The Long Term Effects of Junk Food

Years of eating junk food caught up to with me in my late Thirties. I went from slim one hundred and ninety nine pound teenager in high school, to three hundred and forty pounds eighteen years later. Because of my love of junk food I developed most of the horrible disease associated with prolong eating of it. It wasn't until I had a routine doctor check up and found out I had type 2 Diabetes, that I started taking my health more serious. When I found out I had Diabetes, shocked did not begin to describe the way I felt. I knew I had to change my life style and make changes in my life. Many people believe the saying "you are what you eat" is just that a saying, In fact that saying is true. Most people don't think junk food is unhealthy because they can't see what the long term effects are from looking at themselves. Although junk food tastes good and is easy to get, the long term health effects outweighs the short term pleasures of eating it. (Bhawani, 2010) Because it's one of the leading causes of obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart disease in America, I will talk about why people eat it, long term effects and how to improve your bad eating habits. (Kemp, Paul, Segal, 2010)

People are surrounded by junk food, it is available everywhere. You can walk out your front door and within a few hundred steps of your front door you can get a candy bar, sugary drink or a burger. The junk food industries keep these foods very visible and easily accessible to everyone. People are addicted to junk food because it is cheaper, taste better and advertised more heavily than healthier food. Another reason junk food is so appealing is at a real restaurant you have to wait for a nutritious meal and it cost more. Hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza and sodas are within everyone's income range and do not take long to get. Let us not forget about the junk treats like potato chips, candy etc. that are also very affordability.

Why stay away from Junk food. Because it's full of sugar, salt and fat. As humans we love all three of these, this makes it harder to turn down junk food. The junk food industry has known for years that sugar is addictive; fat is delicious and salt is a most have on everything It's sad because these things contribute to diabetes, cancer and other life altering disease. Junk food contains no vitamins and minerals, because vitamins and minerals are key elements in keeping the body strong and healthy without vitamins and minerals the body is prone to a weakened immune system and diseases. Junk also food speeds up the effects of aging in people; those who continuously eat junk food show signs of aging faster than someone of the same age. A prolonged period of bad nutrition releases free radical which is responsible for the aging effect.

Junk food is a major cause of obesity in humans; the high amount of cholesterol and salt are known to offset blood pressure which causes strokes and heart disease. "The consumption of junk food is the leading factor in obesity and excess weight. Studies have revealed that obese people have twice the rate of chronic health problems as people of normal weight. This