Effects of fast food on health - Essay Example

This study “Effects of fast food on health” describes the unhealthy category of nutrition that is increasingly becoming an all-American choice. People have got busier lives in this competitive world, so they have less time to spend in the grocery store buying grocery and in the kitchen over lengthy cooking processes. Thus, they prefer looking for a quick and easy already prepared meal that they can grab at a nearby fast food corner. It has become an important part of our pop culture. Most of the time, fast food is unhealthy.

It is natural for the consumers to find such food tasty that is high in fat, calories, sugar and sodium. When we compare fast food with healthy food, all nutritionist agree on the fact that healthy food gives the body all essential nutrients that it needs to stay healthy and active; while, junk food deprives the body of these important nutrients thus making the body frail, fatigued, inactive and obese because of empty calories. Since the unhealthy food full of fat and calories is very appealing and tasty, customers order this food and consume calories that are needed in the whole day in just one sitting.

The tragedy is that all these calories are empty calories, which means that they lack nutrition needed to maintain a healthy body. A healthy and balanced diet comprises all nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, fats, minerals, and water. On the other hand, fast food merely focuses on fats which results in consumers becoming obese. Obesity itself attracts many diseases. like heart diseases, blood pressure, and laziness. Fast food not only contains more fat but worse fats than usual. Research also suggests that fast food is a cause of migraine (Ford).

The reason behind this is that fast food or processed food contains large amounts of nitrate or nitrite, monosodium glutamate (MSG), and artificial sweeteners. All of these ingredients cause severe headache. Nitrates and nitrites are known to increase blood pressure which results in pain in head. Fast food makers add these ingredients in the food to give the meat that pink and fresh look that appeals to the consumers. They add MSG because it adds flavor to the food and removes the metallic taste that enters the food while processing.

These ingredients tend to make the food tempting enough to eat but at the end, all we get are head bangs and we never know that the reason is fast food. The Capital Health banned donuts in bakeries outside hospitals in Tim Hortons. The idea behind was to enable the staff of the hospital and patients to make healthier choices when it came to their eating habits. In 2009, deep fryers were also banned in the hospitals’ cafeterias for the same reasons. Obese people are also at a chance of catching more obesity if they will continue to eat donuts, officials say.

Also, since patient kids are so much attracted to this round delight, they consume a lot of them which fills their stomachs with empty calories not providing them sufficient energy and nutrients. This also makes them obese if they do not consume donuts in balance. So, the whole concept revolves around promoting a healthier lifestyle where people are at least risk of catching diseases