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Some time back, I read this interesting blog discussing what happens to the body when we consume a slice of pizza. Peculiar, as it may seem, but the data they presented was quite intimidating. So heres my re-take of a blog written by Elizabeth Narins, fitness and health editor at Cosmopolitan Blog.
I hope you like my take at it and hope you enjoy this read.
Pizza and Body: Whats up?
You need to accept one fact first, pizza is surely the best food on earth. However, lately, it has to wear the crown of junk food due to the high calories, high sodium and high fat content it passes on.
Well, guess what, if you consume a Pepperoni pizza slice every day, on an average youre taking in around 310 Calories, adding almost 14 grams of Fat and near about 750 mg of Sodium to your system.
Yes, thats just one slice, were talking about here.
Different pizza chains have different styles of preparing a pizza. And its obvious that a pizza chain will offer you a plethora of pizzas, both veg and non-veg. Case in point, when they have a variety to offer, they make sure to fix the recipes globally, ensuring the taste is certainly the same at every outlet of a pizza chain of a particular pizza. Nevertheless, a pepperoni pizza from two different brands would surely vary as per taste and obviously calorie content.
Now allow me to tell you what happens when you consume a slice of pizza.
Allow me to explain to you what actually happens inside your body, once the slice you ate, begins to get digested.
Notice: All the facts and data that Ill present next have been documented from a discussion with Sonya Angelone, registered dietitian-nutritionist, spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Heres some information for you. This infographic from Cosmopolitan puts the impact of pepperoni pizza on human body quite easily.
Here, take a look at it.
And heres a breakdown (timely) of the process of digestion of a pepperoni pizza slice.
First ten minutes
You what, its a hard truth that the more pizza you eat, the less pleasure will that pizza offer you. Well, its the same with any other food item that you relish to the core.
But dont misjudge this with the part wherein you were drooling for the pizza (a while back).The above mentioned fact is just a natural neurotic reaction from the body.
Salivating on the other hand, triggers the release of some digestive juices in the mouth. These juices get down right to business, to create the perfect environment inside the mouth. Once chewed, further movement is fairly easy, from mouth to esophagus through the digestive juices and right into the stomach.
The digestive enzyme then get to work in the stomach. Their job is to break down food into glucose. This glucose is the used by your body to fuel the body movements, keeps your heart going good etc.
However, thats a longer version of the story. For the first ten mins, just know that you food has reached its destination and is being treated well by the natural digestive enzymes in your body.
10-15 minutes after eating
Post ten minutes, some critical chemical reactions are going inside our body. Although the task is easy for the body, i.e., pass the sugar through the bloodstream. But, since our food needs saturation before dissolution with the bloodstream, things such as fat, crabs from the pizza slice are further cut down so as to help the body digest them faster. When the body burns high fat, there is more release of energy. And since your slice has a lot of fat content, especially in that cheese, there is a lot of potential energy in that one slice, so to speak.
A point you must note here is that in case your body has a bad way of dealing with fat, you could figure it out in case your belly starts bloating because of the residual gases that are being released in your stomach while digestion of the pizza slice.
This, however, can vary from person to person. Some people have good capacity to tolerate fat, while some dont. Some may have none, at all. So yes, dont be scared already. Dont make a decision yet. Theres more time left till your pizza slice is being digested. You should be judgmental later, by the end of this blog.
After 30 minutes of eating the slice
Its time for the pancreas to participate. The Insulin from Pancreas helps the cells in your body to absorb the blood sugar and keep the level up for longer.
However, extra high blood sugar can make the levels rise, big time.
Extra high blood pressure can lead of inflammation that pave the way for health threats such as all kinds of CVD- Cardio vascular diseases.
Coming back to the process, whatever sugar is left, goes to the liver and gets converted to fat. And that will be the moment when the leptin hormone makes your body react to the situation and stop you from overeating.
Post an hour well, the story is pretty much over. Once the leptin strikes in, the mind kills the craving for more and satisfaction is then your middle name.
Post 3 to 4 hours of eating, there will be drop in the blood sugar level, and will reach the normal level.
So in case you start getting the feeling of consuming the leftover slice, you might as well do that. Your body is ready for the drill again.
In conclusion...
So my friends, I m sure youd rethink of pizza now. Give up the stereotypical mentality and work on your metabolism instead. Sweat it out to burn the fat better.
You only live once, thats quite true. Then why not eat what you wish to all your life while staying healthy as well. Follow the regime, and follow your dreams, enjoy your Pepperoni pizza while you can!
