Usually fast food within the United States is given a connotation of obesity and unhealthiness. As a child and to this day I will try to limit my fast food consumption because of these assumptions. However I ever asked why it was bad or how exactly it could cause obesity. That is exactly why my interest was sparked when I came across a study that actually observed how it can be a positive idea. It specifically cited how fast food could be used after a workout to aid in muscle recovery. So I asked myself, how exactly can we benefit in a health perspective from fast food?
According to a recent study, there could be a benefit to eating fast food after a workout. Most people who are active or go to the gym are familiar to the idea of post-workout recovery such as eating and drinking. Many product lines and brands have emerged just for this market in the common forms of energy bars, drinks, and supplements. Each product aims to help an individual recover, “known as glycogen resynthesis.” The study aimed to see if there was any difference between these sports foods and a typical fast food meal in how they aid in post-workout recovery.
One of the most important aspects of research is how it is conducted and how the researchers came to draw their conclusions. They had eleven male test subjects complete a 90-minute workout in “randomized, counterbalanced order.” Then they participants were studied over a four hour recovery period. During this period the individuals were given a supplement of either fast food or a sports food. The researchers then took samples from the subjects to see the difference in several bodily responses to the workout. The exact measurements and details of what they measured are all found on the summary of the research.
In the end the study concludes that the fast food had very similar results in recovery as the sports foods did. I can come to believe this, as it seems somewhat logical. However the biggest red flag to me is the sample size. Eleven men is an extremely small number to base an entire thesis on. Also, it was on a single day and only a certain exercise. The results of the muscle recovery also does not account for the other factors that play into a recovery. These concerns and more are shared by others as well. The other idea to consider is that the fast food had the same effects as a meal would have for the participants, except the fast food is less healthy in other way even though it could have the same amount of calories.
In the end I believe the study could have some merit in correlation of fast food and sports food recovery. However I think that the idea of everyone buying a fast food meal after a workout is subjective to how you view the study. Personally I do not think the benefit of eating the food (taste possibly?) would outweigh just eating a full normal healthy meal or using sports supplements. What do you think?
Combining the gym and fast food in a comical light can also be an odd sight.
Photo 1 – http://www.cafeexpressdavenport.com/fast-food-healthy
Photo 2 – http://www.beginnerfitness101.com/why-you-need-to-avoid-fast-food/
It certainly works for the fastest man on the planet; Usain Bolt switched his eating habits to a pure McDonald’s fast food chicken nugget driven diet when he disovered he didn’t like Chinese food. “In his newly published memoir, Bolt reveals that during the two weeks of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, he scarfed down an estimated one thousand nuggets”. (Busbee) Many athletes like Michael Phelps and many swimmers have 8,000-12,000 calorie diets and even NBA players like Lamar Odom eat large amounts of candy as pregame rituals (Associated Press). Some profesional athletes seem to have an immunity to fatty foods, but I guess that is the reward of spending a quarter of your day enduring an intense physical workout. I agree with you that whether or not you buy fast food after a workout should be an individual basis. A Penn State Division I athlete can afford to maintain a diet with much more fats and calories as opposed to that of someone’s whos only excercise is walking from East to Forum.
Busbee, Jay. “Usain Bolt Says He Ate a Thousand Chicken Nuggets during the 2008 Olympics.” Yahoo Sports. Yahoo!, 3 Nov. 2013. Web. 09 Sept. 2015.
“Los Angeles Lakers’ Lamar Odom Gets Sour Response to Sweet Tooth.” ESPN.com. Associated Press, 3 June 2009. Web. 09 Sept. 2015.
In my opinion, fast food is not as detrimental to health as it is believed. Obviously fast food is not healthy, but eating it is not the worst thing. Almost every Sunday, between church and my soccer game at 12 I would eat Wendy’s because it was the only thing that I had time to get. This is an example of how fast food can be supplemented with other aspects of life. As long as you do other things to offset the fast food you eat, I do not think it is that detrimental to your health. As your source from medicaldaily.com stated, fast food can replenish your body after you workout. Coming from someone who eats fast food a pretty good amount, I think that, if supplemented with an otherwise healthy lifestyle, fast food would not affect your health very much.