Just how bad is fast food? Look inside for my story...

[MazerRackham]

So, here's a brief bloodwork history for yours truly:

August 2005:
Cholesterol: 309
Triglycerides: 1603

March 2006:
Cholesterol: 367
Triglycerides: 1640

August 2006:
Cholesterol: 179
Triglycerides: 235


How could this happen?? Around May/June this year I stopped eating fast food. Well, at least mostly stopped. And now look at my cholesterol and triglycerides!! I didn't believe it at first, but the results are real. Triglycerides should be below 150 mg/dl, but going from 1640 to 235 in the span of 5 months isn't too shabby. And cutting my cholesterol by MORE than half is also pretty good. Goes to show just how much crap food I was eating. I should have my own movie.

Now I need to lose about 30 lbs and I'll be set!!!

Anyone else have similar cholesterol-reduction stories??

 

[MazerRackham]

I should add that I haven't lost any weight this entire time (still around 210 lbs). Crazy! I'm going to start running again to prep for the Nike Run Hit Remix next month. Anyone else doing that in LA?

 

[dxkj]

What is your HDL at ?

 

[potato28]

Thats the facts of fast food: its bad for you.

 

[BigJ]

I'd imagine you were eating fast food several times a week, with possibly multiple meals a day.

The key to eating fast food is moderation. Just like most other things in life.

 

[MazerRackham]

Originally posted by: dxkj
What is your HDL at ?

Good question,

HDL: 34
LDL (calculated): 98
Cholesterol/HDL ratio: 5.26

HDL should be >40, so I'm low there, and LDL should be <100, so I'm borderline on that. And a ratio of 5.26 puts me a bit above average for men (average is 4.97).

No doubt I need to get my HDL up and my LDL down, but I'm still pretty happy with how things have changed in the last few months...

 

[MazerRackham]

Originally posted by: BigJ
I'd imagine you were eating fast food several times a week, with possibly multiple meals a day.

The key to eating fast food is moderation. Just like most other things in life.

I should have mentioned this before as well. I was probably eating 8-10 fast food-based meals per week, sometimes more if you consider IHOP for breakfast on weekends, etc.

I'm not even eating all that well at home, but it's still waaaayyy better than the fast food I've been eating most of my adult life (I'm 32 years old now).

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: MazerRackham

Originally posted by: BigJ
I'd imagine you were eating fast food several times a week, with possibly multiple meals a day.

The key to eating fast food is moderation. Just like most other things in life.

I should have mentioned this before as well. I was probably eating 8-10 fast food-based meals per week, sometimes more if you consider IHOP for breakfast on weekends, etc.

I'm not even eating all that well at home, but it's still waaaayyy better than the fast food I've been eating most of my adult life (I'm 32 years old now).

Good for you for getting healther :thumbsup:

And yep, that'll do it. When almost 50% of your meals are fast food, that can be a very serious dietary/health issue.

 

[Bibble]

My doctor said that fast food should be eaten once a month or less. I was doing very well with this (only once a month about) until the summer, when it turned into almost once a week, eep!

 

[FP]

Were you eating burgers?

I eat burritos about 3-4x a week from a regular restaurant, not Taco Bell.

Would that be considered "fast food?"

 

[SampSon]

We need to know how much fast food you were consuming, how often you were consuming it, what exact types you were consuming and how much of your diet was fast food.
It seems to me from your initial readings that you were a burger slurping champ.

 

[Descartes]

Congratulations on your change!

I just had lab drawn recently as well:

Cholesterol: 142
HDL: 58
LDL: 66
Cholesterol/HDL ratio: 2.5
Triglycerides: 92

I eat almost no processed foods (absolutely no processed foods in my home) and fast food absolutely never. Not sure if there's a correlation or if I'm just lucky.

[edit]Added LDL[/edit]

 

[Amused]

"Fast food" has nothing to do with this. If you ate burgers and fries at home, you'd have the same problem.

You can eat healthy at most fast food places. It wasn't "fast food" that did that to you. It was your overall diet choices. You can eat equally bad anywhere, including at home.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Amused
"Fast food" has nothing to do with this. If you ate burgers and fries at home, you'd have the same problem.

You can eat healthy at most fast food places. It wasn't "fast food" that did that to you. It was your overall diet choices. You can eat equally bad anywhere, including at home.

:thumbsup:

 

[SampSon]

Originally posted by: Amused
"Fast food" has nothing to do with this. If you ate burgers and fries at home, you'd have the same problem.

You can eat healthy at most fast food places. It wasn't "fast food" that did that to you. It was your overall diet choices. You can eat equally bad anywhere, including at home.

I understand your point whenever you argue about fast food, but the reality is that fast food in America is equated with burgers, fries, tacos, fried chicken, nachos, pizza and roast beef sandwiches.

Not until recently has any single fast food establishment made it a point to include healthy choices items on their menus or try to convince the public and governing bodies that they have a balanced menu suited for all dietary needs.

