Junk Food vs. Home Food, Why You Should Opt For Home-Cooked Meals over Fast Food
George Bernard Shaw once said,”There is no sincere love than the love for food.”
I am sure most of you will agree with this. The pleasure of enjoying your favorite meal is one of the most gratifying ones. Where some of you might have a passion for eating different cuisines, there will be some who not just enjoy eating but are masters of culinary art too. But this is not the case with everyone.
Our busy lifestyles do not leave us with many options, especially if you’re living alone. More than often, we end up ordering food or eating out, and now with the increasing popularity of food ordering apps, ordering food online is just a few clicks away.
But, have you ever paused and thought that the junk food items that please the taste buds so well are they doing any good to your body? What about the nutritional value? And most importantly, was it made with hygiene? Let this thought sink in.
So, on this note, I am here to talk about this never-ending debate on junk food versus home-cooked food and discuss some important facts and information about unhealthy fast food or junk food. So sit back and read on.
Let’s begin with the calorie count. Home-cooked meals have a much less calorie count as compared to junk food. Junk food has very high levels of carbohydrates, fats, and sugars, making it unhealthy. They are especially loaded with trans fat.
A study done by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Research found out that the people who consumed home-cooked meals regularly were consuming very few calories as compared to the people who were dependant on junk food for their daily nutrition. Now, this is something that people who are trying to lose weight should pay attention to!
This link will take you to the article about the most common unhealthiest junk food items that we so commonly consume.
Home-cooked food is the healthier one, and junk food, the unhealthy one. The guidelines for a healthy diet are met completely by home-cooked meals. On the other hand, it is an established fact that fast food items are the bad guy in this area. There are hardly any vitamins, minerals, and fiber content in junk food.
If you read the junk food information on the internet, you will realize that not only is it poor in the nutritional content, but more than often, the produce used by fast-food chains is not very fresh and hygienic too. That is why eating unhealthy, and junk food items can have a lot of deleterious effects on the body
Another study done in Seattle found out that people who ate home-cooked meals daily had a better digestive system than the people who ate unhealthy foods. Well, so in the nutrition arena too, home-cooked food is the winner.
Now let us talk about one of the most commonly experienced lifestyle problem, obesity. Obesity is caused by eating unhealthy food and leading a sedentary lifestyle. It is an established fact that eating meals made at home, along with the family, is an aid in bonding and also enhances personal communication. And this is quite helpful to keep children mentally as well as physically healthy.
A major fact about junk food is that it is extremely low at the satiation level. Basically, it won’t make you feel full easily. And because of this, people start to overeat. This in turn can lead to high cholesterol, obesity, and many lifestyle-related diseases. This is one of the major reasons why fast foods are known to have some very detrimental effects on our health.
In fact, even your dentist will ask you to cut down on so many fast food items because of the high sugar content in it. Next time you open up a can of your favorite soda drink, read the sugar content in it, and you will be shocked.
The Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics published a study that stated that obesity was more common in children who ate more of the unhealthy junk food as compared to children who ate more homemade food. The harmful effects of unhealthy eating are not just limited to obesity. These unhealthy junk food items are also linked with more chances of developing heart diseases, diabetes, and digestive disorders, as well as certain types of cancers. So is junk food harmful? Well, a gigantic yes for this!
Too much sodium and spices are very harmful to blood pressure. In fact, people who are already suffering from hypertension are advised to limit their sodium consumption. Sodium is the main content of salt. Now, if you cook your own food, you can definitely control the amount of sodium and spices you put into your meals, which is not the case with junk food, which is loaded with sodium. Another good reason these unhealthy food items and start with some good eating, right?
We have all heard of the famous saying that you just can’t stop at one when you eat chips. Well, there is a scientific reason behind this and not a very pleasant one. The reason that chips taste so much better and you can’t pull away from them is the high sodium and sugar content in these fatty foods, again putting them under the unhealthy food heading. So once again, junk food is harmful to you.
Hygiene is another major issue that needs to be discussed when discussing junk food versus healthy food argument. When we cook food at home, we use the best-selected vegetables, legumes, spices, and oil and cook it with the best hygiene practices. But this is not always the case with the junk food industry.
Junk food items are not always cooked with the best ingredients, and more than often, they are even stale. You cannot always be sure of the cleanliness with which these processed and packed foods are made. Many schools in India have even banned the sale of junk food in their canteens and mid-day meals. To know more, click here.
Ever heard of MSG? Monosodium glutamate, more popularly known as MSG, is a flavor-enhancing compound used in many packed foods and instant noodles. It is also found in large amount in the junk food items. This additive has been linked with many digestive disorders, nausea, headache, skin rash, etc.
Many experts claim that MSG can have some hazardous side effects in consumed for an extended period. Click on this link to know the eight most common food items with a very high content of MSG.
Not to forget, many chemical preservatives are added into the fast-food items to increase their shelf life. And these preservatives can cause many diseases, especially cancer. This link will tell you some common side harmful effects of preservatives added in junk food.
Now, if all these points have not already convinced you to start eating healthy and avoid unhealthy food to steer clear of the harmful effects of these unhealthy food items, I have a bonus point for you. Meals cooked at home are much cheaper than junk food! The amount of money you will spend on buying junk meals will be much more than what you pay when you eat home-cooked food.
A highly cited paper published by the University of Washington’s School of Public Health reported that people who ate more at home were living a more healthy life at a low cost.
The amount of money that you would typically spend on a week’s or even a month’s supply of groceries will still be significantly less than the cost of just 3 or 4 junk food meals and restaurant meals. So, homemade meals are much friendlier to the pocket.
Everyone likes to have a change of taste every now and then. A monotonous diet can bore anyone. But, we also know that there so many harmful effects of junk food, and eating healthy is so significant to live a healthy and fulfilled life. When we talk about good food versus bad food, homemade food is always the first one, and junk food comes latter. Having said that, now we know why eating junk food is bad for us. But this does not mean that you have to quit it totally. It is ok to enjoy a burger or a pizza every now and then. It is important to limit it and eat it in moderation.
Guy Fiery said, “Food is not just eating energy. It’s an experience.” Make this experience a rewarding one!
That’s all for today. See you in the next post.
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