Fast Food? Nay!

The fast food industry has been consistently booming since their start in the 1950s. With new menu options, to advertisements, to branding to marketing : the fast food industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. And that has to do with our consumerism. Fast food, in the initial years, was an ‘special occasion’ type meal. It was a meal that you got on the weekends or on a special day where you wanted to splurge yourself. Most of the meals that were eaten at the time were home-cooked and fast food was considered as a ‘special treat’. However times have changes, now we consume fast food as regular meals, unfortunately. And this has contributed to staggering and shocking discoveries concerning our health : ranging from obesity to cardiovascular disease to overall health deterioration. But what exactly are the effects of excessive fast food to us?

Firstly, health-wise. Fast food, when taken on regular and consistent rotations, can lead to a number of negative health consequences. The most common consequence is weight gain, and in some situations : leading to obesity. The ingredients and cooking preparations of fast food is not ideal to sustain a healthy living. They use foreign chemicals and starchy oils to make their food, which may make it taste good but ultimately leaves your body confused on how to break it down. Not to mention that the calories in these fast food menu items exceed your daily nutrient or caloric requirements. In turn, this causes multiple medical conditions to arise. Such as high cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar. In turn causing hypercholesteremia, hypertension, diabetes. And these medical conditions cause you to increase your risk of developing other medical conditions like a heart attack or a stroke possibly. And the heart isn’t the only organ that is affected, your stomach,  kidneys and liver work overtime to break down all these horrible substances.

An unfortunate result from all these medical conditions that arise is a deterioration to one’s physical well-being and psychological well-being as well. With more excess energy that is stored into fat and sugar reserves, your body becomes more lethargic. You get tired more easily, you are less energetic, you have sluggish movements. With that, you could compromise your psychological well-being as well. Once the sugar high is down, you start to feel heavy and sluggish. You have difficulty with your memory (in long-term cases), you feel less joyful than before. It all interrelates. When the physical aspect of your body is down : your mind also follows. The same works in reverse too.

Apart from the horrible health consequences of individuals with fast food, it also causes horrible statistics in the community. With more and more fast food restaurants and consumption of fast food, the overall rate of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and organ damage has skyrocketed. More and more of our civilians are leading unhealthy lives and that reflects on our society. Because this causes more influx of patients and medical conditions in our hospitals. More money on treatment for these preventable causes. And contributing to an overall unhealthy perspective in our community which may reflect on the younger generation.

Fast food is fine if you take it occasionally, about once or twice a month at most. But once you continuously depend on fast food as your daily meals : you will surely see negatives come from your day. Within a week, you can notice the negative changes of it. And within a month, you can suffer from these negative changes. Therefore consider the risk that you are making when you eat fast food and re-evaluate your options.