Junk_Food

Society consists of many addictions but the most overlooked addiction is junk food. Junk food is food that is high in calories, fat and sugars that don’t have any nutritional importance. It also has some major disadvantages: it’s expensive, addictive and causes health complications. One disadvantage of junk food is its very expensive .If you bought a soda fifty years ago, it would have measured about eight ounces. Today, a regular coke is twelve ounces and a large one is thirty-two ounces. That is just a small demonstration of how portion sizes have increased. The food producers have gradually increased the size of meal that a person is expected to consume in one sitting. They have increased the amount Americans eat and increased their sales. This begins in childhood, where five-year-old children now eat the amount an adult once ate. It is not surprising that obesity has become such a problem. Another disadvantage is that junk food affects the brain. The brain runs off of glucose. When there is not enough glucose going to the brain, there isn’t any energy. Junk foods are high in fatty acids, and the fatty acids clog the brain and it affects all processes of the brain such as communicating, learning and remembering. It also slows down metabolism of glucose and causes the brain not to function as well as it does in normal conditions. Junk foods have a tough demand on elementary and mature emotions. They are usually sweet, rich, and very filling. Its fast, convenient, and no mess in the home. Also they add games or playgrounds to keep the kids occupied while parents get a break. It’s striking through commercials especially made for kids whom will bug their parents to take them. By increasing sales, toys are sold with meals. Half the time the kids don’t even touch the food. Sure, going out to eat was a once a week thing or only on special occasions. Now with so much variety and large amounts of franchises, even prices dropped or available ($1 dollar menus), people are finding it very hard to avoid them. At every turn people see commercials, catchy jingles, loud ads or new gimmicks attracting kids that make it hard for parents to say no. As children, sometimes junk food is given just for being good. Cookies, cakes and candy were given as a reward. As one grow older, one is reminded of how it felt as children when there is familiar breakfast cereals, ice cream, candies or cookies. Junk food is used to cheer up oneself and is also used to associate emotional experiences. This can lead to many addictive problems. Many people can be addicted to junk food without ever realizing it. It appears as if everyone is doing it so, consuming junk food does not seem to be addictive. It attacks all age groups. Kids and senior citizens are addicted as well. A lot of people can be addicted their whole lives. There can be some major consequences that come along with eating sweets and snacks that seem to be ok. Children who are addicted to junk food at an early age stop eating nutritious foods they need to stay healthy. When one reaches middle age, one will probably gets a great amount of every day caloric eating from junk food. A large bag of potato chips and a Super Big Gulp from Seven Eleven seems to be a lot of teenager’s menus for lunch, which means they are consuming 8000 calories a school week, just on eating lunch. Being addicted to junk food has some harmful effects. Regardless of age, the effect of junk food in one’s body can be serious especially when you eat too much of it. One will end up getting easily exhausted by being a junk food fanatic. Because it doesn't balance the proper levels of energy one should consume, one has a tendency to crave for more food. Also, one can’t concentrate with anything one takes on at work and home because what one acquires from junk foods are plain fats, not healthy ingredients. As time progresses, one’s heart can’t perform its job like it should because of too much fat engrossed in the body because of junk food. If there's too much plaque in the arteries, your heart has to work that much harder to pump blood which will cause one to be tired. The extra amount of cholesterol in one’s body can kill the liver as well, leaving one obese at the same time. Most overweight kids have gotten their overweight problem because of too much junk food intake. Most of the ones who are junk food eaters are more than likely to become diabetic at any given time of their life because of so much sugar in the body. One can also have high blood pressure caused by a great amount of sodium. There are many ways to cure the addition of junk food. One can take notes. Try to control one’s eating habits. Make an effort to make the proper changes where it is needed by replacing certain food choices with healthy alternatives. Cut down on consuming carbonated beverages. It doesn't matter if one drink diet soda. The best thing will be to drink more water. Water goes well with healthy food, while soda and chips are always together. Multivitamins are good and they also curb your appetite. Stay active in some kind of way. If not by exercising, try to keep busy. It's a simple thought of focusing on something else to fight certain urges. If one is not thinking about snacking between meals, one probably won’t. The importance of proper nutrition is something that all people should be aware of in their lives. This involves people trying to stay away from consuming junk food and having that surplus fat hanging around their stomach, spending a lot of time lying around with television remote in their hands living life as a couch potatos (Santrock, 1996). These people should be mainly concerned about how much fat that is in their diet. For example, living on junk food can offer only the smallest amount of nutritional value. It contributes to greater fat levels which results in becoming overweight later in life. Furthermore, glucose levels in the blood are affected by foods such as carbohydrates and plain sugars. Although there could be many disagreements that certain people could become heir to a trend to be overweight, some people still burn energy more quickly than others. However, studies show that a great number of children and young adults who do not have obese parents later become obese themselves, because of eating large amounts of junk food meals. The meals add to the excess amount of fat intake. It is likely that the number of fat cells enlarge when individuals gain weight, and sometimes it’s hard to get rid of them. (Browell & Stein, 1996; Santrock, 1996). Thus, people should always be conscious of the nutritional needs of their bodies and should know how various nutritional food items can affect their bodies (Akande, 2000). Busy people have no reason to ruin their health and lives by always eating easy available junk food. Many of the fast food chains that are operating today are serving food that has little or no nutritional value. Most of the burgers and pizzas that are being sold are full of bad carbohydrates that only provide the customers with short bursts of unhealthy energy. And since most of the people on the go barely have time to exercise, the extra energy that they end up getting from these harmful carbohydrates turn into fat, making people obese. This is why it is important for people to have a healthy diet, which includes more protein, more vegetables, and fewer carbohydrates. Choosing a healthy diet will improve your health. Always continue to balance between ones calorie intake and calorie spending. This means to not consume more food than you’re your body can take. Meaning, don't eat more food than your body can take. One is recommended to intake 2,000 calories per day, but it also depends on ones sex, height, age and bodily activity. Healthy eating is a chance to expand ones range choices by trying foods. Try to start eating vegetables, whole grains and fruits. Keep portions moderate. Share one’s plate with someone and never supersize anything. Last but not least, drink more water. The Human body is made up of approximately 75% water. It is very important to keep water in a healthy diet. Water keeps our systems clean, most importantly the bladder and kidneys. It helps get rid of toxins and waste. Water is lost daily from our bodies due to sweat, urine and evaporation from lungs and in feces. The average person should drink two to three liters of water daily, which can be supplied through liquid foods and drinks. Although junk food is hard to resist, it is taking away all the nutrition’s from one’s bodies to stay healthy.. It is contaminates one’s systems, leaves one easily exhausted and causes health problems. It is always better to avoid processed artificial foods and stick to the consumption of healthy nutritious foods. By doing this, one will live a long, strong healthy life.