Fast food was marketed perfectly to get people to eat it and made readily available. Sure it's not to blame for human obesity, but it in no way helped. It was also held up as a standard meal choice throughout it's existence, though it really turned out to be just junk food, though up until recently that wasn't popular opinion. So yes poeple are ultimately responsible for their choices, but to negate all outside influences on thoes decision thoughout history based on the body of human knowledge at the time and how it evolved, is not a fair argument.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: SampSon

Originally posted by: Amused
"Fast food" has nothing to do with this. If you ate burgers and fries at home, you'd have the same problem.

You can eat healthy at most fast food places. It wasn't "fast food" that did that to you. It was your overall diet choices. You can eat equally bad anywhere, including at home.

I understand your point whenever you argue about fast food, but the reality is that fast food in America is equated with burgers, fries, tacos, fried chicken, nachos, pizza and roast beef sandwiches.

Not until recently has any single fast food establishment made it a point to include healthy choices items on their menus or try to convince the public and governing bodies that they have a balanced menu suited for all dietary needs.

Fast food was marketed perfectly to get people to eat it and made readily available. Sure it's not to blame for human obesity, but it in no way helped. It was also held up as a standard meal choice throughout it's existence, though it really turned out to be just junk food, though up until recently that wasn't popular opinion. So yes poeple are ultimately responsible for their choices, but to negate all outside influences on thoes decision thoughout history based on the body of human knowledge at the time and how it evolved, is not a fair argument.

All of that is irrelevant.

He had choices, and blames the evil "fast food" for his bad choices.

I will guarantee he ate no better when he went to other restaurants, nor at home.

He has a genetic predisposition for high cholesterol. Therefore he has specific dietetic needs. He has to avoid high fat foods. Even the eggs he was eating at IHOP on the weekends were aggravating his condition.

In short, this thread is like a diabetic blaming his condition on his local candy store.

 

[MazerRackham]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: SampSon

Originally posted by: Amused
"Fast food" has nothing to do with this. If you ate burgers and fries at home, you'd have the same problem.

You can eat healthy at most fast food places. It wasn't "fast food" that did that to you. It was your overall diet choices. You can eat equally bad anywhere, including at home.

I understand your point whenever you argue about fast food, but the reality is that fast food in America is equated with burgers, fries, tacos, fried chicken, nachos, pizza and roast beef sandwiches.

Not until recently has any single fast food establishment made it a point to include healthy choices items on their menus or try to convince the public and governing bodies that they have a balanced menu suited for all dietary needs.

Fast food was marketed perfectly to get people to eat it and made readily available. Sure it's not to blame for human obesity, but it in no way helped. It was also held up as a standard meal choice throughout it's existence, though it really turned out to be just junk food, though up until recently that wasn't popular opinion. So yes poeple are ultimately responsible for their choices, but to negate all outside influences on thoes decision thoughout history based on the body of human knowledge at the time and how it evolved, is not a fair argument.

All of that is irrelevant.

He had choices, and blames the evil "fast food" for his bad choices.

I will guarantee he ate no better when he went to other restaurants, nor at home.

He has a genetic predisposition for high cholesterol. Therefore he has specific dietetic needs. He has to avoid high fat foods. Even the eggs he was eating at IHOP on the weekends were aggravating his condition.

In short, this thread is like a diabetic blaming his condition on his local candy store.

I still eat hamburgers, I just cook them at home. Sure I have fewer than I did when I'd eat McDonald's and Burger King umpteen times per week, but it's not like I'm only eating berries and twigs these days either.

And I wasn't trying to exclude IHOP on the weekends, I was actually including it (see post where I state "8-10 fast food-based meals per week, sometimes more if you consider IHOP for breakfast on weekends, etc").

My whole point is that without ANY extra exercise to speak of, and not much of a change in the types of food I'm eating (hamburgers, lots of soda, eggs, bacon, etc), that my cholesterol and triglycerides came crashing down with just one major variable change in the last 2-3 months: no more fast food restaurants.

Sure, my choices at those restaurants weren't the best, but again I'm not only eating 100% healthy stuff these days either.

I also never stated that fast food was "evil" either, but fast food restaurants did facilitate the mass consumption of foods that were obviously not that great for me. If you only eat the healthier selection from fast food places, that's great. But for those that don't (or won't), they're paying a price.


EDIT: I am not diabetic.

 

[monk3y]

Way to go on finding a problem in your life and working on fixing it. Keep up the good work, once you start exercising things should be better than ever!

 

[winr]

Great news :sun:

keep up the good habits.

 

[monk3y]

Originally posted by: Amused
"Fast food" has nothing to do with this. If you ate burgers and fries at home, you'd have the same problem.

You can eat healthy at most fast food places. It wasn't "fast food" that did that to you. It was your overall diet choices. You can eat equally bad anywhere, including at home.

What do you usually eat at McDonald's that's healthy? I'm just wondering... I also haven't stepped foot in a fast food place in AGES!!!

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: monk3y

Originally posted by: Amused
"Fast food" has nothing to do with this. If you ate burgers and fries at home, you'd have the same problem.

