In our current food environment, it’s pretty easy to eat empty calorie nutrient-poor food. Between easy access to processed, hyper-palatable food, nutrient-depleted soils, and nutrition noise all around, it makes it hard to eat a nutritious diet. But what are the consequences of eating foods with no real nutritional value (aka empty calories)?
Today, one of our dietitians, Sam, is breaking down all the ways that empty calories impact how we feel on a daily basis. If you think your diet isn’t impacting your digestion, your chronic disease, or your sleep, you might be surprised.
1. High Calorie, but Nutrient Deficient
This one might seem obvious, but it’s critical to understanding how empty calories can leave you feeling so very bleh. Our bodies require a host of micro and macronutrients to fuel thousands of intricate body processes, from the act of breathing to creating new cells and supporting our mitochondria (the powerhouses of our cells). When our bodies, and in turn our cells, don’t receive the nutrients they need, they can’t do their jobs properly. They’ll skimp where they need to in order to survive, and eventually, this will cause downstream effects.
We’re only just beginning to understand the impact of being overfed, yet undernourished, as this has historically not been an issue for our ancestors.
2. Gut Dysbiosis
Our standard American diet is rich in refined carbohydrates, processed vegetable oils, and other omega-6 fats, and added sugars. Combine this with a sedentary lifestyle, less-than-stellar sleep, and lots of pharmaceutical drugs, and you have the recipe for gut dysbiosis. Our guts host lots of bacterial species that all exist in a delicate balance with one another that usually benefit your health. When poor diet, poor sleep, antibiotic use, high stress, or any number of other factors gets added to the mix, that delicate balance is thrown off which can negatively affect your health. Opportunistic bacteria can take over, causing symptoms like bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, skin issues, and so much more.
3. Fatigue
Hyper-processed food filled with a lot of empty calories is a blood sugar roller coaster waiting to happen. Whenever we eat carbohydrates, those carbohydrates turn to blood sugar (aka glucose) in the bloodstream. That blood sugar heads to our cells, where it can be stored, used for energy, or used for different processes. In order for the blood sugar to get into cells, our pancreas creates insulin to act as the “key”, helping blood sugar into each cell. When this process acts as intended, our blood sugar rises a little after each meal, then goes back to normal.
When we eat lots of carbohydrate and sugar-rich foods without much protein, healthy fat, or veggies for balance, our blood sugar rises high and fast, resulting in an inevitable blood sugar crash. That feeling like you need to nap after meals? This quick rise and fall of blood sugar mean your body suffers an energy crash, too. It then needs to seek quick energy in the form of carbs and sugar to get blood sugar levels back to normal, in turn perpetuating this cycle.
4. Feeling Hungry All.The.Time
Remember the blood sugar issue from the previous section? That’s why you’re hungry all day, every day, too. Every time you have a blood sugar crash, your body is looking for easy sources of quick energy (hi sugar and carbs!). And even without the blood sugar component, highly processed foods are simply not as satiating as whole foods. Protein, followed by fat, is the most satiating macronutrient. That means it will easily help keep you full in between meals. Fiber, found in fruits and veggies, performs a similar function. Most hyper-processed foods contain little if any fiber or protein, and only contain highly processed, inflammatory fats. This almost ensures you’ll never be fully satisfied by your snack or meal.
And if all that wasn’t enough, there’s something else. Our bodies are smart, and they seek out the nutrients they need. If you’re constantly feeding your body refined carbohydrates and added sugar, your body will want to continue eating until it finds the nutrients it needs. That means you’ll find yourself hungry often, even if you’ve just eaten a snack or meal.
5. Higher Risk for Chronic Diseases
Since many highly processed foods are filled with carbs, sugar, and refined vegetable oils, they are highly inflammatory. And chronic inflammation can be a precursor to many chronic conditions, including autoimmune issues, heart disease, and more.
6. A Decline in Athletic Performance
How can your body focus on performance if it can hardly perform basic functions? When we’re undernourished and on a blood sugar roller coaster, performance is the least of our worries. Our bodies aren’t designed to perform under such conditions. And optimal performance requires optimal recovery, including eating enough protein, having the nutrients needed to repair muscles, and even getting enough high-quality sleep.
7. Poor Sleep
Everything we’ve already talked about can impact your sleep quality, too. Not only that, but nutrient deficiencies are often a big reason for interrupted or suboptimal sleep. Nutrients like magnesium (which about 80% of people are deficient in!) are essential for different sleep-related processes in the body. Want more (or better!) shut-eye? Toss your processed snacks and opt for real food instead.
We say it all the time, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Eat more veggies. Eat some fruit. Eat high-quality protein, and prioritize healthy fats. Balance your plate, eat enough food, and magical things can happen!
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