Could just one meal really have a negative impact on your health? Unfortunately, yes.
As the composition of food from restaurants hits the gut, disruption occurs in the liver, the stomach, intestines and more. The most impactful negative result is Leaky Gut.
The Role of Beneficial Bacteria in a Healthy Gut
Unlike harmful bacteria that cause disease and infection, beneficial gut bacteria play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of our intestinal barrier. These good bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids, like butyrate, which help keep the mucosal barrier strong and protect the intestinal cell walls from damaging toxins and pathogens. Butyrate also reduces intestinal inflammation and improves barrier function by maintaining the tight junctions that hold intestinal cells together.
What is Leaky Gut?
The typical American diet and everyday toxins expose many people to a condition known as leaky gut. This happens when the intestinal walls’ integrity is compromised, leading to the formation of holes. These holes allow foreign particles to leak into the bloodstream, triggering a systemic inflammatory response that can lead to chronic and autoimmune diseases.
When the balance of bacteria in the gut is disrupted, with harmful bacteria outnumbering beneficial ones, this condition is called dysbiosis. Major causes of dysbiosis include stress, antibiotics, pathogens, plant poisons, mycotoxins, and environmental and food toxins.
How Dysbiosis and Leaky Gut Occur
When the gut’s microbial population becomes unbalanced, harmful pathogens start breaking down the mucosal barrier. Without an intact barrier, toxins can reach and damage intestinal cells, causing inflammation. As the tight junctions loosen and gaps form in the intestinal lining, these toxins enter the bloodstream, leading to leaky gut.
Leaky Gut and Inflammation
Leaky gut is a widespread issue, affecting at least 50% of “healthy” Americans, and it can trigger chronic inflammation throughout the body. This inflammatory cascade starts with a toxin produced in the gut called lipopolysaccharide (LPS). LPS binds with a transfer protein, LPS binding protein (LBP), which carries it to immune cells, activating the NF-kB inflammatory pathway. This increases the production of pro-inflammatory mediators like TNFα, IL-1β, IL-6, and MCP-1, a process similar to what happens in sepsis (blood poisoning).
Activated immune cells releasing pro-inflammatory cytokines can cross the blood-brain barrier, meaning inflammation can occur anywhere in the body, including the brain, fat stores, nerves, and joints. This inflammation sets the stage for various chronic diseases and accelerated aging, making it essential to reverse dysbiosis and repair the intestinal wall for optimal health.
Diseases Linked to Leaky Gut
Leaky gut has been linked to several diseases, including:
- IBS
- Crohn’s disease
- Arthritis
- ADHD
- Alzheimer’s
- Autism
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Hormonal imbalances
When the gut is inflamed, nutrient absorption is compromised. Eating the wrong foods, like gluten, bread, pasta, sugar, and cereals, can make things worse by stealing the few nutrients left in your body. These foods act as “anti-nutrients,” exacerbating the problem.
In addition to the more serious diseases listed above, one meal out can cause the following:
- Bloat
- Brain fog
- Low energy
- Constipation
- Headaches
- Water retention
- Swelling
Why Is Eating Out So Bad for Your Health?
Food in restaurants is usually not organic and ladened with seed oils, artificial ingredients, refined sodium, added sugar, and emulsifiers; the body isn’t built to take in any of these, let alone all at once.
Dietary Toxins
The toxins in our food and water have skyrocketed. It’s more than GMOs and glyphosate; industrial farming has introduced dioxins—highly toxic compounds that build up in the fat tissue of conventionally raised animals and end up in our food chain. Furthermore, heavy metals and plastics can be found in some foods; most table salt is full of microplastics.
Add to that the halogens—fluoride, bromide, and chlorine—found in our water and food. These toxins not only burden the liver but also clog the iodine receptor sites in every cell of our bodies, including the thyroid. These halogens can lead to inflammation, compromised mitochondrial health, excess stored fat, and a sluggish metabolism.
In total, these toxins cause leaky gut, steal nutrients out of the body, inhibit nutrient absorption, and lower ATP and mitochondrial energy. Considering ATP is your cells energy, as it lowers, the brain’s energy and the body’s energy lowers.
Processed Foods
Most take out food includes highly processed foods; processed foods from big corporations have wrecked our health, being the main culprits behind insulin resistance and overall toxicity. These foods are packed with extra fructose, inflammatory seed oils, GMO grains, and artificial sweeteners, while the natural fiber is stripped away. This deadly mix accelerates insulin resistance, fatty liver, heart disease, and diabetes while clogging detox pathways. With 62% of the average adult’s diet coming from processed foods, it is no wonder insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes rates are soaring.
How Processed Food Lowers Your Health:
- Fructose: Unlike regular sugar, the added fructose in processed foods goes straight to liver fat rather than being used for energy, and it actually lowers ATP, our cellular energy.
- Fiber Extraction: Fiber helps slow the rise of blood sugar and insulin. Without it, processed foods not only cause rapid spikes in blood sugar, needing more insulin, but also encourage overeating because it isn’t filling without the fiber.
