- It’s Unhealthy
This is the biggie.
Junk food tends to be far worse for our health than more nutritional options.
A greasy burger covered in cheese and bacon might seem far more appetising than the loose-leaf salad on the menu. But it’s not as good for you.
Junk food has masses of fat, salt, and sugar- not to mention preservatives, additives, and a host of other questionable ingredients. Your physical health suffers when junk food is eaten in excess.
Eat it every once in awhile and you’ve got less to worry about (as long as the rest of your diet is well-balanced and nutritious). Eat it all the time, though, and you can do lasting damage.
Your heart suffers, your cholesterol suffers, your skin suffers, your energy-levels suffer, and so on. You’re more susceptible to serious health issues, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. And more.
Junk food might not be entirely to blame for such challenges. Levels of exercise, underlying health conditions, and so on make a big difference too. It does, however, have a significant role to play
- It Contributes To Weight Gain
Almost 45% of the country is obese. That’s not far off 1 in every 2 people who have it.
It’s scary, and junk food plays its part in that.
Junk food is intensely calorific. It’s also got all the sugar, bad fat and salt I mentioned above. Eat enough of the stuff and you’ll gain weight with greater ease than consuming healthier foodstuffs.
That’s bad news for kids who love junk food, but it ain’t exactly good for adults either.
Obesity is no joke, but being overweight in general isn’t great. Aside from the impact on self-esteem, it also has damaging effects on all aspects of health. Heck, the likelihood of dying shoots up enormously.
Almost 3 million adults die annually from being overweight or obese.
Going easy on the junk food is, arguably, a matter of life and death!
- It Makes You Feel Sick (In Large Quantities)
Junk food isn’t as filling as more nutritional alternatives.
You have to eat more to feel full. Likewise, the sheer tastiness of it means people often gorge themselves on junk food anyway.
The trouble is that doing so, aside from being very unhealthy, makes you feel sick!
How often have you dug your way to the bottom of the ice-cream tub only to feel awful afterward? It’s hard to stop when something tastes so good! Alas, nothing good comes from it.
Junk food earns its name for a reason. Put rubbish into your body and it’s natural to feel ill as a result.
- It Impacts Mental Health Too
Physical health is only one part of the problem.
Junk food impacts the mental side of things too.
It does so in a number of ways. First off, there’s a direct link to physical and mental health. If your body feels good, then so does the mind; and vice versa.
Being overweight or obese, or simply feeling sick after overeating, is a recipe for trouble. Your body doesn’t have what it needs; your mind and mood suffer.
Throw in the negative self-image that comes with it and you’re in for a rocky time.
- It’s Addictive
Finally, junk food is highly addictive.
All the fat, sugar, salt, and energy-dense ingredients in it are what our brain and body think they want. It’s built into our systems!
Our primal circuitry was built upon uncertainty of resources.