You can eat healthy at most fast food places. It wasn't "fast food" that did that to you. It was your overall diet choices. You can eat equally bad anywhere, including at home.

What do you usually eat at McDonald's that's healthy? I'm just wondering... I also haven't stepped foot in a fast food place in AGES!!!

Their roast chicken salads aren't bad, sometimes the gf has one when i have a craving for a double qurterpounder with cheese meal

 

[Corporate Thug]

I east fast food atleast 5 times a week. My cholestoral and TG are both normal.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: MazerRackham

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: SampSon

Originally posted by: Amused
"Fast food" has nothing to do with this. If you ate burgers and fries at home, you'd have the same problem.

You can eat healthy at most fast food places. It wasn't "fast food" that did that to you. It was your overall diet choices. You can eat equally bad anywhere, including at home.

I understand your point whenever you argue about fast food, but the reality is that fast food in America is equated with burgers, fries, tacos, fried chicken, nachos, pizza and roast beef sandwiches.

Not until recently has any single fast food establishment made it a point to include healthy choices items on their menus or try to convince the public and governing bodies that they have a balanced menu suited for all dietary needs.

Fast food was marketed perfectly to get people to eat it and made readily available. Sure it's not to blame for human obesity, but it in no way helped. It was also held up as a standard meal choice throughout it's existence, though it really turned out to be just junk food, though up until recently that wasn't popular opinion. So yes poeple are ultimately responsible for their choices, but to negate all outside influences on thoes decision thoughout history based on the body of human knowledge at the time and how it evolved, is not a fair argument.

All of that is irrelevant.

He had choices, and blames the evil "fast food" for his bad choices.

I will guarantee he ate no better when he went to other restaurants, nor at home.

He has a genetic predisposition for high cholesterol. Therefore he has specific dietetic needs. He has to avoid high fat foods. Even the eggs he was eating at IHOP on the weekends were aggravating his condition.

In short, this thread is like a diabetic blaming his condition on his local candy store.

I still eat hamburgers, I just cook them at home. Sure I have fewer than I did when I'd eat McDonald's and Burger King umpteen times per week, but it's not like I'm only eating berries and twigs these days either.

And I wasn't trying to exclude IHOP on the weekends, I was actually including it (see post where I state "8-10 fast food-based meals per week, sometimes more if you consider IHOP for breakfast on weekends, etc").

My whole point is that without ANY extra exercise to speak of, and not much of a change in the types of food I'm eating (hamburgers, lots of soda, eggs, bacon, etc), that my cholesterol and triglycerides came crashing down with just one major variable change in the last 2-3 months: no more fast food restaurants.

Sure, my choices at those restaurants weren't the best, but again I'm not only eating 100% healthy stuff these days either.

I also never stated that fast food was "evil" either, but fast food restaurants did facilitate the mass consumption of foods that were obviously not that great for me. If you only eat the healthier selection from fast food places, that's great. But for those that don't (or won't), they're paying a price.


EDIT: I am not diabetic.

The myth here is that a hamburger at a fast food place is any less healthy than a burger anywhere else. That's just not true. Beef is beef. Sure, some is more lean than other, but with burgers that means less because much of the fat is cooked away anyhow. This is why a ground chuck burger shrinks up to half the size when cooked, and a ground sirloin burger stays nearly the same size.

And the main difference here is probably your frequency, and the fries you ate. In fact, the fries will have a FAR greater effect on your cholesterol level than burgers. Somehow I doubt you're eating as many eggs and bacon as well, as both do more harm to your condition than beef.

Without charting your exact before and after diet we have no idea what really changed.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: monk3y


What do you usually eat at McDonald's that's healthy? I'm just wondering... I also haven't stepped foot in a fast food place in AGES!!!

They have many grilled chicken sandwiches and salads. You can also get fruit instead of fries. And to be honest, their salads are pretty tasty.

 

[ForumMaster]

Originally posted by: SampSon

Originally posted by: Amused
"Fast food" has nothing to do with this. If you ate burgers and fries at home, you'd have the same problem.

You can eat healthy at most fast food places. It wasn't "fast food" that did that to you. It was your overall diet choices. You can eat equally bad anywhere, including at home.

I understand your point whenever you argue about fast food, but the reality is that fast food in America is equated with burgers, fries, tacos, fried chicken, nachos, pizza and roast beef sandwiches.

Not until recently has any single fast food establishment made it a point to include healthy choices items on their menus or try to convince the public and governing bodies that they have a balanced menu suited for all dietary needs.

Fast food was marketed perfectly to get people to eat it and made readily available. Sure it's not to blame for human obesity, but it in no way helped. It was also held up as a standard meal choice throughout it's existence, though it really turned out to be just junk food, though up until recently that wasn't popular opinion. So yes poeple are ultimately responsible for their choices, but to negate all outside influences on thoes decision thoughout history based on the body of human knowledge at the time and how it evolved, is not a fair argument.

you're right sampson. now that even the surgeon general has declared obesity an epidemix, most fast food places have began offering healthy alternatives. i don't go to fast food places often, but when i do, it'll be a salad.