In the 21st century, one thing that has been a staple of our lifestyle worldwide is fast
food.
With our busy lifestyle today, we have to juggle between multiple jobs, college, family
and travelling and fast food serves as an easy medium to fill our stomach in a short
time.
The best part?
It’s super fast, pocket friendly and don’t forget, really tasty.
But this does not mean it is good for your body.
In fact fast food does more harm to your body than you can imagine.
In today’s video we will tell you how Fast Food affects your body and health.
From Diabetes, Heart Diseases, Obesity to Fatigue and many more, keep watching till
the end to find out what they are.
Tooth Decay: What does that burger and fries, you had last week have in common with the
large pizza you’re craving now?
They’re loaded with starch.
Starch tends to stick to your teeth, and stay there for a long time.
If you don’t brush or floss after having fast food, these food particles can settle
there.
This means a feast for bacteria in your mouth.
This bacterial concentration leads to infection, and eventually, tooth decay.
Bacterial settlement in your teeth also forms plaque and tartar, which give way to gum disease
or gingivitis.
Fatigue: Fatigued, sluggish and always tired?
Take a look at your diet for some clues as to why you have low energy.
Eating fast food can truly zap your energy.
Fast foods are rich in sugar which can leave you feeling drained and tired.
This is because sugar sends you on a crash course.
When you initially consume food with high sugar, it surges through your body and spikes
your insulin.
For a short while you may feel alert and excited.
But once all that added glucose is absorbed, the spike spirals down, leaving you feeling
groggy and unenergetic.
Instead of consuming quick-fix fast foods, eat food that stabilizes sugar so you won’t
experience a crash and will be on your way to having all-day energy.
Liver Damage: Eating fast food regularly can be highly toxic for your liver and other internal
organs.
Studies have shown that junk food can be as damaging to the liver as alcohol, even if
you’re not overweight.
Yet, a study from Europe suggested that you can likely reverse fast-food liver damage
by simply giving up those unhealthy lifestyle habits - one more reason to avoid or limit
foods with added sugars.
Digestion Problems: Eating Fast Food regularly can lead to digestive problems like GERD and
irritable bowel syndrome or IBS.
This is because fast food is deep fried and the oil from the fast food gets deposited
in your stomach causing acidity.
This causes irritation of the stomach lining as they are too spicy, and they also lack
fibre which is important for proper digestion.
Heart Problems: One of the most harmful effects of fast food is how bad it is for your heart.
Eating fast foods can increase your LDL or bad cholesterol, lower your HDL or good cholesterol,
and increase your risk for type 2 diabetes.
The magical combination of fat, sugar, and lots of sodium in the form of salt makes fast
food seem tastier.
But eating foods high in sodium can lead to water retention, which is why you may feel
puffy, bloated, or swollen after eating fast food.
A diet high in sodium is dangerous for people with blood pressure conditions.
Sodium can also elevate blood pressure and put stress on your heart and cardiovascular
system.
Increased Risk of Depression: The Happy Meal may be one of the most paradoxically named
products ever to hit the market.
People who regularly consume fast food are 51 percent more likely to experience depression,
and more likely to be single, work long hours, eat fewer fruits and veggies, and smoke, according
to a 2012 study.
And while talk therapy and meds are going to be your best options to battle depression,
nutrients such as B vitamins and Omega 3s have been associated with lower instances
of depression.
These, as you can imagine are not found in fast food items as abundantly, if at all.
Weight Gain: If you've ever looked at the nutrition facts on any food or drink label,
you've probably noticed that every measurement is based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
While the amount of calories you should eat daily to maintain a healthy weight depends
on a number of factors, including your sex and height, in general the more calories you
eat, the more weight you gain.
Fast food is notorious for containing a ton of calories.
For example, a crunchy taco from Taco Bell has 190 calories, a Big Mac has 540 calories,
and a Wendy's Baconator has 950 calories.
The worst part is that these are empty calories, meaning they hold little to no nutrients,
which is why you're hungry again so soon after eating it.
