Preventing Teenage Obesity: Problems with Junk Food Addiction

We live in an addiction-prone society, but of all the addictions out there, one of the most deadly is one that is most often overlooked: junk food. The term “junk food” refers to any food that is high in calories, fat, salt, and sugar without bringing any nutritional value to the table. Unfortunately, this food is usually convenient, tasty, and extremely addictive.

Foods that are high in fat and sugar work on our brains like opiates – painkillers – and the more we eat, the more we want. This consequence is also increased by the “empty calorie” effect of junk food. It fills us up for a short period of time, but then, like any addict, we begin to feel tired, depressed, and hungry all over again, and we keep coming back for more of the same.

Junk food becomes a dangerous addiction because its effects are so subtle. When we eat a chocolate bar, a bag of chips, or a meal of fast food, we don’t see our arteries clogging with plaque and fat deposits. We don’t feel ourselves gaining weight as our internal organs become fatty and weak, and most of the time, we don’t associate tiredness, anxiety, depression, or skin problems with the junk food we consumed earlier in the day.

Furthermore, because it seems like everybody does it, eating junk food doesn’t appear to be an addiction. Junk food attacks every age group. Children are addicted, seniors are addicted, most people are addicted for their entire lives without ever knowing it, and without understanding the huge health-related repercussions that come along with the treats and snacks that seem so harmless.

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We begin our addiction to junk food at a young age. Children who become addicted to junk food actually stop eating the nutritious food they need to grow up healthy. And the current epidemic of childhood obesity is only the tip of the iceberg. Kids that live on fats and sugars have shorter attention spans, growth problems, and suffer from tooth decay and weak bone structure early in life.

By the time we reach young adulthood, we are probably getting a majority of our daily caloric intake from junk food. A Super Big Gulp from Seven Eleven and a large bag of chips round off most teenage lunch menus, which makes for a whopping 1600 empty calories per meal.

Even if a youthful metabolism is still keeping us from gaining weight, we are consuming huge amounts of highly processed foods, which are not only devoid of nutrition, but are also full of harsh dyes, chemicals, and preservatives that poison our bodies. Deep-fried potatoes have been shown to be highly carcinogenic. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) causes not just obesity but several forms of neurotoxicity. And the list goes on. Even if we’re not getting fat off junk food, we are getting sick.

At this point, we have grown into full-fledged, adult junk food addicts. If we have somehow managed to avoid the worst consequences of our addiction during our teen years, they will now come out in force. Those who eat junk food on a regular basis are at risk of contracting Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, hypertension, and a myriad of other illnesses that lead to heart attacks, strokes, organ failure, and death. In fact, almost twice as many people die each year of heart disease caused by diet-related obesity and cardiovascular problems, than die of cancer.

Like any lifelong smoker or alcoholic, the ravages of junk food addiction become increasingly apparent on and within our bodies as we age. While it is possible to break the addiction, the best solution is to avoid it to begin with. It is for this reason that junk food is getting kicked out of school cafeterias and vending machines all over the world.

Ultimately, junk food is not only robbing us of the things we need to be healthy, it is actively poisoning our systems. The more we can stay away from processed, artificial foods, and stick to eating whole, nutritious foods, the more likely we are to lead long, strong, healthy lives.