Dr. Axe: Hey, guys, Dr. Josh Axe here, along with Jordan Rubin.
Welcome to Ancient Medicine Today.
Today, we're going to be talking about the dangers of fast food, and nine unexpected
side effects of eating fast food.
I guarantee, some of these are going to surprise you.
Jordan, we know that fast food, today, is destroying a lot of Americans' health.
Of course, everybody knows things like obesity, but a lot of people don't know about these
other side effects.
Talk about some of the side effects and surprising things about that are in our fast food today,
number one here, meat that isn't really meat.
Jordan: You know, it's interesting how the American public, who, by the way, is said
to eat three fast food meals a week . . . now, let me be clear.
It is not always somebody's fault.
What's sad is that, due to government subsidies of genetically modified and, let's just say,
conventionally farmed foods, it oftentimes is most affordable for a family on a budget
to feed their kids fast food to get their bellies full.
So, we're not trying to be critical for the sake of being critical, but you need to understand
that the issues of eating fast food long-term go way beyond the "Super Size Me" documentary.
But, when it comes to meat that isn't meat, shouldn't it surprise us when we see an advertisement
from a fast food restaurant, "Now made with real chicken"?
I mean, like, "Now made with real chicken."
And even the real chicken that it's made with, if you see how they're produced, it's not
so real at all.
Now, the good news is, we're seeing things change due to consumer education.
You don't have to feel stuck.
What you should do is send this video to someone you know and love, and maybe it'll get them
thinking, because you know what'll change the restaurants?
If we stop going to them.
They're going to wonder why, and they're going to realize that we demand healthier options.
And I'm seeing, slowly but surely, grass-fed meat.
I'm seeing better choices.
But, if you look at the meat industry, remember, years ago, they had that pink glue that was
allowed to be added to take parts of steak and put them together?
All of us have seen some video or photo of a fast food meal that's like 20 years old
and looks identical to what it used to.
If your meat sits around for 20 years, or really, 20 hours and it looks the same, you've
got issues.
So, when you're consuming fast food, the meat isn't really meat, and even if it is real
meat, it's not meat the way it's supposed to be.
Dr. Axe: Exactly.
You know, when you look at a chicken breast, it has a very specific structure.
When you look at some of these chicken, you know, chicken balls or nuggets, or whatever
they're called, it doesn't really look like chicken inside.
So, just know what you're eating.
It may not actually be what you think it is.
Number two here, drugs in factory-farmed meats.
Now, Jordan, I know you and I both feel this.
You know, when I drive by a truck and you see chickens in cages that are this big, cramped
down, can't move, you know, most of those chickens, before that, they were in a pen
and they were being drugged up with steroids and growth hormones and other chemicals.
And so, again, drugs in our factory-farmed meats, these are in a lot of the foods we're
eating.
And, Jordan, I remember, when I first opened my clinic in Nashville, I had young women
coming in, having their menstrual cycle like nine years old and ten years old.
It shouldn't be for another, you know, four or five years or so, and why is that?
All of the hormones and chemicals in our meat and milk supply today, the effects on our
hormones today are devastating.
Number three, let's talk about cancer-causing fries.
Jordan: Now, listen, I do, contrary to popular belief, I'm sure Josh could weigh in, I like
French fries.
I mean, there's a way to make healthy French fries.
Dr. Axe: Sure.
Jordan: We have the same taste buds as you.
We disciplined ourselves and trained our body to want what's good for it, but we're not
opposed to the taste of delicious crispy potatoes, right?
Dr. Axe: Sure.
Jordan: Now, folks, when you consume French fries that are deep-fried, when you have a
carbohydrate that comes into contact with an oil that probably shouldn't be heated to
that amount, you're getting things such as AGEs, advanced glycation end-products.
I know this wasn't supposed to be a scientific presentation, we're just talking about fast
food, but what do AGEs do?
They cause you to age.
Dr. Axe: Yeah.
Jordan: They're really a cross-caramelization of carbohydrates and fats that can be very
much of an issue.
Also, the hydrogenated oils, or the overly heated polyunsaturated plant oils are carcinogenic
and difficult to get out of the body.
