Fast Food IS the New Tobacco

Keeping the natural theme of relating the topic of the discussion with my own experiences alive, I’ll write about how I went through the feeling and realized how “Fast Food IS the New Tobacco.” Before that, let’s see why people say that. According to people.com, “Ultra-processed foods Are as Addictive as Alcohol and Cigarettes”. The research this page shows states that “Food addiction was found in 14% of adults and 12% of children, as determined by the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS).” Some researchers used statistics from over 200 studies across 3+ countries and found out that the amount of addiction people have towards fast food is to the level of addiction seen for other substances in adults, including 14% in alcohol and 18% in tobacco, and that the level of addiction is “unprecedented” for children.

This is scary enough to know that this is the generation that the world will be in the hands of in the next few years. Addiction is a negative word overall, and being addicted to something that is supposed to be a getaway probably once a month, or in case of an emergency is just a sign of irresponsibility. It shows the signs of waste of food, waste of money, unhealthyness, and a body that conducts diseases and bacteria in a huge amount.

I realized this somewhat, the hard way. I migrated from India five years ago. I was a foodie but my parents' dietary restrictions kept me healthy. After immigration, because of changes in climate, water, and food, I lost weight terribly. I was so skinny that people could see the shape of my skull when they looked at me. But I managed to get back to being fit almost 4 years after coming to the U.S. It took me 4 years of weight and 6 months of workout to gain about 25 pounds. Last year around August, I went back to India for a month, to visit my family. Being a foodie I was very excited to try out the street stall’s food and other kinds of fast food. After spending a month in India, and eating outside food for mostly the whole month, I realized one thing. I used to have chocolate ice cream every day. The ice cream we got there, couldn't be found here, so I never had it since I came back. After I came back to The U.S., I could sense that I was missing out on something. It was just like the feeling of addiction. 

Zulubar- The Ice Cream Made for Chocolate Lovers

Missing out on ice cream wasn't the only thing I realized. It took me 4 years to gain 25 pounds of weight by eating healthy under my parent’s diet. But it only took me a month of eating fast food to gain 30 more pounds. I was so unhealthy and bulky, and the effects of that gain are still here. Working out every day, it’s still hard for me to lose that weight and fat. So, I can relate to this topic the most, since now I’m very health conscious and I understand how different kinds of food affect health and body. I can confirm from my experience that fast food IS the new tobacco.

Sources:

https://people.com/ultra-processed-foods-are-as-addictive-as-cigarettes-study-suggests-8364734#:~:text=Health-,Ultra%2DProcessed%20Foods%20Are%20as%20Addictive%20as,and%20Cigarettes%2C%20New%20Study%20Says&text=Craving%20your%20favorite%20junk%20food,addiction%2C%20a%20new%20study%20suggests.