Harmful Effects of Junk Food

What is Junk Food?

Junk food is available all over the world today. In droves people flock to restaurants like McDonald’s both in the East and West where there are junk food eateries aplenty. That is how junk food effects increase – the more they are bought the more they become part of the everyday. Kids are exposed to a number of them in their neighborhoods, at least in the big cities like Mumbai and Bangalore where there are queues – a sight we rarely find in India – in front of them.

What is it that makes people crave junk food? Some would hazard a guess. Oil and sugar are deadly and strike right at the heart of the human health complex that has an affinity for anything that tastes good. But taste itself is a broad, general category and one is hard pressed to say how subjective it is as not all would say they like french fries and sodas.

Why Should We Avoid Junk Food?

Some ways to tell your child to avoid junk food is to firstly feed her good food and tell her it is good for her health. It is a known fact that kids love eating sugary foods but their appetite can be controlled if they are constantly fed the right foods, what is called ghar ka khana in Hindi.

There is nothing like good home-cooked food as mother and father know what is best for their kids. In north India, chapatis are eaten more than rice while in south India rice is eaten more than chapatis. There are cultural differences that need to be taken into consideration but the main idea should be that your child is getting the best of all worlds. In today’s fast paced, hectic environment, eating global foods by buying a variety of them at your local store can help provide nutrition to your young one.

Disadvantages of Junk Food

Junk food prevention techniques also include cooking tasty foods for your child. It is said that it is better to eat junk food with taste than to eat junk food without taste, but one could further say it is better to eat homemade tasty foods than to eat junk food with taste outside in a restaurant.

When you are thinking of your child’s health, you must stress on natural foods and those that are made at home. When you prepare good, nutritious food in the house it will impact your child mentally, physically and emotionally. Let us not belabor the point anymore – homemade food is the answer to your child’s desire for tasty foods.

However, it is best if you buy local ingredients, fruits and veggies and make them into dishes. It is said that indigenous foods are the best for your body. For example, finger millet is grown in Karnataka and many local foods like ragi mudde (finger millet balls) are made from it. It is good for health because the environment in which it is made proffers an enlivening surrounding that is conducive to the ways in which the body is made adaptable to it.

This is why Indians should be proud of their foods and avoid junk food. To say “no” to junk food is essential. If you are, it is likely your child will be too and teaching her junk food examples is a surefire way for her to develop good eating habits. While organic foods are expensive, you can invest in natural foods that have short shelf lives as the side effects of junk foods are vast. The impact of junk food on people is immense today as capitalism increases its scope. Feeding good foods to your child, along with global foods like wholewheat pasta and soups, will boost your child’s health.

Junk Food Diseases

Indian foods can be cooked with a lot of oil but they do not require as much oil as they put in dishes in restaurants. When cooking, care should be taken to put less oil and less sugar too – as both will increase the chances of high blood sugar levels and cholesterol. Refined flour (Hindi: maida) should be used minimally as it is highly processed. Understandably, it can be used but sparingly. Deep fried foods like samosas and kachoris are a big no-no. However, if your child desires a fried snack, give her roasted millet bytes or roasted puffed rice with cut onions, tomatoes, carrots and chillies along with a mixture of chat masala and other spices. Puffed rice does contain empty carbohydrates but it is better than deep-fried chips, so it is best to avoid junk food.

Fruits are the best snack. They contain all the goodness present – vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Your child will benefit from them in the long run as it will improve their longevity. Good foods are the key to a long life. No wonder there are ways to get your child to eat their lunch!

A Word from Orchids

It is interesting to note that even if you eat healthily, nobody knows where his or her body is headed. You can be a very careful vegetarian but still suffer from health issues like kidney failure. Being consistent with one’s habits does prevent ill-health but in the long run nobody can prevent the condition in which his or her body will be.

This happens due to age. As the body ages there will be problems attached to it and these cannot be prevented unless biomedical treatment is able to solve it. The side effects of junk food are detrimental to the health and well-being of your child. The impact of junk food on your child will show in the future. Care should be taken to stop her from eating unhealthy food before it is too late.

Setting an example and saying a firm ‘no’ to junk food is the way ahead for you and your child. Crucial to her overall development is the need for her to literally have fire in her belly. It is important to stoke this fire through right eating as only right eating can save her from ill-health in the future. Constant right eating will underscore your little one’s health in no time and they will emerge, along with you, victorious.