Yes indeed, you have read it correctly. The headline is 100% correct. You may think it seems like a contradiction but let’s explore this. Fast food has always been associated with words such as unhealthy, dirty, harmful, damaging or poisonous. All of them related to your health. Junk food is unhealthy for health, fast food is harmful for your body, ultra-processed food damages your immunity…
Whilst I agree with all previous statements, the concept of fast food has perhaps become distorted over the years. Fast food stands for those meals that are easily prepared, often using already processed foods, which are then served in bars, restaurants and takeaway outlets as a quick and time saving meal. You may think about some of these outlets- e.g. McDonalds, Dominos, KFC, Burger King, Taco Bell or Pizza Hut.
Eating in less than 15 minutes
Yes, correct. All those names are junk food places and all of them offer unhealthy fast and fatty food. Burgers, tacos or sandwiches are generally consumed in less than 15 minutes. Therefore this type of food is mistakenly labelled under the “fast food” category when it isn’t really fast food. You will have a better understanding of the meaning of fast food after reading this article but why does the label seem to be a mistake?
You can eat an unhealthy meal in less 15 minutes but your body will need days to digest some types of ultra-processed food. Yes, you have read it correctly again, it can take days to digest some heavily processed and ultra-processed foods.
What is fast food then?
Ideally fast food term should respond to those ingredients that are digested in less than 1 hour such as fruit, fruit juice, vegetables and some type of fish. They are full of nutrients and low calories, just the opposite to ultra-processed food. So healthy real fast food can be really considered natural food that will do, always, good for your health.
Three days to digestive a Big Mac
According to the website Medical News Today (1), a Big Mac takes 3 days to be digested. For this reason, if our digestive system needs several days to process and digest fast foods, then we shouldn’t be labelling them as fast food. It should be named slow food. Slow and unhealthy food.
I believe saying ultra-processed fast food is fairer and is a more informed label for consumers.
Digestion time varies everyday depending of the food consumed but after eating, it takes six to eight hours for food to pass through the stomach and small intestine.
Common ingredients in ultra-processed fast food and hard to digest are:
- Refined flours
- Refined sugars (high fructose corn syrup and hundred or artificial sweeteners)
- Refined oils (trans fats)
- Artificial colours
- Artificial ingredients
- Preservatives
- Additives
- E-numbers
All those ingredients can create “products” but not natural food. Natural food is far off from these unhealthy substances. The end product will most likely be full of calories and contain no or minimal nutrients (no minerals, vitamins or antioxidants), which can lead to chronic diseases such as diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure and some types of cancer…
I have a easy rule that I apply all the time. If a product contains more than 5 ingredients don’t buy. If a product contains unproduceable names don’t buy.
In conclusion, keep simple and remember: more processing, higher risk of being unhealthy. Less processing, lower risk of being unhealthy.
It is time for you to join Natural Foods Revolution (NFR). NFR bases its philosophy and principles on promoting natural unprocessed food against processed and especially ultra-processed food, to make people healthier and free of diseases.
Reference:
(1) https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/300046#A-Big-Mac-takes-3-days-to-digest
