INTRODUCTION

Life today is not like how it was before. Along time ago, people ate foods that are very good for
their health. They ate foods that do not contain chemicals, preservatives, artificial colors, and
artificial flavors. People also had a lot of time to cook their own foods. Therefore those people
were not been affected by the food that they ate, because all of the foods that they had were
natural foods and healthy. That’s way they did not have any problem on their health and they
lived longer than now. But these days, every one is busy and don’t have time to cook their own
food. People eat foods that are easily cooked or ready cooked. They do not even think of what
they eat, and if it can effect their health or not. That is a bad way that most people do because our
health depends on what we eat daily. Foods are the building blocks of every cell in the body, are
responsible for the proper functioning of the whole body. It is important, for that reason, to know
what is good for our body and what is not. Foods can be classified into two types, unhealthy
(junk) and healthy food. Some people do not have time to cook what they want to eat or they
don’t want to spend a lot of time cooking. Therefore they eat foods that contains a very low or no
nutrition value.
Ready made foods can contain ingredients that are added to increase the shelf life. Healthy food
can be found in fruits, vegetables, meat, nuts, seafood and dairy foods. They are also not of the
frozen foods and with out chemical fertilizers. It also aids in the absorption of protein. The other
advantage is that healthy foods have no preservatives with natural color, and flavors. There are
some advantages and disadvantages of eating junk foods. Mega-doses to vitamin E can cause
headaches, blurred vision, extreme fatigue, muscle weakness and destroyed vitamin K in the gut.
They are essential to the normal function that our body performs each day. Vitamins can be
classified into many types such as vitamin A, B, C, D, E, and K. The advantages of eating junk
foods are that they save time. There for we should be careful to every food that we eat. Because
if we eat them a lot they may cause some disadvantages to our health. Each one of those vitamins
are found in fruit, vegetable, meat, nut, seafood, and dairy foods. Therefore we should be careful,
and we should balance our food that we eat.

Interesting facts. Did you know?..

• Persons with a history of suicide attempt have low intakes of polyunsaturated

fat and fiber
• Children often develop tolerance to cow's milk, egg, wheat by school age,
whereas allergies to nuts, fish and seafood are generally not outgrown no
matter at what age they develop

Healthy diet
A healthy diet is one that helps maintain or improve health. It is important for the prevention of
many chronic health risks such as: obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.[1]

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A healthy diet involves consuming appropriate amounts of all nutrients, and an adequate amount
of water. Nutrients can be obtained from many different foods, so there are a wide variety of
diets that may be considered healthy diets.

Fresh vegetables are important components of a healthy diet.

Junk food
Junk food is an informal term applied to some foods which are perceived to have little or no
nutritional value, or to products with nutritional value but which also have ingredients considered
unhealthy when regularly eaten, or to those considered unhealthy to consume at all. The term
was coined by Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, in
1972.

Junk foods are typically ready to eat convenience foods containing high levels of saturated fats,
salt, or sugar; and little or no fruit, vegetables, or dietary fibre.

Junk food includes foods such as soft drinks, hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream, cake, French
fries, chocolate and other confectionery, pizza, cookies, fried chicken and donuts

The Luther Burger, a bacon cheeseburger which employs a glazed donut in place of each bun, is
considered a junk food partially due to the high sugar and fat content.

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Marketing

During 2006, in the United Kingdom, following a high profile media campaign by the chef Jamie
Oliver and a threat of court action from the National Heart Forum, the UK advertising regulator
and competition authority, launched a consultation on advertising of foods to children. The Food
Standards Agency was one of many respondents. As a result, a ban on advertising during
children's television programmes and programmes aimed at school aged children (5-16) was
announced. The ban also includes marketing using celebrities, cartoon characters and health or
nutrition claims.

Health effects

A study by Paul Johnson and Paul Kenny at The Scripps Research Institute suggested that junk
food alters brain activity in a manner similar to addictive drugs like cocaine or heroin. After
many weeks on a junk food diet, the pleasure centers of rat brains became desensitized, requiring
more food for pleasure. After the junk food was taken away and replaced with a healthy diet, the
rats starved for two weeks instead of eating nutritious fare. A 2007 British Journal of Nutrition
study found that mothers who eat junk food during pregnancy increased the likelihood of
unhealthy eating habits in their children.

