Just One High-Sugar, High-Fat Meal Can Damage Your Body, Study Stays

Note from Connie: If you think one fatty, culprit-carb-laden meal won't do harm to you, think again. You've got to learn about this new, eye-opening study, which points out the consequences of skipping the quality carbs and foods in favor of inferior ones.

Say your New Year's resolution was to eat better -- more fresh veggies and fruits, less sugar and fewer quickie carbs. You've accomplished your goal to date, and you're looking and feeling better as a result.

But then, one day, a cheeseburger on a white-flour bun or some other fatty, simple-carb food calls out to you. You're only human, after all, and goodness knows, unhealthy foods can be awfully hard to resist all of the time. So just one burger can't hurt, right?

Wrong.

New research in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology finds that just one high-sugar, high fat meal immediately triggers inflammation in blood vessels, an increase in blood pressure and even harmful changes to the nervous system.

In fact, this study is so important that Laura Blue of Time magazine even devoted an article to the topic, entitled, "One Meal to Good (or Bad) Health."

How can just one unhealthy meal wreak such havoc?

The body responds to fast-acting carbs and junk food with a sharp spike in blood sugar levels. This, in turn, causes the body to have a stress reaction -- constricted blood vessels, inflamed tissues and a rise in blood pressure.

On top of that, sugary, fatty foods cause the body to unleash unstable free radicals, molecules that damage cells and may contribute to aging and serious illnesses like cancer and cardiovascular disease.

But the good news is that one nutritious meal -- or combining less-than-ideal foods with better choices -- can restore your body's healthy balance, the researchers found.

"Your health and vigor, at a very basic level, are as good as your last meal," said the study's lead author James O'Keefe, M.D., head of preventive cardiology at the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo.

Dr. O'Keefe offers some other food combinations that would help, too (though they don't sound too tasty). For example, he suggests eating vinegar with white bread, because vinegar slows down the digestive process and thus raises blood sugar relatively slowly. A slice of bread doused in vinegar doesn't exactly make my mouth water. (Besides, why would one want to eat nutrient-deprived white bread in the first place?)

The researchers also recommend plenty of other healthy and appetizing options: nuts, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, and fish.

So if you fall off the wagon and indulge in that cheeseburger, there are steps you can take to lessen the blow. But maybe after reading what one unhealthy meal can do to your body,  you won't want that cheeseburger floating on a white bun after all.

Jennifer Moore for SUGAR SHOCK! Blog