Fast Food and Obesity



Fast Food Restaurants and Obesity have been growing together side by side. If we have a look at the growth of the fast food industry and the growth of the obesity to epidemic proportions we can find that both the graphs have been growing at the same speed and in the same direction. Eric Schlosser in his brilliant and shocking book, Fast Food Nation, describes the US as "an empire of fat," and he lays the blame for this clearly and convincingly at the door of the fast food industry.

In countries like Japan and China people were lean and fit. With the growth in fast food restaurants Japanese and Chinese have abandoned their traditional healthy diets in favour of fast foods. We can see the rate of obesity and associated diseases have also increased. Obesity is a far less of a problem in countries like France, Italy and Spain. They have resisted the spread of the fast food culture. What should we do about this? The most obvious answer is to change your diet from fast foods to healthy food. Food that gives you enough energy but does not make your obese.

Adults and children find it difficult to resist the temptations to eat the unhealthy fast foods. Some are unaware of their health effects whereas there are others who know the ill effects of these fast foods but cannot keep away from eating them. Fast foods contain saturated fats, highly refined carbohydrates, sodium and sugars. They have very high calorific value. They are devoid of important nutrients which have an essential role in the body metabolism. The high level of carbohydrates increases the sugar level in the blood. This leads to the body producing more insulin which is know to increase fat deposition in the body. This ultimately leads to obesity.

Cooking at home is one way to avoid these fast foods. Exercise is another way to reduce the fat accumulations and to burn the excess calories.

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