Harmful Effects Of Junk Food

Here are some Junk Food Facts that help you understand the harmful effects of eating them.
Some of them are long term while others are short-term effects.

Lack of energy:

This is known as a short-term adverse effect resulting from eating junk foods. As junk
foods don't provide you with essential nutrients, even though they can be very much
sufficing, you feel weakened. Consuming deficient nutrients could be as a supplement.

Poor concentration:

This is another result of junk food habit. These are traced to affect in immediate and
medium term periods. When you have a sumptuous junk meal rich in oil you feel drowsy
and fail to concentrate. Over sustained periods of junk food eating, blood circulation
drops due to fat accumulation. Lack of vital oxygen, nutrients and proteins particularly
can stale your grey (brain) cells temporarily.

Heart Diseases:

Junk food diet is a major cause of heart diseases. Myocardial infarction (a sever heart
failure) is due to plaque formation in arteries which demands heart to put in extra effort to
pump blood on the down stream. On the up stream, there is lack of returning blood to
heart. This causes two damages to heart - heart fatigues by the continuous extra effort it

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 makes and it suffers oxygen supply. The onset and remedy both take a long time and a
great determination to win.

High Cholesterol:

Apart from forming plaques and constricting arteries, cholesterol also affects liver where
it is metabolized. High cholesterol from junk food and diet strains liver damaging it
eventually. This is a long term effect.

How to Avoid Junk Food

Clever junk food advertising and the lure of convenience in addition to taste get people to junk
food addiction. Awareness on junk food facts is lacking dramatically in every corner of the
society. Here are some useful tips to avoid junk foods.

• Junk food and children have a strange affinity to each other. This is partly so owing to
junk food advertising. Do not let children to get habituated to junk foods.
• Controlling children from eating junk foods in schools is another step that helps in a long
term. Schools administration along with parents has a responsibility to educate children
about junk foods in schools.
• Junk food, the name itself is tempting enough. Eliminating the temptation is one way to
avoid it. Keeping good food nearby and having meals right on time may help in this
direction. Controlling the temptation is not as hard as alcoholism can be.
• Develop awareness for fitness. This helps you separate junk food and diet from your
regimen.

Finally, not all foods are junk; moreover, our bodies have enough stamina to take care off
occasional junk food eating. However, beware; the lure is strong enough to get you addicted. It is
in your hands choose junk food or health.

The 6 Most Unhealthy Foods You Should

Avoid at All Costs
Some people swear by the mantra "everything in moderation," but the truth is, some foods, no
matter how good they taste, are better off left alone.

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 If you need a little motivation to stay away from these most unhealthy foods, consider that four
of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States are related to diet (diabetes, heart disease,
cancer and stroke). And if you're looking to improve yours, cutting back on these six foods is a
great place to start.

1. Soda.

An average can of soda has 10 teaspoons of sugar, 150 calories, 30 to 55 mg of caffeine,

artificial food colors and sulphites. Diet sodas have the even-more-unhealthy artificial
sweeteners. A major part of the problem is that sodas have become a staple in many people's
diets. A study in the journal Pediatrics found that 56 percent to 85 percent of children consume at
least one soft drink a day, and 20 percent of adolescent males drink four or more sodas a day.

"Parents and health officials need to recognize soft drinks for what they are -- liquid candy -- and
do everything they can to return those beverages to their former role as an occasional treat," says
the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a U.S. consumer group. In fact, CSPI has
recently petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) calling for cigarette-style warnings
on soft drinks to warn people of their potential health risks (weight gain, diabetes, tooth decay
and more).

2. Potato chips and French fries.

These popular snack foods contain acrylamide, a known carcinogen

and neurotoxin that is formed when foods are baked or fried at high
temperatures. "I estimate that acrylamide causes several thousand
cancers per year in Americans," said Clark University research
professor Dale Hattis.
You knew it was
coming ... French fries When CSPI conducted tests on some popular brands of French fries
contain at least two types and chips, they found that the acrylamide in a large order of fast food
of cancer-causing fries was at least 300 times the amount allowed by the Environmental
compounds. Protection Agency (EPA) in a glass of water.