- Seed Oils: Inflammatory seed oils (like canola, corn, soybean, rice bran, safflower, sunflower, grapeseed, and peanut oils) cause cell inflammation, oxidative stress, and insulin resistance, in addition to sticking around in the body for over 6 years.
- Artificial Sweeteners: These sweeteners might be calorie-free, but they increase cravings for sugar and processed foods, leading to overeating and insulin resistance. Additionally, the body doesn’t recognize them as food and stores in the fat cells.
- Hyper-Palatability: Processed foods are designed to be extremely tasty, dulling our taste buds and causing us to overeat. They mix high amounts of sugar, salt, and fat, which leads to food cravings.
- Emulsifiers: These extend shelf life but destroy the gut’s mucosal lining, disrupting nutrient measurement and satiety signaling, which impairs appetite control.
- Gluten and Grains: These are the main ingredients in take-out food and processed foods; they not only rob us of nutrients but also cause leaky gut due to the toxicity of glyphosate and GMOs.
- Addiction: Processed foods mess with the brain’s ability to regulate dopamine, the motivation hormone, increasing cravings for sugar and processed foods. This leads to overconsumption and worsens insulin resistance and toxicity.
24 Hours After Eating Take Out
The aftermath of the take-out meal leaves you with the following:
- Leaky Gut. Now the gut won’t be able to properly absorb the good nutrients for home cooked organic food. One meal can cause leaky gut.
- Low Blood Sugar. Most take-out meals contain excess added sugars which will drive blood sugar up temporarily, and then drop it, leading to symptoms like extreme hunger and cravings, headaches, low energy, and poor sleep. To correct this rebound, you will reach for more sugar and refined carbs to quickly bring the blood sugar up; this starts a roller coaster of blood sugar.
- Water Retention: Most take-out food is full of refined sodium and full of microplastics that will back up the liver and clog detox pathways. Furthermore, this sodium, unpaired with the other needed minerals will cause the kidneys to retain excess water in the body, leading to bloat, edema, and puffiness.
- Brain Fog: The inflammation from the inflammatory seed oils, GMOs, and refined carbs will cause systemic inflammation including in the brain, leading to brain fog and possibly blurred vision for some.
- Anxious or Depressed: The blood sugar roller coaster combined with leaky gut and an inflamed brain may induce feelings of anxiety and depression. The gut is where the majority of serotonin, GABA, and dopamine are produced, and when leaky gut is present, those hormones suffer.
- Low Energy: The ingredients in these foods lower cellular energy, causing low physical and mental energy.
- Increased Fat Storage: The combination of toxins and artificial ingredients forces the body to store these foreign elements in fat cells for survival, causing the body to have a higher propensity to increase fat cell size and the number of fat cells. Furthermore, the high level of refined carbs and sugar increases insulin resistance, which in turn, increases fat storage and slows down the metabolism.
- Malnourishment: Due to the low quality of ingredients in the food combined with leaky gut causing malabsorption of the little nutrients there is in the take-out meal, the body will receive inadequate nutrients.
How to Recover From Eating Take Out
Although one meal of take-out can derail your health progress, there are ways to expedite the recovery.
Acceleradine® Iodine
Iodine is the quickest way to increase ATP production inside the cells, in addition to supporting cellular membrane health so that nutrients can get into the cells and toxins can be released from the cells. Furthermore, iodine will help devitalize any foreign pathogen that may have crept into the body through foodborne illness. Lastly, iodine will help improve metabolism, thyroid health, and fat oxidation.
Acceleradine® iodine is the only singlet atom of iodine, I-, that is in the form in which all cells need it to be to absorb it. As a result, it has an increased absorption rate over most iodine supplements that only achieve 10 to 20 percent absorption. Acceleradine® iodine is further enhanced with Scalar frequencies to increase its efficacy and ability to detox the cells.
Accelerated Fast™
After a meal that will cause your blood sugar to swing, the ingredients in Accelerated Fast™ may help stabilize blood sugar so you aren’t reaching for another high sugar meal to get you out of that food hangover slump. The ingredients in Accelerated Fast™ help breakdown fatty liver, increase ATP, the cellular energy that translates into better physical and mental energy, and suppress appetite for sugar ladened foods.
Accelerated Cellular Detox® Powder
The ingredients in Accelerated Cellular Detox® Powder help soak up the toxins, heavy metals, and artificial ingredients from the take out meal, while preventing the usual bloat, constipation, and dysbiosis that occurs from eating processed foods. It has Chitosan which is known to carry excess dietary fat out of the body and to also help lower the bad cholesterol. The Activated Charcoal in the formula is known to clean up poisons and food borne illness commonly found in take out food.
The Accelerated Leaky Gut Bundle
The Accelerated Leaky Gut Bundle includes Megaspore, MegaPre, and MegaMucosa, forming a comprehensive protocol to heal your gut quickly and support ongoing resilience against the offenders in take-out food.
Here’s how these powerful supplements work together to restore gut health:
Microbiome Labs MegaSporeBiotic™ Probiotic
Megaspore is a unique sporebiotic, different from any other probiotic. It reconditions your gut by promoting the right microbial diversity without overpopulating it with the wrong strains. Unlike most probiotics, Megaspore can survive the harsh environment of stomach acid, ensuring it reaches your gut where it’s needed.
