Benefits of Homemade Food

Being healthy is a choice. People choose to ignore the fact that eating any type of food has its consequences whether it’s homemade or fast food. In order to be healthy, we need to eat food that contains high amounts of nutrients and avoid eating greasy food. Most people are lazy and careless, including myself, we just eat whatever is nearby whether it’s high in nutrients or greasy. When it comes to what we eat most of us don’t care about the long term effects food could have on us. Food can have harmful and beneficial effects depending on what we eat. Every day we make choices about our food , and if we make smart choices we are more likely to have a healthy lifestyle.

Now someone could ask, Why is choosing between fast food and homemade food important. It is important because you are in control of your body and if you don’t make healthy choices, you might end up becoming obese and I don’t think anyone would personally want to be obese, since it not only contributes to diabetes and high cholesterol which is unhealthy but is also known as a disease. According to Obesity Medicine Association, “Obesity is related to genetic, psychological, physical, metabolic, neurological, and hormonal impairments. It is intimately linked to heart disease, sleep apnea, and certain cancers. Obesity is one of the few diseases that can negatively influence social and interpersonal relationships”. This quote shows how obesity can harmfully impact our life which is why we should be careful with what we consume since it can destroy us. These are some of the results of eating unhealthy. We tend to think some foods are healthy but in reality they are the ones harming us. For example; Tropicana Orange juice has 23 grams of sugar in one serving. Many people may not look at the nutritious facts because oranges are healthy and we assume that there can’t be anything unhealthy about an orange juice. Also, we should avoid drinking soda at all costs because the amount of sugar it contains is mind blowing; for example, 4 grams of sugar is equivalent to 1 teaspoon of sugar and one can of Pepsi has 41 grams of sugar which is almost 11 teaspoons of sugar. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), “the maximum amount of sugars you should eat in a day are : men 150 calories per day (37.5 grams or 9 teaspoons), women 100 calories per day (25 grams or 7 teaspoons )”. This shows how drinking one can of Pepsi can ruin our daily sugar intake because the amount of sugar that Pepsi contains is much higher than what we should consume per day. Therefore avoiding soft drinks like Pepsi helps us take a step towards the healthy scale of eating.

Many teenagers struggle with acne due to hormonal imbalances, however some of us gets stubborn acne because of eating too much processed food. “A diet with a high glycemic index – basically, processed foods like bread and refined grains that are quickly broken down into sugar – can have a terrible effect on skin, refined carbs cause your insulin levels to spike, which in turn leads to increased sebum production and clogged pores” says the New York City dermatologist Dr. Francesca Fusco. This shows how eating processed food damages our skin by clogging our pores causing acne. Therefore, we shouldn’t eat unhealthy food in great quantities but rather eat nutritious food.

Home cooked food can be better for your health if you choose the right ingredients since you are in control of the ingredients. However fast food is more convenient, and easy to access. “There are a few different reasons people might choose to eat fast food. 67% said they eat fast food because it’s convenient. 32% said they eat it because it’s cheap. 31% said they just like eating fast food. 13% said they have a lack of other options. And 6% cited other reasons for eating fast food, such as having coupons or going to eat with friends” (Anne Pilon-journalist). These statistics show how people rely on fast food because of the cheap price and the convenience of it; for instance, someone at work has a lunch break and their home is far from their workplace, but there are many fast food restaurants in that area. The person will most likely buy fast food since it’s very convenient for him/her. Circumstances like these stops a person from eating nutritious home cooked food. However, the person could have brought something healthy from their house but that would require planning beforehand since it’s time consuming. Also if that person wants to maintain a healthy lifestyle, he/she could just buy a salad from a restaurant instead of oily meals.

Deciding what to eat everyday should not be taken lightly because fast food or food containing high amounts of sugar can cause aging. Studies show that people who consume a lot of fast food age faster, also has high levels of cholesterol which could lead to heart diseases. According to American Academy of Dermatology, “Reducing sugar intake may protect elastin and collagen molecules in the skin. Research has shown that a diet high in sugar can damage these molecules, leading to wrinkles and sagging skin”. Hopefully this will change some people mind if not all to choose carefully the next time they want to eat unhealthy. I want all the people to think about the consequences of what they are putting inside their body. This might help them want to eat homemade meals which are full of nutrients instead of that oily sandwich full of cholesterol.

In conclusion, we should look at the bigger picture when deciding what to eat by thinking of the effects of what each food might result in us picking the healthy/homemade food over fast food. We shouldn’t think of vegetables and fruits as tasteless when comparing it with a pizza and burger, however we should look at all the long term effects of each. It’s okay to eat fast food once a while, but it definitely should not be a regular habit because it contributes to many harmful diseases. We shouldn’t be a threat to our own body because at the end of the day, we have control of our body and if anything happens to us that could have been prevented by making smart choices about what we eat, we’ll be responsible and we’ll regret eating fast food on a regular basis.    

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