"There has long been reason for Americans to eat less greasy French fries and snack chips," said
CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson. "Acrylamide is yet another reason to eat less of
those foods."

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 But that's not all. These foods also contain trans fats, the artery-clogging fat that's been linked to
raising bad cholesterol (and lowering the good kind), and increasing the risk of heart disease,
diabetes, stroke and cancer.

3. Doughnuts.

Tasty, yes. But break a doughnut down and you'll find nothing more
than refined sugar and flour, artificial flavors and partially
hydrogenated oil that's loaded with trans fats. They have no redeeming
qualities whatsoever.

Doughnuts: A somehow "When it comes to health, the only thing good about them is the hole,"
tasty concoction of said Carla Wolper, nutritionist at the New York Obesity Research
refined sugar, flour, trans Center.
fats and artificial flavors
with zero nutritional 4. Coffee Cake and Other Baked Goods.
value.
This category actually includes all varieties of baked goods, including
packaged cake and biscuit mixes. What makes these foods so bad is that they almost always
contain high amounts of trans fats and a host of other unsavory additives including corn syrup,
preservatives and artificial flavors and colors. In fact, commercial baked goods typically contain
more trans fats than any other food because not only are they often made with hydrogenated oils,
they're fried in them too.

If you're not ready to give up your morning treat just yet, opt for baked goods from your local
bakery (which is less likely to use hydrogenated oil for a long shelf-life and is likely to use butter
instead of margarine, which typically contains trans fat) or make them yourself.

5. Luncheon Meats/Hot Dogs.

Processed meats like these (and others including sausages, bacon,

pepperoni and other processed meats) contain a carcinogenic precursor
ingredient known as sodium nitrite (sodium nitrate is closely related).

"Sodium nitrite is a dangerous, cancer-causing ingredient that has no

place in the human food supply," says nutritionist Mike Adams, author
A hot dog now and then of the Grocery Warning Manual.
can be reasonably
healthy if you seek out a And, according to a University of Hawaii study that followed nearly
nitrite/nitrate-free 200,000 people for seven years, people who consumed the most
variety. processed meats (hot dogs and sausage) showed a 67 percent increased
risk of pancreatic cancer over those who consumed little or no meat
products.

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Here's some good news: you can find various varieties of nitrite/nitrate-free meats in any health
food store.

6. Canned Soup.

Here we're talking about the traditional, canned soups you find in your grocery store. This may
come as a surprise, but most canned (and packaged) soups have high levels of trans fats, sodium
and artificial preservatives like MSG. Just one cup of canned soup can have almost 1,000
milligrams of salt (and most people eat more than one cup), which is tons considering dietary
guidelines recommend consuming no more than 2,400 milligrams for the entire day.

There are healthy options out there, particularly natural, organic brands, but be sure to read the
label. The alternative is, of course, to make your own homemade variety.

CONCLUSION
Junk food is considered as bad and fattening food. How unhealthy is your junk food? You read
every where that you should avoid junk food this and that bla.Bla. Fast food is filling and it
saves time then why do we assume that the food is not good.

Let’s check the reality. Most Americans survive with fast food. Is there any difference between
the American and Indian standard that food made in India is not clean and use adulterated
cooking oil or is it just the hypochondria of audience?

Morning when you walk out from home your mother yells at you not to eat fast food. Yet you
come back home with stuffing burgers and pizzas in your belly pot but nothing happens. And
your days go like this.

The truth is that the method of preparation is not too different but yes there is a bit of
unhealthiness when consume too much junk food. However, it is not exactly how the consumers
complain about the side affects of eating junk food. Eating junk food is not as bad as it is
credited by the people. One can eat and live healthily. It saves time for the person who doesn’t
have time to go for grocery shopping and cook by themselves. Had it been very bad then how
millions of Americans would still alive?

Main point is one can conveniently eat junk food in alternate days, there is no harm. Yes you
must not make it your morning evening food but yes you can depend on it. The only problems
which are related with eating junk food are becoming fat and obese. This can be controlled by
eating less amount and with it take a walk to reduce the calories gained.

Eating fast food is not as bad as it sounds to be and the most important thing is that who stops
going to McDonald and pizza hut even after so many controversial issues. Neither you and nor
me!