When you have no time to cook your own food, what do you do?
The answer is obvious, of course. You go out to your local fast food outlet (in deference to your kids’ preferences), you go out to the food strip at the mall, or you order take out. It is convenient and you can eat your fill at these joints. What’s not so obvious, however, is what such a practice is doing to you and your children’s health.
Healthy eating habits are crucial to achieving a healthy mind and body. Healthy eating habits refer to eating meals regularly, eating well-balanced meals, and eating only what’s necessary. Healthy eating habits do not involve eating burgers and fries for lunch.
The Fast Food Culture
Unfortunately, some people do think that it is healthy to have burgers and fries for lunch. Advertising spiels have a lot to answer for this. In a world filled with fast food and restaurants, it is but natural that the companies serving up this food have to undermine people’s preference for home-cooked meals or they will become redundant and not make any profit.
As such, big food corporations put millions of dollars into TV commercials that assert in not so many words that a meal eaten at a fast food is special while eating at home with your family the meal your mother cooked is nothing but ordinary.
Such a reversal of values was helped along by the faster pace of life, where people have no more time to devote to preparing home-cooked meals. People are always driving or commuting to work, attending business meetings, or maybe holding one or two jobs. You cannot expect someone who has already been working 12 hours straight to come home and prepare a lengthy meal. It makes more sense to buy some take-out or bring the family out for a meal.
People are aware that they need to eat healthy food. However, what do you do if you are misled into thinking that restaurant fare and fast food taste better than home-cooked food? Sadly, there’s also an underlying effort to make people think that food in restaurant and fast foods are all healthy, that there’s really not much difference when you eat in or out. It’s all the same, but eating out is more convenient.
As people continue to be bombarded with mass media advertisements advocating the value of fast food and eating out, and as people become even more busy trying to hold on to their jobs, more and more people stop cooking and begin taking these commercials to heart. People have deserted home-cooked and nutritious meals that need hours of preparation for big servings of calorie- and fat-rich food that gets served up within minutes.
Fast food is full of empty nutrition. While it may fill you up- it is not providing your body with the nutrients your body needs on a daily basis.
The Diseased Nation
The success of the fast food industry in establishing a culture that thrives in fast food and meals eaten out, our people’s health has been placed on the balance. Thus, America is now an ailing nation. Incidence of heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure continues to rise as obesity becomes even more prevalent.
A study conducted found that 36.6 percent of American adults – about 85 million – consumed fast food, including pizza, on a given day
That is a staggering number. It is no wonder obesity is on the rise. Indulging very now and then is okay, but eating fast food consistently, will only lead to health issues like heart disease, stroke, obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
We get it, fast food is not something that is completely unavoidable at all costs, however it should be minimized as much as possible.
Remember: The more healthy foods you add in, the easier it will be to crowd out the unhealthy ones. Stay positive!
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