Again, I’m not a fan of fast food diets, but I know they’re out there and that people will follow them.  In light of that, these supplements will at the very least lessen the damage.

Sources
ehow.com
drweil.com
mercola.com