Is Fast Food Bad For Our Body?

A documentary was made a few years ago by someone who wanted to know the effects of fast food on his body for only 30 days. The results for the fast food industry were disastrous. After one month of eating fast food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the producer of the documentary had his doctors all up at arms and he had to take a few months to detoxify.

I have not met any personal trainer who has encouraged me to eat fast food. If you are into weight training or simply trying to stay fit, cutting down on saturated fats, processed foods, excess sugar and unnecessary chemicals is the first step to maintaining a healthy body.

Fast food is very sweet tasting. In fact you will hard pressed to cook better tasting food. This probably has to do with the amount of fat contained in their food. Once you enter a fast food restaurant you will tempted to leave with French fries, a whopper or Big Mac and of course a sugary drink to go. Let us take a few examples of what a normal meal will look like at a few fast food restaurants:

McDonalds

Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips (5): 630 calories, 33 grams of fat

Hot Cakes & Sausage: 770 calories, 33 grams of fat

Sausage Biscuit w/ Egg: 500 calories, 31 grams of fat

Taco Bell

Fiesta Taco Salad: 860 calories, 46 grams of fat

Taco Salad: 630 calories, 34 grams of fat

Maybe the numbers do not make much sense to you but here is an example of a common food combo at Fast Food Counter in the UK.

A Combo, 1/2 lb. Double, with Cheese Burger, with Medium French Fries & Medium Coca-Cola will contain 1330 calories per sitting. In order to burn this amount of calories, if you are a 35 year old female, you will need any of the following exercises to burn them:

• 367 minutes of walking, or
• 151 minutes of jogging, or
• 110 minutes of swimming, or
• 202 minutes of cycling

If you have the same meal twice a day, you will need extra hours in your day to reduce its harmful effects.

An average person requires about 2000 calories per day and 37 grams of fat. This particular meal is more than half your daily calorie requirement and more than your required amount of fats.

If you are exercising or have started body building to shed the extra weight, fast foods will make it nearly impossible to shed the extra fat. Even if you work out regularly, your body will burn the new fat before it gets to the old fat (the fat you were trying to lose in the first place). Do not be surprised if you exercise a lot and still find yourself gaining more fat if you visit fast food restaurants.

You will never find a doctor who recommends saturated fat as a healthy alternative in your diet. There may be good fats that your doctor will recommend like fish oil but not saturated fats. Most fast foods rely on saturated fats to make their meals, the very same fats that are the main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol.

If you care about your health and are serious about weight training, fast food restaurants are out of the question for you. It is better to stick to a good diet of fresh fruit and vegetables and the normal amount of protein intake. The food tastes better, is cheaper in the long run and is healthier for you.

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