What Every Parent Should Know By Now About Fast Foods

Fast foods are what we call meals that are created within a short period of time. They usually are the products of fast food outlets that sell foods like burgers, fried chicken, pizza, etc, and most of these foods are highly processed, containing little or no real nutrition. Where do you stand when it comes to your child’s consumption of fast foods?

As a result of increasingly hectic lifestyles, and of course, time constraints, fast foods have gained popularity among countless Malaysian households. Having little or no time to cook (or being too tired to cook) has resulted in the time-consuming ‘family dinners’ being confined to weekends, while the busy weekdays are disposed of via the likes of pizzas, burgers, sandwiches, wraps, rolls and the likes – anything that is quick and easy to access.
While some fast foods may turn out to be healthy meals, depending on the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the cook, the term has, in recent times, become almost synonymous with junk food, which is only appealing to the palate, but is on the whole, unhealthy. It’s mostly loaded with calories and has little or no nutritional value. While healthy fast foods, such as salads or soy burgers, are recommended for a wholesome daily diet, unhealthy fast foods (junk food), such as commercially sold burgers, aerated drinks, pastries and candies are harmful, and should be consumed in moderation.

Deal with it now before it’s too late
Children’s appetite and taste buds are notoriously difficult to control, and can be severely affected by continual consumption of all those ‘tasty’ junk foods out there. Can we blame them?. The calorie-filled junk foods lead to obesity, which aids and abets numerous, more serious diseases. If you feel that your child is developing a taste for such foods, halt it now before it’s too late. With even a little bit of time and effort, you can surely turn things around by means of wholesome, home-cooked meals.

Effects of Fast Food on Children
Too much fast food leads to obesity – that much we already know by now! Obesity passively promotes a sedentary lifestyle, since an obese child can’t partake in physical activities as intensely as a healthy child. Embarrassment at one’s own obesity can also force a child to become reclusive. The lack of regular exercise further increases obesity, and significantly increases the chances of the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Junk foods and soft drinks such as sodas, which often accompany each other in fast food ‘sets’, lead to increased levels of blood sugar in children. This increases the chances of acquiring type 2 diabetes, i.e., the condition of natural bodily production of insulin being unable to counter the amount of blood sugar in the body. Type 2 diabetes increases the chances of heart diseases by up to 4 times and contributes significantly to damage to the kidneys, as well as increasing the chances of other conditions such as dementia.

Most, if not all fast foods contain high levels of saturated fats, for this and sugar are the main contributing factors for their addictive tastes, together with other chemical additives. These fats lead to high levels of cholesterol in the blood as an anti-inflammatory response. The build-up of cholesterol in the body is notorious for being the cause of various heart problems, and can cause major cardiac disorders.

Junk foods often contain high amounts of salts. Although they impart a mouth-watering, addictive flavour. An excess of sodium or potassium (which are irreplaceable components of salts, including sodium chloride — table salt) are the prime causes for an increase in blood pressure. Disorders regarding blood pressure can have a severe inhibitory effect on a child’s life as he or she grows up.

A Gateway for Nutritional Deficiencies
Fresh fruits and vegetables supply vital nutrients and energy, which is required for the developing bodies of children. Fast foods however, don’t, so do not be fooled by false advertising! The fact that most of these foods require high temperatures to prepare points to the fact that they can’t be high in important vitamins. Hence, regular consumption of fast foods will inevitably rob a child’s diet of important nutrients needed to thrive and develop.
The virtually total absence of green (leafy) vegetables and fresh fruits in the diet causes a deficiency of macro- and micro-nutrient supplements in the body. This damages the body’s immune system and leaves children susceptible to various diseases and ailments.

A deficiency of iron, for example, can lead to anemia. Anemia, combined with the overload of complex sugars and saturated fats found in any sample junk food, can lead to a weak and habitually lethargic child.
Deficiency of calcium damages the teeth, nails and bones, reducing bone density and increasing the chances of skeletal damage and tooth decay.

Point to ponder for pregnant moms
Studies have suggested that even heavy consumption of junk food by a pregnant woman can result in the child being predisposed to favor the taste.

What Can Parents Do
As stated earlier, fast food doesn’t necessarily mean junk food. Salads, fruits (preferably fresh and whole/sliced, or else in the form of fresh fruit juice), nuts and non-processed cheese can make for healthy and tasty quick-snacks. Including more veggies and fruits in meals never hurts, although kids are likely to reject the relatively bland alternatives in favor of spicier junk foods, even if the blander options are the healthier ones.

Habituating children to healthy foods without introducing junk foods from a young age is the most reliable and effective way to keep the kids off junk food, without having to admonish them.

If you can’t get your children off unhealthy fast foods, you can at least make healthier choices for them.

• Getting a pizza without the usual extra cheese would go a long way. Nobody can taste the extra cheese anyway!
• Burgers can be ordered with a single patty instead of the usual double, and with extra lettuce (or coleslaw), tomatoes and onions.
• Whole wheat bread contains much more fiber than the white counterpart, and thus aids digestion. Making (or ordering) sandwiches made from whole wheat bread is a healthier option.

Alternatives will help decrease adverse effects, even when resigned to giving in to your children’s clamor for junk foods. However, it is worth keeping in mind that the craving for the addictive tastes is only natural. Going cold turkey on this matter and banishing fast foods completely may only serve to fuel the craving.

While junk foods are harmful if consumed continually, occasionally indulging in the sinful pleasure is fine. When it comes to enjoying things in moderation, nothing teaches kids better than following in their parents’ footsteps, so practice what you preach and lower your own intake of such foods too.

Make your own healthier version
Homemade versions of burgers, nuggets, pizza and the likes can be prepared in healthier ways, such as reducing the amount of spices, sugar and salts, or by using low-fat or non- dairy products. Freshly cooked, homemade fast foods are inherently healthier than their commercially sold avatars, for you are in control of what goes into the recipe.