Heavy meals don’t just make you feel full. Your blood vessels don’t function as well afterward. Your level of triglycerides—an unhealthy blood fat—rises, too. These changes may contribute to plaque buildup in the arteries. But men could thwart some of these harmful changes with exercise. In one study, a rich, fatty meal had fewer negative effects on those who had walked for 90 minutes the day before.

Journal of the American College of Cardiology