How Fast Food Affects Your Health

Did you know there are more than 300,000 fast food restaurants in the U.S.? Why is fast food so popular? Because it is convenient, predictable, and fast. Fast food has become a part of the busy American lifestyle. In the past people in the United States used to eat healthy, freshly prepared food with their families in the home. Today however, many people, particularly young people, prefer to eat fast food such as hamburgers, fried chicken, or pizza. Fast-food consumption has increased in the United States over the past three decades. Eating fast-food meals does not have to negatively affect your health, but many times this is the case, because most fast-foods contain unhealthy amounts of fat, sodium and calories. This unhealthy combination in fast-food meals can contribute to obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes. The United States holds the record for the most obese nation with many others catching on to make it to the finishing line first.

Fast foods also contain harmful substances. To make matters worse, the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, does not require food manufacturers to disclose some ingredients, such as artificial flavoring, in certain products. PhIP is a substance that is associated with human breast, prostate and colon cancers.

I used different types of websites to get my information. One of the websites I got how much calories was in the fast food item that I put on my project. Those websites was called www. Calorielab.com and www.nutrition-charts.com. I got my information about how it affects your health on these websites: www.fitday.com, www.livestrong.com, and www. Healthyeating.com. I took 4 steps to complete my project. The first step was that I surveyed some of my friends and family members what are some fast food items that they normally would get. Than I would write down what they said and put the fast foods that were frequently mention. My third step was that I would go to www.calorie...