Fast food craze

Fast food

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fast food is the term given to food that is prepared and served very quickly, first popularized in the 1950s in the United States. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a packaged form for take-out/take-away.

In recent times fast food craze is fast catching up, not only with kids but for all age group.

Fast food need not be junk food like burgers, French fries or street food. But now-a-days with easily available read to cook packs, meals ready in 2 minutes etc are so easily available, I feel they too are fast catching up and should fall under the category of fast food.

With couples busy with their hectic life and work schedule, who has time to cook for themselves and their kids in nuclear family? These ready to cook packs, take away packs and free home delivery menus are easily available and after a long tiring day most of people prefer to just crash on couch and gorge on food – healthy or unhealthy who cares.

But what they don’t see is its long term damage to their health. Though these ready to cook packs say, they are made from natural ingredients and have no preservatives, are they really that healthy?

Well some will say who eats them daily, once in a while is ok na ???

Once I had gone to supermarket for grocery shopping, and I notice a young couple at billing counter in front of me. Their cart was half full with these ready-to-eat packs. They were telling each other, as this one is your favorite I picked up this variety and vice versa. I don’t blame them or the companies who make them… But inspite of our busy schedules can’t we find some time to cook a healthy and fulfilling meal for ourselves and our loved ones???

No wonder present generations only likes junk food. We are depriving our bodies’ natural food and making our selves weak. People are having grey hair as early as in their twenties, diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol and obesity are at rise.

 Few instance which I saw/heard and would like to share with you all…

One girl who is a fussy eater and also refuses to drink water, her parents give her pineapple pastry to eat (daily) and packed lemon juice/water to drink instead of water, inspite of the fact that the child is a special needs child. When asked the mother (who is a housewife and has a fulltime maid at her disposal) why you give her outside juice which is full of preservatives instead of homemade ones, she replied, who has time to prepare and give.

Another incident, an only child in well to do family, who is pampered a lot, since she doesn’t like food, her mother grates chocolates over her every meal so that she eats. Result, she is an obese child and when doctor asked her to reduce her weight and stop her junk food, mother replied “we don’t give her any junk now, except 1 bar of chocolate, 1 pack of chips and 1 burger daily.”

This is not a work of fiction but real ones. I see those two kids daily.

I agree kids are fussy, even I was a fussy kid, my daughter too is a fussy eater, but being a mother can’t we try to break these habits and introduce healthy ones. I try to make healthy food at home. I try to turn this junk food into healthy ones for my daughter.

I feel that’s why now-a-days kids have low immune to diseases and they fall sick often.

Being a parent I think its upto us to teach our kids healthy food habits. And as kids learn from their parents, we should start eating healthy too.