Today, the Kentucky Fried Chickens, Pizza Hut, and Mc Donalds are available in every big cities of Indonesia. The speed at which Western culture , including film, music, fast food and night life, swept through Indonesia during the 1990’s . From the information that has written in The Jakarta Post, we know that the number of Mc Donalds outlet now totals 70 across the archipelago, since the first outlet opened in Jakarta in 1991. Modernization has seen Indonesians take to Western fast food, including me. Fast food has almost become a necessary evil these days; necessary because you often find yourself in a situation when fast food is the only thing you can fill your stomach with. So, what is fast food ? Why is it become so popular in Indonesians?
Fast food is any food that quick, convenient,and usually inexpensive. Fast food is everywhere. You can buy fast food just about anywhere that sells fast food and snacks. Vending machines, drive-thru restaurant, and 24 hours convenience store are probably the most common places to find fast food. It’s so popular because for under $5.00 you can usually get it. How ever, fast food is inexpensive because it’s usually made with cheaper ingredients, such as high fat meat, refined grains, and added sugar and fats. There’s an issue that fast food can cause obesity with its amount of calories. Nowadays, fast food obesity is fast becoming a trend in all over the world, including Indonesia. What we have to do now is try to find the answer of the question “Is fast food the biggest cause of obesity problem? Well, i agree about that. The reasons are :
1. Fast food contains a lot of additives, such as sugar, salt and sodium, MSG, fats and oils, artificial additives
Many of these food additives can have serious effects on long term health.
Natural News Research has shown that monosodium glutamate (MSG) causes weight gain and obesity in lab animals. A recent cross-sectional study in China supports the conclusion that what was seen in the animal studies also happens to people.
2. Some opinions from nutrisionist that i found in public health journals. We know that nutrisionists have a good command in nutrition and every thing that relate with food. First, an opinion from Evodia Iswandi, a nutrisionist and specialist in public health, who said if we eat fast food a lot, that’s not good for our health because of the fat content. Next opinion from Tuti Sunardi, a nutritionist and health food writer, she compared between fast food and traditional food. The result is fast food averages 40 percent fat, twice of traditional food. The last, opinion from Dr. Muhilal, member of the Regional Centre for Community Nutrition at University of Indonesia, he said that lifestyle diseases are becoming increasingly problematic for Indonesia. From survey that he has done, the result showed that eating habits in 10 large Indonesian cities two years ago make an indication of obesity. There was a tendency for obesity to be a little higher. Beside that, with modernization, women are also working. Therefore, families have more chance to eat outside.
3. We can see from the movie “supersize me” that for one month, Spurlock ate only McDonald's food and decreased his level of activity to that of the average American. His food choices had to come from the McDonald's menu but could vary as much as the menu would allow. He ordered the standard fare unless the cashier asked if he wanted Supersize. If asked, he answered “Supersize Me”and ate the large meal. By the end of the thirty-day experiment, Spurlock had gained 24 pounds, a strong statement about the connection between obesity and fast food. The weight gain was the least of his problems. Spurlock also developed depression and addiction to the unhealthy food. I think none of us is going to eat McDonald's food for every meal. An occasional "splurge" is fine, but incorporating fast food as a staple of our diets is obviously unhealthy. Of course, Spurlock's experiment is a gross exaggeration of what can happen to our bodies when fast food is eaten. Sure, fast food is everywhere, but do you have to eat it? And why not make better choices about fast food? Isn't something out there better than burgers and fries?
4. The Effects of Fast Food on Your Body
Fast food might seem like a great idea when you’re starving and on the run, the long-term consequences of consuming fast food can negatively affect your health. The amount of sugar, fat, sodium, and empty calories in fast foods can cause serious health problems in both adults and children. It’s no secret that fried foods such as those you get in fast food restaurants are high in fat. Of particular concern are trans-fats, or partially hydrogenated oils. Companies like to use trans-fats in their food because they are cheap and have a longer shelf life than traditional fats; unfortunately, trans-fats are very very bad for you. The effects of trans-fat on the body are not good. They raise bad cholesterol (LDL) and lower good cholesterol (HDL). It caused the obesity problem. According to the American Heart Association, people that eat high concentrations of trans-fats increase their risk of developing heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Beside that, here are Top Ten Dangerous Diseases Caused by Fast Food Obesity : Heart Disease, Diabetes type 2, Dyslipidemia, Polycystic ovary syndrome, Sleep Apnea, Arthritis, Blount’s Disease, Respiratory Problem, Liver Damage, and Stoke.
It is true that fast food is the biggest cause of obesity problem. Food experts believe that the mechanism and structure of the human body are not suited for high-energy concentration foods such as fast food. But, fast food become one of the most typical meals of everyone in Indonesia and all over the world. No wonder that more and more people are getting obese. To avoid this problem, eat less and exercise more. If you can not separate from fast food, just eat less of them. Add some physical exercise also to keep your weight under control. The most important thing is nutrition education needs to be given more attention to change their mind, although fast food is relatively cheap, serve fastly, and taste good, we have to aware of it because the correlation between fast food and obesity.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar