Fatty Foods Do A Lot More Than Put Weight On
If you’re looking to cut weight or simply to manage it, then you’re going to want to limit how much fatty food you, and stick mostly to nutrition-rich, easily burned fats (such as animal fats.) However, there are plenty of good reasons to avoid eating too many fatty foods even if you’re not dieting or trying to lose weight. Here, we’re going to look at some of the detrimental effects that fatty foods can have on your health across the board.
Mind your heart health
The most important reason to ensure that you’re not eating too much in way of fats is that your heart stands to suffer the most damage. The relationship between fats (especially trans fats) and heart health is being explored, but studies have shown that it increases the chances of cardiovascular disease and heart attacks significantly, with strokes being another concern. The excess weight caused by eating too much fat is also bad for your health as any excess weight can cause fatty material to start building up in your blood vessels. This leads to higher blood pressure and, if one of those blood vessels becomes clogged or damaged as a result, you can experience a heart attack.
Stomach pains and troubles
Fatty foods can wreak some havoc on your digestive system and this is largely due to the fact that they are amongst the hardest foods to digest. Your stomach can handle them fine in smaller doses, but when you eat too many of them, the food is going to spend much longer breaking down in your stomach. This can lead to complaints such as bloating, stomach pain, and diarrhea since your stomach is delayed from emptying. People who experience irritable bowel syndrome can find that fatty foods can be a trigger for many of their symptoms, so they should take extra care to avoid eating too much.
When acid reflux is more than just acid reflux
Acid reflux can be caused by many things, but sometimes it’s more than just an occasional occurrence. If you’re experiencing heartburn or acid reflux on a regular basis, and you also have issues like shortness of breath after eating, you might be experiencing gastroesophageal reflux disease, a very common condition resulting from the weakening of part of the esophageal sphincter. Fatty foods can be part of the initial cause and can contribute to other risk factors such as obesity. However, fatty foods are also commonly a trigger for people who have GERD, leading to symptoms getting worse. The good news is that, in most cases, GERD can be permanently treated. In many cases, it involves treating the causes, such as maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding foods that trigger reflux, and stopping smoking.
Does it really cause acne?
It seems to be a common belief that acne is related to the greasiness of the food that you eat. While it is far from the only cause (hormones tend to have a lot more to do with it), it is true that people who eat more fatty foods have a higher chance of experiencing acne breakouts. However, the exact reasoning behind this is not as widely known and is a subject of a lot of research. There is some evidence to suggest that it might be the impact of fatty and sugary foods on hormone levels in the body that can cause the proliferation of acne. While cutting down on fatty foods may reduce acne, it’s best to look at other ways to treat it, as well, as it’s not as clear-cut as defining it as a single cause.
Bad for brain health, too?
While some fats, especially omega-3 fatty acids, have long been promoted as being good for your brain health (and there is truth to that), trans fats can be much worse for it. For one, a heart-healthy diet has been linked to better mental health, such as a reduced chance of experiencing the symptoms of depression. In the long term, avoiding fatty foods might reduce your chances of experiencing Alzheimer’s disease, as well. While the condition has a large genetic disposition factor, there have been some links between the condition and a diet of fatty foods. This is contrary to omega-3 fatty acids, which can slow the development of the condition.
Not everyone is going to react to fatty foods in the same way, but if you’re experiencing any of the issues above, then your diet is often going to be the first place that you should look. From there, it’s all about making sure that you’re taking action to address it.
