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Eating Junk Food as a Kid Could Distort Your Appetite Forever

  • May 31, 2017

A new study reported by Inverse Science shows that the food we eat as children may actually change how our pleasure-seeking brain pathways work, ultimately shaping what we seek to eat as adults.

If ever there were a testament as to why we shouldn’t feed junk food to anybody, let alone children, this is one. Yes, it’s easier to run through a fast food drive-through, especially when your kids are screaming they’re hungery. But in the long run the time you save isn’t worth it. Young or old, your body doesn’t know how to properly metabolize this stuff, particularly the glucose.

Unfortunately, just one bad meal can mess with your health (not to mention that junk food is incredibly addictive). The good news is that eating a healthy meal helps your body return to its normal, optimal state. To break free of the junk food habit, skip the drive-throughs, ditch processed foods and opt for fresh, organic fruits and vegetables for snacks.

This will automatically cut out the vast majority of refined sugars, processed fructose, preservatives, dyes and other nasty ingredients from your diet. This will allow your body to depend less on sugar and more on fat as its primary fuel — provided you eat enough healthy fat, that is.

This is the focus of my latest book, "Fat for Fuel," in which I explain how you can improve your mitochondrial function through diet, with the key being eating in such a way that your body is able to burn fat — healthy fat — as its primary fuel rather than sugars.