When do all the hamburgers and French fries catch up?
It happens to many people-they spend their entire lives eating high-calorie, high fat foods and don't appear to suffer any negative side effects whatsoever, not even weight gain. Then, they hit their late twenties and early thirties and slowly the weight begins to pile on. All the hamburgers and French fries catch up, and they find they can no longer eat whatever they want.
There are a couple of reasons for this. The most common is the result of metabolism, which slows with age. In a nutshell, metabolism is the amount of calories your body burns to maintain itself. Metabolism ensures that you are burning calories while you're eating, sleeping, walking, or anything else. A high metabolism in turn will burn many calories, whereas a slower metabolism burns fewer calories. For this reason, younger, more active people can get away with eating fattening foods because their metabolism is higher. As people get older, it begins to slow down. This is in part due to the muscle loss that results as we age.
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Another reason the hamburgers, fries, cakes, cookies, and other fattening foods begin to catch up is that many people naturally become less active with age. This is a double-edged sword, as metabolism slows down if you're not doing activities to burn calories, and not being active will result in weight gain if more calories are consumed than burned.
But weight gain isn't the only problem with unhealthy eating that you may think you're getting away with. Chronic conditions and many heart conditions, such as the ones listed below, are often a direct result of a poor diet, but you may never feel the effects until it is too late:
- Hypertension. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is often called "the silent killer" because it doesn't have any outward symptoms that would make you feel unhealthy. But a diet that is high in fat and cholesterol can lead to high blood pressure, one of the main factors in the development of heart disease.
- Arteriosclerosis. This form of heart disease occurs when the arteries become thick with plaque made from cholesterol and fat deposits. This plaque attaches itself to the walls of the arteries, causing them to harden and become less flexible.
- Atherosclerosis: Atherosclerosis occurs when fat deposits within the arteries cause them to narrow, reducing the amount of blood that reaches the heart.
In order to avoid weight gain and more serious health problems, it's important to get control of your eating now and develop good habits that you can maintain. Some things you can do to help keep the unhealthy foods from catching up to you include:
- Get enough exercise. Regular aerobic exercise 3-5 times a week for at least 30 minutes, in addition to weight training, will help keep your metabolism high as you age. Make this a habit now, and you're much more likely to continue to make fitness a priority as you age.
- Limit fattening foods. Hamburgers, fries, and other high-calorie junk food and sweets are not good for your waistline or your heart. Start now to make healthy food choices by limiting fattening meats and fried foods and replacing them with vegetables and lean meats like chicken or fish.
By making healthy eating choices now, you're less likely to experience weight gain and other health problems as you get older.
