DISADVANTAGES OF FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS

                 In the United States, people eat fast food far too often, because it's convenient and cheap. However, there are a host of disadvantages associated with eating fast food. It is not necessary to boycott all fast food restaurants, but it's important to limit how often you eat at them. There are many disadvantages of fast food but I will explain a few of them. It is :-

1. Obesity  

According to a study done at Berkeley University in 2009, the closer people live to a fast food restaurant, the higher their risk is of becoming obese. Additionally, it was found that the more fast food restaurants there were near a person's home, the more likely he was to be obese. One of the main reasons that fast food is fattening is because cooking oil is used in many of the foods to preserve their shelf life. If you're watching your weight, it's a better idea to cook healthy meals at home.

2. Heart Attack Risk

Another problem associated with eating fast food involves the type of fat that is used in fast food restaurants. According to "New Scientist" magazine, items such as french fries and chicken nuggets from many fast food chains use trans fat, an artery-clogging fat used as a stabilizer in food processing. "New Scientist" explains that consuming trans fat can raise your cholesterol levels and dramatically increase your risk of heart attacks.

3. Liver Damage  

A less commonly known yet still dangerous side effect of eating fast food is liver damage. ABC News explains that eating high-fat foods from fast food restaurants can overload the liver and eventually lead to liver damage. Dr. Christine Ballantyne of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at the Methodist DeBakey Heart Center told ABC News that eating too much fast food over a period of time can actually damage the liver as much or more than drinking alcohol.

4. Environmental Impact

The New Community Project, a nonprofit environmental awareness organization, states that fast food restaurants contribute major damage to the environment each year. To make 1 lb. of hamburger, for example, it takes 16 lbs. of grains and up to 2,500 gallons of water. The New Community Project states that if more people ate a plant-based diet, there would be more food and water to feed people all around the world. They go on to say that some of the meat used in fast food restaurants in the United States is raised in South America, and rainforests had to be cut down to make room for the cattle.

TO BE CONTINUED