How Fast Food Affects your Gout

We all know it’s bad for us but hey when we are super busy or in a rush from time to time, or it’s 3am and no other restaurants are open in town, sometimes you may have no choice but to settle for some fast food cause you do need to feed your growling stomach. From McDonalds to Burger King and Subway, gout sufferers have plentiful of choices in today’s busy world. What makes fast food so appealing is it’s low in fiber, it’s high in calories in a small volume, it’s high in fat, it’s high in sugar and most obviously it’s high in taste making fast food very addictive.

First let’s talk about the facts. Fast food or junk food if you want to call it that, may cause type 2 diabetes for gout sufferers by exerting too much stress on your metabolism affecting your body’s ability to properly use insulin. Since fast and junk food lacks fibre, by eating it, it directly spikes your sugar levels almost immediately!

Fast food may also trigger digestive problems for gout sufferers like acid reflux, which I’ve personally suffered from but keep it in check with apple cider vinegar or irritable bowel syndrome. Fast food is usually deep fried and the oil gets deposited on the walls of your stomach lining increasing your acid production. Added spices will irritate your stomach lining even more worsening your symptoms.

Fast food or junk food also increases your risk of developing heart disease since they are loaded with saturated fats and trans fats that increase bad cholesterol (LDL) levels in your blood. This will contribute to plaque formation damaging the linings of your blood vessels causing chronic inflammation and blocking blood flow to your heart potentially causing a heart attack!

Did you know that fast food consumption over a long period of time may have a similar harmful effect on your liver as alcohol consumption does? Gout sufferers take note. A study showed how a group of people who ate junk food showed big changes with their liver enzymes within only four weeks! What’s worse is that these changes were similar to those observed in people with alcohol abuse!

Furthermore, another important organ that gout sufferers desperately need to be healthy is the kidneys and fast food can also affect them. A high amount of bad fats and sodium, that fast foods carry causes hypertension from the sodium-potassium imbalance. By eating lots of finely processed salted foods, your body will begin to crave them, making these foods very addictive kinda like sugar is. The addiction to salt and salty foods is caused by the increased salivation and secretion of enzymes. Plus, don’t forget that eating lots of fast food causes a big toll on your kidneys by filtering all those nasty toxins from your blood.

In addition, fast food also causes fatigue and weakness since fast food lacks most of the essential nutrients like vitamins and minerals which are required for your overall health. It fails to provide you with instant energy making you feel tired and weak after a little while. Fast food also affects brain function triggering memory impairment in a recent study done with rats and finally fast food consumption over long periods of time can also cause cancer like colorectal and prostate cancers.

Let’s not forget obesity being another consequence of eating fast food with most meals exceeding 1000 calories and over 65 grams of fat! That’s right! One burger, order of fries and glass of cola will exceed 1000 calories which is more than half the average person’s caloric needs. Most soft drinks contain more than 200 calories while water has zero! Plus you’ll skip out on all that high fructose corn syrup that is may be very devastating to your gout.

So what can you do?

Try and choose fast food restaurants that have healthier choices opting for ingredients that offer nutrients and avoid sweetened sugary beverages. Opt for water instead. Choose the salad, wrap, pizza or if you want meat, choose it to be grilled instead, which is lower in fat. Choose to put your own condiments on your own food rather than taking whatever the meal is served with saving you lots of calories, fat and sugar.

I’ll eat a fast food meal maybe once every blue moon, it is very rare cause studies show that health problems can begin by eating fast food more than two times a week. That’s right! Eating fast food only twice a week is cause for concern and can lead to any of the diseases mentioned above. Although sometimes you may have no other choice and have to settle for some fast food, do your best to avoid it.