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Running head: THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF EATING JUNK FOOD 1

THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF EATING JUNK FOOD 2

The Causes and Effects of Eating Junk Food

Samuel Maina

Kenyatta University

The Causes and Effects of Eating Junk Food

Despite regular eating of junk food having a link to obesity and other chronic health conditions, many people still choose junk food sources over healthy and wholesome food sources. Junk food is cheap and easily available. However, there are psychological factors that affect the choice of food one prefers. Many people have internal motivators that predispose them to choose junk food as a meal.

Choice convenience is one of the factors that affect the kind of food people want. With limited time available people prefer faster and easier options. Real healthy and wholesome food costs one time and kitchen equipment, unlike fast food hamburgers than are typically served within minutes of ordering. The urge for fast food becomes a habit and with time, it becomes a necessity to keep up with the fast-paced life. Disruption of the fast-paced life routine to a more mild one later in life proves almost futile. Thus, one has the only option of taking junk food (Craig, 2015).

Most people will prefer junk food to real food as a means of easing stress. A fast-paced culture leads to high levels of stress and anxiety. Elevated levels of stress, in turn, expend the energy available in the body, which leads to stimulation of hunger for calorie-dense foods. Calorie-dense foods are the fatty and sugary junk foods. Junk foods also fit as a means of comfort for stressed people. When stressed, people always look for ways to comfort themselves and eating junk food falls under the category of stress-calming means (Mel, 2015).

Insomnia is also another reason people go for junk foods. People tend to assume that junk food triggers the primal reward center of the brain that causes sleep without realizing it is a poor choice. People deprived of sleep will opt for the sugary and fatty foods which are the junk in this case.

Too much dependence on junk foods amounts to a habitual taking of them which is a kind of addiction. The addiction results from neurochemical changes in the brain similar to the ones that occur in drug addiction. If one fails to access the junk foods, they experience withdrawal-like symptoms. One experiences a strong drive to choose junk food over healthy and wholesome food once they have developed the habit.

Taking junk food can result in chronic health conditions including obesity. The possible health issues have been addressed in this essay. Taking junk food causes memory and learning problems in that it affects one’s level of attention, speed and comprehension. Taking junk food for only five days can deteriorate your memory. It stems from the fact that poor and toxic diet causes chemical reactions leading to inflammation of the hippocampus area of the brain usually associated with memory and recognition. Diets rich in sugar and fat suppress the ability of the brain to learn and form memory.

Depression can also be caused by excessive intake of fatty and sugary products. Such poor diets cause chemical changes in the brain such that one becomes more dependent on them. If the taking of the junk foods is discontinued, one suffers from withdrawal symptoms and eventually stress and depression which one calms down by going back to the junk foods. It makes one unable to handle stress (Gibson, Stanley, and Edward, 2015).

The risk of dementia is one of the latest and scariest discoveries associated with excessive consumption of fast food. Insulin is produced in the pancreas, and it helps in the transportation of glucose to fuel the body. It is also manufactured in the brain and contributes to carrying signals between forming memories and nerve cells. Too much junk food increases the level of insulin in the body. Too much of hormone insulin may cause the inability of the brain to respond to it and rather become resistant to it. This, in turn, restricts our ability to think and recall, thus increasing the risk of dementia (Donald, 2015).

From the above-explained points on the causes and effects of eating junk food, it is clear that it is very addictive and dangerous to one’s health. Fast food can change one’s way of life and develop in them new addictions. The dependence, in turn, leads to the adverse effects ranging from dementia to poor memory and inability to learn and recognize. Such poses a challenge to those accustomed to taking fast food.

References

Craig, G. (2015). Reasons people eat junk food instead of healthy food. Retrieved from

http://www.livestrong.com/article/392358-reasons-why-people-eat-junk-food-over-healthy-food/

Donald, C. (2015). Harmful effects of junk food. Retrieved from

http://food.ndtv.com/lists/the-bad-the-worse-5-ways-junk-food-can-mess-with-your-brain-764392?desktop=true

Gibson, S. T., Stanley, P. Q., and Edward, B. (2015). Causes and effects of eating junk food. Tips to a healthy diet, 4(2), 21-24.

Mel, D. G. (2015). Healthy lifestyle: junk food addiction and side-effects. London, England: McMillan Publishers.