Microbiome Labs MegaPre™ Precision Prebiotic
MegaPre is designed to help the beneficial bacteria from Megaspore populate quickly and reinforce the positive changes in your gut. It carefully supports the growth of these good bacteria, ensuring a thriving microbial environment.
Microbiome Labs Mega Mucosa™
MegaMucosa helps restore the tight junctions and mucosal lining within your gut, which are often destroyed by gut issues. It includes:
- Immunoglobulins: Aid in intestinal barrier function and detoxification.
- Amino Acids: Play a vital role in maintaining the mucosal lining.
- Citrus Polyphenols: Support gut barrier function and overall gut health.
Together, these supplements create a powerful defense against leaky gut, promoting healing and long-term resilience for your digestive system.
Holozyme™ Digestive Enzymes
Holozyme™ Digestive Enzymes, when taken with meals, speed up the breakdown of food into usable nutrients, alleviating gas, bloating, and undigested food. When food isn’t broken down properly, larger food particles ferment in the gut, feeding harmful bacteria.
Holozyme™ digestive enzymes stand out from other enzyme formulas thanks to its unique AES patented absorption technology. This technology ensures that enzymes aren’t destroyed by stomach acid, activates each specific enzyme at the right time, and includes organic trace minerals to support overall gut health.
Healthy Gut HCL Guard™
A healthy stomach naturally produces ample acid during meals, but when you eat take-out and processed foods often, that acid declines. It is crucial for:
- Breaking down ingested foods.
- Unraveling “protein balls” for effective enzyme function.
- Activating the protein enzyme Pepsin.
- Releasing essential minerals like B12, calcium, and magnesium.
- Eliminating or sterilizing potentially harmful pathogens.
- Facilitating peristalsis (digestive waves).
- Prompting the release of bile salts and enzymes by signaling the digestive hormone CCK.
Thorne Berberine
Berberine is known to help stabilize blood sugar swings, especially when eating too much sugar or refined carbs, help improve immunity, and manage healthy cholesterol levels. Taking berberine with your take-out meal will help prevent high spikes and dips in blood sugar.
Healthy Gut HistaHarmony™
Take-out meals undoubtedly have high histamine ingredients that can cause an over exaggerated histamine response. HistaHarmony™ is a powerful DAO enzyme supplement designed to help break down histamine and reduce histamine reactions and intolerance symptoms.
Unlike other histamine supplements, HistaHarmony™ uses patented ProDAOZ with proprietary enzyme-preserving technology. It’s the only form of DAO on the market that’s protected until it reaches the small intestine, thanks to enteric-coated tablets, while other brands release their enzymes in the stomach. Taking HistaHarmony 20 minutes before the meal, will help prevent histamine reactions like racing heart, rashes, migraines, bloat, constipation, and other allergy-like reactions.
Key Dietary Changes to Get Back on Track
Following the guidelines below before and after a take out meal will make your gut more resilient and get back to feeling optimal quickly.
Eliminate Amyloid Proteins: Amyloid proteins from chicken, poultry, and conventionally raised beef can worsen gut issues by strengthening biofilm formation and reactivating viral activity. These foods are common in take out meals. Instead, focus on wild animal proteins like bison, elk, lamb, deer, duck, and wild fish. My favorite source of wild animal protein is North Star Bison.
Eliminate Oxalates: Oxalates are plant poisons found in “healthy” foods that can wreak havoc on your gut and are linked to brain fog, arthritis, gout, hypothyroidism, suppressed metabolism, and urogenital issues. They strengthen biofilm formation, which supports gut pathogens like mold, candida, bacteria, and viruses, leading to dysbiosis, leaky gut, and other gut problems. Foods high in oxalates include spinach, almonds, kale, peanuts, berries, chocolate, and most nuts.
Eliminate Sulfur Foods: While sulfur foods are often considered healthy and beneficial for liver detox, the presence of glyphosate and increased toxic burden means our sulfur detox pathways are overworked. Adding sulfur compounds from food and medication can overwhelm the liver. Foods high in sulfur include broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, egg yolk, onions, and garlic.
Limit Fat Intake Many gut issues stem from overburdened livers, which inhibit fat metabolism. Most take-out meals are laden with excess inflammatory fats from seed oils. Excessive fat intake can cause nausea, fat gain, and gut issues. As your body heals, you can gradually increase healthy fats, but always avoid inflammatory fats, including seed oils, as they can cause leaky gut, bloat, nutrient malabsorption, and more.
Lower Stress Chronic stress increases acidity throughout the body, causes leaky gut, lowers thyroid and metabolism function, and is often the root cause of many gut issues. Incorporating stress-reducing activities like meditation, exercise, gratitude journaling, and ensuring proper sleep can significantly lessen these effects and make your gut more resilient to the occasional take-out meal.
Sara Banta
Sara Banta is a Stanford University Graduate with a Degree in Economics and Psychology, and a certified Natural Supplement Expert & Graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Sara is the Founder of Accelerated Health Products and host of the health & wellness podcast, Accelerated Health Radio.