I know the fries are good, but folks, there are carcinogenic, or cancer-causing, substances
in the fries.
I didn't even mention some of the other elements that cause fries to be able to last so long,
maintain their color and freshness, because it is not a natural process.
You've got to get off the fries or buy organic fries.
You can buy organic frozen fries, or slice potatoes.
You can put olive oil on them, cook them in coconut oil, cook them a little longer.
I did this with sweet potatoes when I was on vacation recently.
It's awesome.
It just takes a little longer.
Baked fries, they're really good.
Dr. Axe: Absolutely.
And again, cancer-causing because of the AGEs and things Jordan talked about there.
Number four, poisonous packaging.
You know, Jordan, one of things, I know of, a couple of years ago, we were having a conversation
you were so excited about, some of the organic things that you were working on in terms of
supplementation, the packaging, so healthy you can eat it or plant it as seeds, that
was pretty awesome.
Talk about the opposite here, poisonous packaging.
We obviously know, one, a lot of these glues are issues.
You know, some of the glues they use in packaging actually contain compounds that are toxic
to the body when you inhale them, let alone eat them.
Also, we know so many things today are made in plastic.
We know a lot of the liners in cans have Bisphenol A, which has been shown to be an endocrine
disruptor, also creating kidney related issues and liver toxicity.
So, again, when you're using some packaging today, you really want to make sure, ideally,
see if it's in BPA-3 or in glass containers, or at least containers to where they're not
as toxic.
And this is also where, just in general, buying organic can be better.
So, let's talk about sweeteners.
Now, this is just kind of like, you know, a general line here, but obviously, sweeteners
have side effects.
They're almost in almost everything.
Jordan: Here's the major challenge with fast food.
There's no ingredient list or macronutrient nutrition facts declaration.
Now, if you ask your fast food restaurant, they are mandated to give you the calorie
content, the fat, the nutrition of your item, but guess what?
You don't want to know, and what you don't know will hurt you.
Some of the sodas that you get at fast food restaurants have 8 to 12 teaspoons of sugar,
and it's not even sugar, it's corn syrup, which is worse than sugar.
High-fructose corn syrup, terrible for the liver, etc.
And now there are diet sweeteners, which we believe are even worse than that.
Pink, yellow, blue packets, we believe can cause brain issues.
We believe they can cause gut issues, immune issues.
There's really no good way to consume some of these sweetened beverages.
When you get into the desserts at fast food restaurants, they not only contain sweeteners,
they contain chemicals, the ice cream sundaes, the shakes, etc.
I see all these commercials, you know, two guys in a car acting silly and they have these
smoothies that are all these crazy colors that you know don't occur in food.
I bet some of those smoothies have 40, 50, 60 grams of sugar per serving.
Ask your fast food restaurant and see.
It's pretty scary.
That is a cocktail that can absolutely lead you down a road you do not want to go.
Dr. Axe: Yeah, sweetener side effects, we know that a lot of these sugars today contribute
to cancer, obesity, diabetes, insulin issues which can affect every hormone in your body.
Migraine-trigger sauces, you know, many of these products today, crazy enough, still
contain things like MSG, monosodium glutamate, and I mean, that's just one.
There are so many other things that they've added, and created, and put in products today,
you know, many of the gluten-containing compounds people have triggers to.
So, the big thing here is, make sure it's real food.
When you're looking at your sauces, flip over the bottle.
It should have a shorter ingredient list.
You should be able to read and understand what's in the container and what's in the
food you eat.
Jordan, number seven here.
Jordan: Well, we talked a little bit about this earlier.
When you are getting something like blue raspberries, there are no blue raspberries.
There's hardly any way to color bright blue.
Now, I will say, I just got a tea from Thailand that is bright blue.
I'm going to talk about it on another program.
But, other than that, they're using these colors, and when you read, it's like Yellow
Lake No. 7.
Like, what in the world?
What's the lake have to do with it?
These dyes have been long known to be contributors to ADD and ADHD.
Years ago, there was a Dr. Feingold who created a diet that was helping children get over
hyperactivity.
