Why you must stop junk food

Do you know why all your favourite food
items including pizzas, pie, samosas, burgers, beef
roll, french fries, rolls and wraps are called ‘junk
food? Well, the dictionary meaning of the word ‘junk’
is useless, extra or something that is not needed.
And all these fast food items that have invaded
every nook and crannies of our country are called
junk because they completely justify this meaning.
Today, junk food businesses are dominating the
food industry to a great extent, with each huge food
chain generating huge revenue, creating thousands
of employment opportunities and influencing diet
globally. But all this comes at the cost of health and
well-being of millions of consumers. The
consequences that these junk food can have on
your health are terrible, regardless of whether you
have them once in a while, twice in a week or
every day. Have a look at how these junk food play
a crucial role in deteriorating your health.
Why You Should Stop Eating Junk Food
Junks can cause type 2 diabetes
One of major contributing factors for the emerging
diabetes epidemic is unhealthy diet full of junk and
fast food. When you eat a healthy diet, your body
gets a steady supply of glucose, which helps
maintain insulin sensitivity. On the other hand, when
you eat only junk food, the excessive stress
exerted on your metabolism affects the ability of
your body to use insulin properly. Since junk food
lacks fibre content, its consumption directly results
in a spike in sugar levels. Further, junk food
consumption leads to obesity, one of the main
reasons for insulin resistance and development of
diabetes.
It can trigger digestive problems
Those who are addicted to fatty junk food are bound
to suffer from digestive problems like
gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and
irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). That’s because junk
food is deep fried. The oil soaked in junk food gets
deposited on the walls of the stomach lining,
increases acid production. Spices loaded in them
irritate the stomach lining, worsening GERD and
digestion. Lack of fibre in them hampers digestion,
increasing problems like constipation and
haemorrhoids.
It causes fatigue and weakness
Junk food lacks most of essential nutrients like
proteins and vitamins required for maintenance of
overall health and functioning of all the systems in
your body. Although it makes you feel full and
satisfied, it fails to provide you with instant energy,
making you feel weak and tired after a while. If you
eat junk food items for all your meals of the day
over a period of time, you could be suffer from
chronic fatigue. Junk food can lower your energy
levels to an extent that it may become difficult for
you to even perform your daily tasks.
Causes depression among teenagers
A lot of hormonal changes occur in teenagers,
which makes them susceptible to mood swings and
behavioural changes. And a healthy diet plays an
important role in maintaining that hormonal balance.
Because junk food lack those essential nutrients,
the likelihood of teenagers to suffer from
depression is increased by 58 percent.
It causes fluctuations in blood sugar levels
Junk food is high in refined sugar which exerts
stress on your metabolism. Refined sugar causes
the pancreas to secrete more amount of insulin in
order to prevent a drastic spike in yournblood sugar
levels. Because junk food lacks sufficient levels of
good carbohydrates and proteins, the levels of
blood sugar drop suddenly after you eat.
This makes you feel irritable and further increases
you craving for more junk food.
It affects the brain function
A study published in the journal Brain, Behavior,
and Immunity shows that one week of eating junk
food is enough to trigger memory impairment in
rats. Recent research suggests that bad fats (trans
fats) from junk food tends to replace healthy fats in
the brain and interferes with its normal signalling
mechanism.
It increases the risk of heart disease
Junk food items are loaded with saturated fats and
trans fats that directly increase triglyceride and bad
cholesterol (LDL) levels in the blood, contributing to
plaque formation and heart disease. Further,
causing a sudden spike in blood sugar level
increases, junk food damages the linings of the
blood vessels causing chronic inflammation. This
inflammation causes bad cholesterol to stick to the
walls of the arteries, blocking blood flow to the
heart. When they’re blocked enough, heart attack
occurs. Fats from junk food can accumulate over a
period of time in your body to make you obese. The
more weight you put on, the higher your risk of
suffering from heart attack.
It can cause kidney disease
The reason why you can never say no to fries and
chips is because they contain high amount of finely
processed salt which increases salivation and
secretion of enzymes that enhance your cravings
for these foods. High amount of bad fats and
sodium from salt disrupts thesodium-potassium
balance of the body and causes hypertension.
Since the kidney have to filter all the toxins from the
blood, eating a lot of junk food has a direct effect on
the kidney functioning.
9 It can damage your liver: Surprisingly, junk
food consumption over a period of time can have
similar harmful effect on the liver as alcohol
consumptions does. A study reported that people
who ate junk food and shunned exercise showed
changes in liver enzymes within four weeks. These
changes were similar to those observed in people
with alcohol abuse. According to some studies, it’s
the high level of trans fats found in a number of junk
food which cause liver dysfunction due to deposition
in the liver.
It increases your risk of cancer
Lack of fibre is the main reason why junk food
consumption is linked to an increased risk of
cancers of the digestive system. A study published
in European Journal of Cancer Prevention revealed
that consuming too much of fast food that are high
in sugar and fat can increase your chances of
developing colorectal cancer. Another study from
the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,
Seattle showed that men who ate fried foods more
than twice in a month had increased risk of
developing prostate cancer.