by Maffew James

Created on: September 17, 2009   Last Updated: September 18, 2009

The ease of walking into a fast food restaurant like McDonalds to pick up dinner that is close to instant in preparation can be a godsend when you have no time or are out and about. This simplicity doesn't work well for your waist or arteries though, and for this reason it's a good idea to limit the amount of fast food you eat.

The reason behind fast food's unhealthy nature is due to the heavy amounts of fat (especially saturated fat), simple carbs, sugar, and salt.

All of these ingredients are fine to eat in moderation, but as an example of just how the figures work out, just one big mac contains 540 calories, 30g of fat, and 1000mg of sodium (salt). This is almost always eaten in combination with large fries containing another 542 calories, 26g of fat, 340mg of sodium, 68g of simple carbs, and a coke. This combination is about half your daily calorie intake at just one meal, over half your daily salt intake, almost your entire fat intake, and half your sugar intake.

Now what happens when you feel like that 'big' mac, which is actually only the size of your hand even though it's literally half your daily requirement of everything, doesn't make you feel full? That's when you go for the second one and before you know it, you've eaten 2 big macs, fries, and a coke, and over half of your daily needs for everything, all at one meal.

This negatively affects your health in several ways

The effects of excess sodium can include hypertension (high blood pressure), and bloating. This in turn can lead to stroke, heart disease, and kidney disease, as well as discomfort.

Excess intake of saturated fat clogs arteries, raises cholesterol, and decreases insulin sensitivity in the body. This results in greater risk of heart disease, and greater storage of food you eat as fat by decreasing the body's ability to use it for energy. Most of the fat in fast food is saturated.

On top of that, the simple carbs and sugar cause a quick glucose spike which results in all that rapid energy being stored as fat unless it is being used up just as quickly as it is released.

Because of its effects on health and metabolism, eating less fast food is a healthy decision to keep fit, agile, and happy - the benefits of a balanced diet are impossible to replicate through fast food.

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