Lazy and Forgetful? Might Be the Fatty Food

Photo: stu_spivack, Flickr

Have you ever felt particularly sluggish (in both mind and body) after indulging in a fatty meal? It's not all in your head -- it's in your diet.

A recent study in the FASEB Journal showed that a diet high in fat has a strong and remarkably quick effect on memory and athletic performance. Rats were given a diet of low-fat rat chow (7.5 percent fat) and then had their memories tested with a maze. When half were switched to high-fat rat chow (55 percent fat), the rats on the new fatty diet all experienced decreased performance starting almost immediately and getting progressively worse as time went on. The rats that stayed on the low-fat rat chow continued to perform just as well as they had in the beginning.

These rats were also trained on treadmills, and after just five days of being on the high-fat rat chow, the rats were only half as efficient. "It was really striking how quickly these effects happened," the study's lead author, Andrew Murray told The New York Times.

You can say that again! Who among us hasn't indulged for a week or so on vacation and wondered why, all of a sudden, our workout sucks. You know -- you can't run as fast or long, or remember the steps to your favorite workout DVD. And now you know why!

As if you needed another reason to avoid a fatty diet! But remember, not all fats are bad -- check out this list of foods filled with healthy fat at AOL Health.