Summary: The Importance Of Fast Food

Food not only satisfies hunger, but it provides the body with essential life substances necessary to maintain optimum health and performance. It is important and necessary to take good care of your health. Diet and overall lifestyle affects people’s appearance and also how people feel and what is the overall quality of people’s lives.

Is it possible to maintain a healthy balanced lifestyle if the availability of fast foods in Ireland is extremely high at the moment? According to Irish Times, “Ireland spends more on fast food than 19 European countries.”(The Irish Times, Alison Healy, journalist, 31st March 2014)

A famous Hindu traditional medicine Ayurveda once said “When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct medicine is

Fast food is relatively inexpensive and the portions are more than sufficient. Fast food is known for some very similar characteristics. It is generally high in fat, calories, sugar and sodium, and it has no real nutritional value. Eating a lot of fast foods has harmful side effects. By being so high in fat and calories, the immediate effects include gas, bloating, increased heart rate and energy crashes. Continuous consumption of fast foods during the months and even years can cause obesity, high cholesterol, atherosclerosis, heart disease and diabetes. Drinking high amounts of sugar sodas every day, causes sharp fluctuations in blood sugar levels, which causes the body to go into panic. A pancreas then releases insulin in order to rapid rise. Blood sugars rise under fasting conditions caused by excessive release of insulin. This in turn causes the body to release hunger triggers hormones that induce people to eat more. Keeping the sugar intake to a minimum can stop the vicious cycle and it can also slow weight

A sampling protocol was developed and it included most popular starter and main courses Irish people consume on day to day basis. Guideline Daily Amount(GDA) for an average adult is 2,000kcal (calories), 70g of total fat, 20g saturated fat, 50g of protein and 6g of salt. A typical Chinese fast food meal consisting of a portion of vegetable spring rolls, and sweet and sour chicken with egg fried rice, adds up to approximately 2,184kcal (calories), 74g of total fat, 14g of saturated fat and 10g of salt. This report found that Chinese fast foods are a dominant source of salt. In some meals salt levels were found to exceed twice the adult GDA (Guideline Daily Amounts). This survey found that Chinese take away meals from local Irish areas, vary considerably in portion and contains huge amounts of calories, fat and salt. The portions of these meals were found to be large enough to feed two