A study found that those who eat fast food frequently generally have a higher body mass
index and are more likely to be overweight than those who don't.
Skin Problems: If you're out of your teens and wondering why your stubborn skin just
won't clear up, the fast food you're eating might be to blame.
It might be because fast food falls on the glycemic index, which measures how fast certain
foods release glucose into the bloodstream.
A 2010 study found that high glycemic load diets may worsen acne.
To find the glycemic load of any kind of food, you multiply the grams of a carbohydrate in
a serving by the glycemic index, dividing by 100.
Ideally, you want to keep the glycemic load under 10.
It's the simple sugars, white flour, and empty carbs like french fries that can be blamed
for your post-fast food breakout.
Increased risk of Diabetes: Over time, high levels of sugar and simple carbohydrates in
fast food can lead to type 2 diabetes.
This occurs because eating too much sugar puts your metabolism under stress.
When you eat a lot of refined white sugar and simple carbohydrates, your body has to
pump up insulin production to prevent a dangerous spike in blood sugar levels.
Because fast food doesn't contain the protein or complex carbohydrates that your body needs
to maintain consistent blood sugar levels, your blood sugar levels will drop suddenly
soon after eating.
You'll crave sugar and likely end up eating more fast food.
Over time, this stress damages your body's ability to use the insulin secreted by your
pancreas.
A healthy diet can help maintain your body's insulin sensitivity.
Decreased Focus and Productivity: When it comes to focus, energy and overall productivity,
food can have a substantial impact on your day-to-day life.
Your body processes different foods in different ways, and choosing the wrong foods like fast
foods can leave you feeling lethargic and sluggish.
Some foods, like pasta, bread, cereal and soda, release their glucose quickly, leading
to a burst of energy followed by a slump.
Other high fat meals like cheeseburgers and Pizzas provide more sustained energy, but
require your digestive system to work harder, reducing oxygen levels in the brain making
you feel confused and dazed.
Can you remember a time when you felt sluggish in the afternoon?
Odds are good that you had junk food for lunch that day.
Memory and Learning Problems: A study showed that healthy people who ate fast food for
only 5 days performed poorly on cognitive tests that measured attention, speed, and
mood.
It concluded that eating junk food for just five days regularly can deteriorate your memory.
This probably stems from the fact that a poor or toxic diet can cause certain chemical reactions
that lead to inflammation in the hippocampus area of the brain which is associated with
memory and special recognition.
Diets that are high in sugar and fat can suppress the activity of a brain peptide called BDNF
or brain-derived neurotrophic factor that helps with learning and memory formation.
Moreover, your brain contains synapses which are responsible for learning and memory.
Eating too many calories can interfere with the healthy production and functioning of
these synapses.
Decreased Appetite Control: Excess consumption of trans fats found in fried and processed
foods can send mixed signals to your brain making it difficult to process what you may
have eaten and how hungry are.
This is probably why you end up overeating.
Healthy brain functions require a daily dose of essential fatty acids like omega-6 and
omega-3.
Deficiency of these two elements increases the risk of attention deficit disorder, dementia
and bipolar disorder and other brain-related problems.
Over consumption of fast foods may displace these with trans fats which are harder to
digest.
In worst case scenarios, the habit of overeating can be similar to drug addiction to such an
extent that relying on fast foods may activate the pleasure centres of your brain similar
to receiving drugs.
Respiratory Problems: Fast food has been clearly related to Obesity and overweight problems.
Obesity may cause problems with your respiratory system.
Too much weight can cause breathing problems like shortness of breath.
Obesity is also a cause of Sleep Apnea in which the person cannot get a sound sleep.
Sleep is continuously disturbed because of shortness of breath and asthma.
A study showed that children who eat more junk food at least 3 times a week have a higher
chance of getting asthma or other breathing problems.
How often do you eat fast food?
Have you ever tried giving it up?
Let us know in
the comments section below!