Do Lazy People Eat Junk Food or Does Eating Junk Food Make People Lazy? Study offers surprising answer…

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? People have debated this question for millennia and there is still not a clear answer. However, there is another debate that is probably much more important to you. Knowing the answer to this other debate may give you more energy, improve your health, and make you feel much better.
What is this debate? Here it is…
Does Junk Food Make People Lazy
or Do Lazy People Eat Junk Food?
There is a belief that people who eat junk food and become overweight do so because they are lazy. But, a new study conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found the opposite to be true.
According to Science Daily, “Life scientists led by UCLA’s Dr. Aaron Blaisdell placed 32 female rats on one of two diets for six months. The first, a standard rat’s diet consisted of relatively unprocessed foods like ground corn and fish meal. The ingredients in the second were highly processed, of lower quality, and included substantially more sugar – a proxy for a junk food diet.
“After just three months, the researchers observed a significant difference in the amount of weight the rats had gained, with the 16 on the junk food diet having become noticeably fatter.”
Dr. Blaisdell reports that the rats on the “junk food” diet became obese while the rats on the healthier, more natural diet did not. The researchers also noted that as they gained weight, the rats on the junk food diet demonstrated impaired physical performance and required more rest to perform basic tasks. This suggest laziness and fatigue are caused by eating poorly and gaining weight, not the other way around.
In this study, “junk food” was described as, “highly processed, of lower quality, and included substantially more sugar.”
Most Americans eat a diet high loaded with processed foods that contains a lot of sugar and most Americans are also either overweight or obese. In fact, according to studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, more than 2 in 3 adults are considered to be overweight or obese and more than 1 in 3 adults are considered obese. More than 1 in 20 adults are considered to be extremely obese. About one-third of children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are considered to be overweight or obese and more than 1 in 6 children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are considered to be obese.
One of the most common complaints many people have is being tired and fatigued. Next time you go out to eat, just eavesdrop on the conversations taking place around your table. EVERYONE IS EXHAUSTED.
So, is it your fault if you are overweight, tired, and fatigued? Perhaps not. Processed, high-sugar content foods have been heavily marketed for decades, especially to children. They are much more accessible and cheaper, and many times, food labeling can be misleading or even deceptive. If you do not have a degree in biochemistry, you can easily be fooled. To make things even worse, serious evidence is accumulating that sugar is very addictive.
According to a WebMD article on sugar, “Sugar fuels every cell in the brain. When you overload on sugary foods, it may alter the parts of the brain that control how much you eat. In lab studies, rats that binged on sugar had brain changes like those of getting off drugs. In humans, just seeing pictures of milkshakes triggered brain effects like those seen in drug addicts. It was strongest in women whose answers showed they were more hooked on eating.”
Clearly, quitting a diet of processed and sugar-filled food is not an easy task for many people, which is why so many people try and fail. Many end up quitting for a certain time and falling back into their old ways. This is referred to as the “yo-yo effect” and can lead to serious weight gain.
Understanding this issue is the first step to making a lifetime change, a change where you finally lose weight and keep it off. Just as important, your energy levels will rise so you will not constantly feel tired and fatigued. Oh, and another thing, you may not get sick as much…
The researchers at UCLA found that the rats on the junk food diet grew a large amount of tumors throughout their bodies by the end of the study. Those on the more nutritious diet had fewer and smaller tumors that were not as widespread.
If this research is correct, processed foods high in sugar are the cause of weight gain, fatigue, and may contribute to serious health problems.
On top of all that, they are most likely very addictive.
What About Exercise?
There is no doubt exercise is good for you. There is plenty of research in that regard. But, there is one thing you must understand: You cannot exercise away a bad diet.
This is probably the most common misunderstanding and mistake when it comes to losing weight and increasing energy.
Eating processed foods full of sugar will create weight gain and fatigue no matter how much you exercise. In fact, eating poorly will make exercise extremely difficult because of the fatigue it causes.
If you want to lose weight and have more energy, it is highly recommended you cut processed foods that are loaded with sugar from your diet.
One more thing: New research shows that the average lifetime medical costs for an obese child are $19,000 higher than those of a child of normal weight who maintains normal weight through adulthood. These are direct costs and are probably higher when factoring in indirect costs. Cutting processed foods that are high in sugar from your child’s diet could have a huge impact on their life and healthcare costs.