Q: Youngest today are addicted to fast food.

Discuss three problems that youth will face because of this

addiction and suggest ways to overcome it.

Youngest today are addicted to fast food, and day by day these unhealthy eating habits are becoming so

widespread until it become uncontrollable. This such things occur due to loss of awareness and sense of

responsibility in society especially the youth nowadays to maintain the body’s health as well as practicing a

healthy diet for their own sake. There are a few problems that will happen if these unhealthy eating habits keep

going among the youth and also to the society. In the terms of health, the problems are obesity, mental health

issues and cardiovascular diseases.

First and foremost, obesity is one of the problems that youths face due to their fast food addiction. This is

because most of the fast food contains a large amount of sugar, fats and less minerals and vitamins. Thus, excess

calories from fast food will lead to weight gain. When the body mass index (BMI) over 30 will be considered as

obese. Obesity causes many catastrophic effects to the health. For example, obesity will increase the risk for

respiratory problems, including asthma, pulmonary embolism, aspiration pneumonia and shortness of breath.

Other than that, obesity will also lead to diabetes mellitus. Therefore, youths should avoid fast food addiction.

Parents should take their responsibilities to be a role model to their children. This is because youths will imitate

what they see. Therefore, parents should make an extraordinary good example to their children. For instance,

parents should have a balanced diet as well as explain the importance of the balanced diet to their children. This

is one of the fundamental elements to guide their children who have a vague notion about balanced diet and

avoid fast food. Apart from that, parents should build a good habit and break the bad one like addiction to fast

food or smoking. The author has claimed that the backbone of every habit is the four-steps pattern, which is cue,

craving, response, and reward. (James Clear, 2018, p.143) Parents can apply this ‘four laws of behavior change’

to the habits they want to build and break. Thus, fast food addiction can be avoided once parents and youths feel
it is no longer attractive and satisfied. Next, parents can exercise at least twice a week. This is a crucial key

point to attain a healthy lifestyle. This is because exercise can breakdown the excessive fats or calories which

are stored in the body. Therefore, parents should be a role model to their children to avoid youths addicted to

fast food.

Then, one of the major problems faced by the youths because of their addiction to fast food that most of us

are not aware of is mental health issues. Numerous of studies have proven that excessive intake of fast food by

the youngsters can cause negative effects in the development of their brains. As an evidence, youngsters who

are addicted to fast food may have a higher risk of suffering in depression and anxiety. It is said so because fast

food contains a high level of trans fats and saturated fats which are unnecessary for our body and can lead us to

depression. Meanwhile, fast food also lacks ingredients like vitamin B, omega 3 fatty acids and olive oil which

are really good in helping our brain to avoid depression. Therefore, this fast food addiction among the

youngsters should be overcome as soon as possible. The youths can start controlling their mind by meditating in

order to overcome this addiction. By meditating, they can slowly recover from their fast food addiction and

begin to consume healthy diets on a daily basis.

Last but not least, fast food addiction also causes some critical cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack or

stroke. This is because fast food contains lots of salt which is known to preserve the foods longer. High salt

consumption, leads to high blood pressure which closely related to stroke. Many researchers have concluded

that to overcome this problem it is recommended to reduce fast food consumption. Furthermore, after

consumption of high salt concentration foods, increase your water consumption to balance the body fluid and to

reduce the risk of getting high blood pressure or Hypernatremia that typically causes thirst but contains the

chances disrupting the blood circulation in our body. Moreover, it is also put forward for us to eat healthier,

balanced and discipline diet to reduce the chances of getting obesity nor cardiovascular disease. Obtaining a

healthier diet is easy, you can either search it up online or to be more cautious hire a nutritionist because amount

of nutrition needed depends individually, therefor the nutritionist can run some tests to determine the most
suitable diet for your body. If you didn’t want to spend some of your precious money on some nutritionist you

can search it up online and experiment it to find the most suitable diet for your body.

To conclude this discussion, there are three problems that will occur to the youth and society if this fast food

addiction continues to spread and become widespread which are obesity, mental health issue and cardiovascular

diseases. However, in every problem there must be a solution. Similarly, with this situation, there must be

solutions to prevent all the problems from occurs in our beloved society but it also depends to the individual

itself whether they want it or not. In the nutshell, to close this discussion, we should practice healthy and

balanced eating habits as recommended by experts. We can also take an example by idolizing athletes who are

older but still healthy and energetic as the youngster athlete like Christiano Ronaldo as a result of practicing

healthy eating habit. Youth should begin to realize and appreciate the true value of health that they get now

because without realizing it, they will forget and not take it as a serious matter. Not only focus on youth but all

members of society should cultivate a culture or healthy eating practices in themselves. For this reason, from

now on, practice healthy and nutritious food and say no to fast food.
 REFERENCES

C. James. (2018). Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Penguin

Publishing Group.

StudyCorgi. (2020, January 9). The Negative Effects of Fast Food. https://studycorgi.com/the-

negative-effects-of-fast-food/

D. Pendick. (2013, May 16). Sodium Still High in Fast Food and Processed Foods. The President and Fellows

of Harvard College.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/sodium-still-high-in-fast-food-and-processed-foods-201305

166267#:~:text=Fast%2Dfood%20restaurants%20deliver%20filling,t%20good%20for%20cardio

vascular%20health.