We didn't call it ADHD or ADD.
I was just called hyperactive, and there was a diet, and a lot of it was avoiding food
colorings and preservatives.
The preservatives are why fast food meals can be kept intact for all that time.
The buns and the breads are some of the worst.
The dough conditioners and the preservatives in these breads are horrific.
And I'm so sick and tired of these restaurants saying, "Eat fresh food," and all this other
stuff.
At the end of the day, they're getting better, but they're not getting better quick enough.
You've got to try to avoid food colorings and preservatives.
If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it.
Dr. Axe: Amen.
Number eight, inflammatory oils.
You know, every fast food restaurant you go to, for the most part, is using vegetable
oils which are high in polyunsaturated fats, which are very sensitive to heat.
When you heat these oils, it really creates oxidation, which, we know this, when you take
a bite out of an apple, it starts turning brown, that's oxidation.
When somebody, as they age, starts to get brown spots on their skin, that's, in a way
it's, you know, oxidation internally in the body.
Inflammatory oils are one of the worst, along with processed sugar, for causing inflammation
and oxidation in your body, which is related to, pretty much, every disease out there,
especially heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Stay away from these inflammatory oils and switch to healthier oils, like coconut oil,
ghee, and avocado oil.
Jordan: Now, here's something we need to understand before I get into number nine.
When you subject your children or yourself to eating fast food, I would say that the
biggest issues, there are three, there are probably 20, but blood sugar leading to metabolic
syndrome, fatty liver, and diabetes, we've seen it happen, number one.
Number two, brain issues.
So, when you're dealing with all these chemicals, blood sugar going up and down, you've got
serotonin issues, you've amyloid plaque issues, which means depression, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's,
all of that, right, and then gut issues.
Goodness gracious.
If you eat a fast food meal, there may be 100 ingredients in there, and I wonder how
many of them are food.
But, this is a big one.
There are a lot of people out there that are very concerned about our environment, and
I will tell you this.
Fast food restaurants and a lot of our industrial food supply is destroying the environment.
You and I have been talking about this ad nauseam for a month, really delving into how
to regenerate our planet.
But, the environmental destruction of monocrop agriculture that's required for all the breads,
grains, cookies, pastas at fast food restaurants, pizza dough, etc., it's rampant.
Then, you add the meat, and the animal food subsists on grains, corn, soy, etc.
So, all of that leads to that barren erosion you're seeing on the screen because we are
destroying our forests, we are forced to grow crops that require added chemicals, particularly
petrochemicals where we're using our oil supplies up, and ultimately, it is leading to issues.
The sprays have GMO.
We didn't even mention the glyphosate exposure, the pesticide exposure, from consuming the
breads, etc.
This is a cocktail for disaster.
At the end of the day, folks, our population's growing, more people are eating fast food,
and the Earth's resources are being destroyed.
If you don't care enough about your health to stop putting money in the pockets of fast
food restaurants, care enough about our planet.
At the end of the day, we need to be producers, not just consumers.
And I didn't know this.
I was just like anybody else.
Dr. Axe: Yeah, same here.
Jordan: But, I came to the realization that we absolutely have to leave the world in a
better place, and it's not just cliché.
Dr. Axe: Yeah, and the truth is, eating fast food, as Jordan's talking about, actually
is contributing to the destruction of the planet, where eating real food, especially
organic foods, whether it be an apple, or brown rice, or whatever it is, can actually
help in healing the planet.
So, again, stay away from the things we've talked about today.
These are, for many people, you may not realize, or didn't realize before this video, all of
the side effects of eating fast food.
This is just scratching the surface of some of the side effects of what these things can
do in your body.
And, hey, if you're enjoying this live video and you want to learn more about things like
herbs, essential oils, super-foods, and how to overcome chronic issues using food as medicine,
make sure you subscribe here to our YouTube page, guys.
So, from Jordan Rubin and Dr. Josh Axe, thanks for watching.
Hi, Dr. Axe here.
I want to say, thanks so much for checking out this YouTube video, and also, don't forget
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Thanks for watching.