by Bobby Coles

Created on: June 13, 2009   Last Updated: May 09, 2012

Living close to a fast food restaurant can impact your health without your even being aware. The convenience and marketing aspects drive people to fast food restaurants all the time, and if one just happens to be around the corner, then it is all the more tempting.

Fast food can be detrimental to your health, as evidenced in Super Size Me, yet people still flock to these restaurants. Your health should be of primary importance, but living close to a fast food restaurant can be dangerous real estate to be occupying.

Geographic proximity to fast food restaurants does not necessarily indicate an impact on one's health, but it does pose a legitimate concern for many. By living near a fast food restaurant, you might be more likely to dine there on a somewhat regular basis, as opposed to eating a more healthy meal at home, or visiting a variety of restaurants, healthy or otherwise.

This convenience factor plays a major role on the impact of your health.

The main dilemma facing those that find themselves dwelling in a fast food district, or close by is the luring aroma that slowly penetrates your olfactory senses, causing your brain to be signalled into yearning the tasty culprit. The scent emitted from fast food restaurants is done often on purpose, so that pedestrians and other passersby are beguiled by its charming smell.

Many fast food restaurants will keep a door near the kitchen open, based on the premise that the cooks are too hot and need some fresh air, but it is mostly done so as to get the scent outside, where the prevailing winds will direct it towards unsuspecting consumers.

Many of these tactics are done in and around typical meal times, tempting those that have just returned from work, or those that are mulling over the decision of what to make for supper. Fast food restaurants dole out a mostly unhealthy menu, and therefore the impact on your health based on how close you live to a fast food restaurant.

However, just because you live near a fast food restaurant does not mean that you will eat at that location more often, that is something that you have complete control over.

If eating a healthy and well-balanced diet is something that you are focused on, then the passing scent of fried chicken may make you salivate and crave the food, but in the end you do have your own set of will power, and can overcome an obstacle to health like the sense of smell.

If you plan your meals ahead of time, such as by incorporating a menu into your weekly routine, then you will not be as tempted by the location of a fast food restaurant. Prepping meals in advance will help you to avoid impulsive eating out at unhealthy fast food restaurants, since you will not want to let some food go to waste that you have already taken out of the freezer to thaw, for example.

The impact on your health by living near a fast food restaurant is perhaps a legitimate concern for some people, but as long as you are wise about the food choices that you make on a daily basis, then living near a fast food restaurant is of no major concern.

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