Bad Eating Needs to STOP | Teen Ink

Bad Eating Needs to STOP

May 18, 2018
By 21hl01 SILVER, Cannon Falls , Minnesota
21hl01 SILVER, Cannon Falls , Minnesota
5 articles 0 photos 0 comments

When I was a kid my family never really went out to eat. But I do remember when we would go out, I wouldn't order from the kid's menu but rather from those oversized menus that they have for ‘’adults’’ everywhere. The waiters would always be a little shocked when a little six-year-old girl would order. I was always happy to take the kids menu off their hands though. Never could I pass up the cheap little coloring crans that they would give me with the kid's menu. But what I’m trying to say is, I always thought that every family made home cooked meals. That was until I started staying more at my friend's house. I realized that most of the food that was made came from a frozen bag bought from the store. Eating frozen foods was never something normal for me. Including eating fast foods, half of the time I would go over to my friend's house as a child we would always eat some form of fast food from one of the big fast food chains. It was always a treat for me though and I never complained about it. And that's the problem with everyday Americans is we want what's easy, fast, and cheap.  Fast food industries have been profiting from this type of mentality for years. Poisoning the newer generations with saturated grease burgers. What needs to happen is a change to teach newer generations of kids to cook.

As humans, we rely on a way of living that seems to be an easy, fast way of living. But sometimes fast and easy isn't always the smartest decision. I know most people when they come home after a long day of work or school doesn't want to cook anything. Rather just open an up their freezer and take whatever's out and just pop it in the microwave or oven. I get the easiness and simplicity of that, but is it really worth your health. Most frozen dinners and frozen foods are jam-packed with sodium. Too much intake of sodium can lead to high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease. Though not all frozen foods contain that much sodium it’s still a wise decision to have 2,300 milligrams per day intake on sodium according to the disease control and prevention center. A simple slice of a frozen pizza cut into 6 pieces can equal about 600 mg of sodium. That's just about one piece let alone the whole pizza. And today's generation is brought up eating those types of foods. 


Eating at fast food industries have been America's pastime since the 1940s. The fast-food industry didn't get really popular until the early 2000s. An example is Mcdonalds when it first started in 1948, according to HowStuffWorks. They totaled $163.5 billion in 2005 is the world's biggest fast-food chain in the world. It then branched off to more than 120 countries, having about 30,000 franchised stores across the world. Mcdonalds still reins number one in the world. But that doesn't mean they are the best choice for eating “healthy”. For years McDonald's has been trying to get more customers in with there new “healthy options”.  The fact of the matter is people still love eating their greasy fries and big macs filled with things most likely not for human consumption.


Our future generation is being poisoned with bad eating habits. Here in the united states child obesity has tripled since the 1970s. If these types of lazy eating habits continue health problems in the united states will be at its worse. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), 1 in 5 school-aged children is diagnosed with childhood obesity. Those numbers are just in America. Imagen when those children grow up and are more likely to develop health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. In some cases, the only way to reverse these issues is to go through bariatric surgery's. Imagine a six-year-old having to go through this because their parents didn't want to make the effort to give them healthier eating options.


I always loved eating out and eating fast foods. But I always balanced it out with a healthy balanced home-cooked meal. More kids need to learn to cook healthy balanced meals. Rather than learning to rely on frozen foods and fast foods. Just this little change can hopefully stop or diminish childhood obesity.



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