When an urge strikes late at night, nothing strikes like Taco Bell. The fast food chain can offer healthy options if you want to keep your diet on track, and as long as you eat carefully, you do not have to worry about avoiding this Tex-Mex favorite. But if you are going to enjoy it, you need to tread carefully because some unpleasant side effects come along with eating Taco Bell.
Taco Bell makes their tacos and burritos taste irresistible thanks to the high levels of sodium, fat and even sugar in certain foods. These extreme ingredients can punish your body if taken to the extreme. To find out what side effects we should pay attention to, we spoke to a variety of dietitians, doctors, nutritionists and other experts to narrow down what we can expect if we go too hard with this classic fast food. chain.
Read on to learn the side effects of eating Taco Bell to your body, and for more healthy tips, check out our list of the 7 healthiest foods you can eat right now.
Some of the most immediate effects that happen after we take a burrito or taco from Taco Bell occur in our brain.
“Nitrates in canned meats and cheeses aggravate depression,” said Dr. Uma Naidoo, managing director, nutritional psychiatrist and author ofThis is your brain about food explain. “A fast food diet is one that contains processed and ultra-processed ingredients, usually processed vegetable oils, added sodium, added sugars, as well as dyes, dyes, fillers and preservatives. These are all substances that are inflammatory for the brain and body.”
“Poor food choices feed the bad bugs in our gut, help them thrive and take over the good bugs (meant to help and protect us),” said Dr. Naidoo continued. “Over time, the bad bugs cause inflammation, which can lead to leaky gut and neuro-inflammation (brain). If it develops, it causes new mental health problems or exacerbates the mental health symptoms you are already struggling with.”
Get even more healthy tips straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletter.
Even after scraping a few tacos or burritos, you probably will not feel completely satisfied. This feeling comes as a direct result of the ingredients that make up a Taco Bell meal.
“There is little fresh whole food with fiber and nutrients in fast food, so it moves quickly through your digestive system and you often feel hungry shortly afterwards,” says Dr Naidoo.
This lack of fiber creates an eternal spiral of hunger, which can even lead to overeating, as found in a study published in The nutrition review. To see which items in the chain have the best chance of filling you up, go to Healthy Meals at Taco Bell with high protein.
When we dig into a box of tacos, heightened feelings of depression are not the only thing to worry about.
“With a diet high in unhealthy trans fats, added sugars and processed foods, the brain struggles to think clearly,” said Dr. Naidoo said.
“Diet high in saturated fats can also affect your cognitive abilities,” says Jay Cowin, ASYSTEM’s registered nutritionist and director of formulations. “Brain inflammation and insulin resistance, caused by saturated fatty acids, have been implicated in cognitive deficits.”
Not all Taco Bell menu items create side effects that affect the way our brains think. Too much Taco clock can also result in brain aneurysms.
“Saturated fats increase the amount of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in the blood,” says Cowin. “High LDL increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. Saturated fat should not include more than 10% of your daily calories. The popular Cheesy Gordita Crunch Supreme itself contains 11 g of saturated fat.”
Take your chances on this deadly side effect and read through what foods you should eat in foods that help ward off stroke after 40.
The same saturated fat that can lead to stroke can also have a real number for your heart health.
“A lot of the food at Taco Bell is large and also fried, cheesy or contains beef,” says Dr. Lisa Young, PhD, RDN, and author of Finally full, finally slim. “This combination contains too many calories as well as saturated fat which, if consumed regularly over time, can lead to obesity and heart disease.”
Young also mentions how “a diet high in saturated fats can raise unhealthy LDL cholesterol and thus clog the arteries that contribute to heart disease.”
If you need to stick to a healthy eating plan, you need to keep your Taco Bell runs in balance with more healthy eating options to get the best nutrition from both worlds. If you decide to overdo it on the chain, do not be surprised if you experience any of these ugly side effects.
Do you want to eat healthier on the clock instead of giving up and going overboard? Here are the best and worst tacos at Taco Bell.