Why is fast food so bad for you? (From News Shopper)

Why is fast food so bad for you?

6:04pm Wednesday 1st February 2012 in Opinion & Blogs

The dangers of fast food cannot be understated as the world's population is increasingly becoming overweight.

This is thanks largely to a shift in diet from a wholesome, home cooked diet as little as 40 years ago to a diet rich in processed, unwholesome and additive laden foods. With the ever growing proliferation of fast food outlets and restaurants coupled with huge advertising budgets, it’s no wonder that more and more people are flocking to eat their highly attractive products.

Foods that are processed and made into what can best be described as ready meals often contain few in any nutritional ingredients. They are bulked out with pasta, breadcrumbs, corn flour, processed potato, processed egg and milk products as well as hydrogenated vegetable oil, saturated fats, gums, sugar substitutes , then made to taste good by the addition of herbs and spices, salt, monosodium glutamate and sugars. They also contain artificial colours and preservatives as well as some artificial flavourings just to complete the unhealthy package.

When your diet is lacking in fresh fruit and vegetables, your intake of essential nutrients that are derived from these sources is almost zero. Your intake of dietary fibre is also low to nonexistent. By replacing fresh wholesome food with processed, additive laden food, you do the following things to your body; Raise your blood pressure, Increase the levels of bad cholesterol, Retard your metabolic rate (the rate at which you digest, process and eliminate food), Weaken your immune system, Destabilize your blood sugar levels and Reduce the ability of your colon to function properly.

What all this does to your body is it increases your fat storage, especially if you lead a sedentary lifestyle. So fast food can be very bad for you and can affect your life forever.