Shocking Fast Food Facts: Fast foods that you won’t buy after knowing how they are made
Do you have an insatiable hunger? Are you an avid food junkie? Here’s an article for you, to help you make wise choices. Staying healthy in today’s times is certainly a tough thing to do. We’ve all once in a while have had a strong urge to munch on a bag of chips or gulp down a whole bottle of soda, haven’t we? But junk food like this has no prominent nutritional value whatsoever, they don’t fill you up but in turn, make your brain want more. You’ll keep craving for junk food more than ever and slowly start hating freshly made food. They’ll suck you in completely and your food palate and stomach will never be the same. We will cover fast food facts, dangerous fast food effects, and fast food facts about health in this article.
Table of contents
- Fun fact: Worldwide McDonald’s continues to sell an astounding 75 Hamburgers per second! Yes, that’s right! 75.
- Why do we crave fast food or junk food?
- Fast food facts about health
- Why does our brain crave junk food? : Scientific fast food facts
- Disturbing facts about fast food
- Surprising fast food facts about your favorite food items
- How Vanilla Ice Cream is made?
- Fast Food Facts about Beer
- Fast Food Facts about Red flavor food
- Fast Food Facts about Potato Chips -Shocking fast food facts
- Disturbing Fast Food Facts about Processed Bread
- Fast Food Facts about Chewing Gum
- Fast Food Facts about Chicken Nuggets
- Fast Food Facts about French fries
- Fast Food Facts about Chocolates
- Fast Food Facts about Soda machines
- Be cautious in consumption-Fast food effects
- Because health is priority -Fast food facts about health
Junk food might give you the satisfaction, they might tickle your taste buds but do they do you any good? They give maximum utility but almost no nutritional benefit. People who munch on junk food constantly are prone to obesity, diabetes, etc.
Yes, we are looking at you. The days when you’re bored or out of your mind, the only thing that can get you rid of your boredom is food. Don’t worry we’ve all been there. The biggest problem with junk food is that they do not fill up your stomach. Do they fill your hearts? Debatable! But the half-full stomachs lead to overeating.
It’s a habit. If you like to snack while watching TV, you are not typically going to munch on cucumbers and carrots. You’re going to eat popcorn or cookies. Something easy to eat mindlessly, and appealing to your sweet/salty preferences.
Junk Food is designed to satisfy our taste buds. Yes, people are paid hefty salaries to research flavors and ingredients to make their product more appealing. Things like MSG are there to increase the flavor of your meal and to stimulate your appetite.
Fun fact: Worldwide McDonald’s continues to sell an astounding 75 Hamburgers per second! Yes, that’s right! 75.
If you want to combat this, you’ll need to replace your mindless eating with conscious eating, the hurry-up eating with leisure eating, and retraining your taste buds to settle for subtle flavors and good nutrition.
Why do we crave fast food or junk food?
Your brain likes variety. When it comes to food, if you consume the same tasting food repeatedly, you get less pleasure from it. In other words, the utility and satisfaction you experience will decrease over time. This can happen in just a few minutes.
Junk foods, however, are designed to avoid this sensory specific response. They provide enough taste to be intriguing but it’s not so stimulating that your taste buds are dulled.
Are Junk Food and Fast food different?
Essentially, the adjective: “fast” modifies the noun “food” in describing how long it takes for that particular meal to be served, ready to eat by the consumer.
The adjective: “junk” describes the quality of the said meal and the nutritional contents of the meal.
The two major aspects of difference
1. How long the preparation process is?
2. The quality of food
Fast food is fast, convenient food that, needs very little preparation and is cheap. Usually purchased at counters and quick orders.
Junk food is fast, convenient and cheap. However such foods consist of more calories and minimum nutritional value.
A related term is convenience food, this kind is not generally sold in gourmet restaurants, but in supermarkets. It’s easily prepared and just as easily consumed. There’s quite an overlap between junk food and convenience food, but the two don’t necessarily mean the same. For example, corn peeled and sold separately is convenience food but isn’t considered as junk food.
Here are some Shocking Fast food facts that might make burgers and pizza look less appetizing.
Studies have found that most fast food burgers constitute 50% water and actual meat is only up to 2.1% TO 14.8%. The rest of it is just chemical fillers and preservatives. (source:www.ncbi.nih.gov)
Another harmful effect of junk food is that everyone is familiar with the fatty contents and high sugar levels present in burgers, chips, and soda in these environments, but what people may be less aware of is the fact that fast food items may also actually have detrimental effects on the human mind. Biting into junk food regularly disrupts the blood flow to the brain.
In the USA, the candy industry is the highest profiting fast food industry with a 23 million dollar turnover. Not to mention candy sales increase more every year! (source: onedio.com)
A rather disturbing fast food fact is that thousands of drink dispensers in fast food restaurants have displayed traces of fecal bacteria! This fact should be revolting enough to make even the most unhygienic person want to kick out fizzy drinks forever. It is one of the fast food facts about health.
A Disgusting food fact discovered, until recently, the bread used for sandwiches in popular fast food establishments contained a chemical called azodicarbonamide- a substance that’s previously been used to create yoga mats! This surely is a bad fast food fact that will make your stomach churn, as suggested by CNN.
Research speaks-Fast food facts
Researches have revealed that cheese used in burgers and pizzas is just 50% chemicals, additives, and fat of what it claims to be.
Alarmingly, many fast-food salads are stuffed with lots of saturates fats, sodium, these are more harmful to your health than a full Mac Burger! Our lives have been a lie.
- The chicken nuggets we all love are not what they seem, these barely contain any chicken at all! Instead, they are just fats, bones, nerve and tissues! Yikes.
- Bakers usually bake empty trays of their cinnamon and sugar mixture to keep the smell enticing and bring in continuous new customers.
- As pointed out evidence of fast food’s unhealthy qualities, a Big Mac can sit for up to 12 years without any decay, whether it tastes the same is debatable.
- Shocking food-related fact- In 2011, Getting into Harvard seemed easier than getting a job at McDonald’s with Harvard having an acceptance rate of 7% whereas McDonald’s having a rate of only 6.8%. Currently, every 1 of 8 Americans has worked at least once at a McDonald’s in their lifetime.
The food industry is flourishing these days. With fewer adults knowing how to cook, or even wanting to, processed food sales are rising. We all know that something tasting good is not a guarantee that it’s good for you (sorry to all of you out there with a sweet tooth).
What’s less-commonly discussed is that just because something is FDA approved, it isn’t necessarily something you want to put in your body. Although it is hard to believe it, there are things that despite being extracted from something “natural“, they are still disgusting and one of the worst products you can imagine.
Here are some of the grossest and dirtiest ingredients found in everyday foods. Proceed with caution; once you learn what’s in some of these foods, you might never want to go anywhere near them again.
Fast food facts about health
Horrifying Studies show that fatty foods and sweets can create an inability to create new memories. This can lead to dementia.
A disgusting fast food fact for you, The FDA says that it is acceptable for tomato sauces to contain “30 or more fly eggs per 100 grams” and “1 or more maggot per 100 grams”, let’s avoid tomato sauces in the future, yeah?
Some kinds of Red Food coloring are derived from crushed Cochineal beetles!
Some people, despite knowing this dangerous fast food fact about health, indulge in feasting on burgers and pizzas on repeat.
Why does our brain crave junk food? : Scientific fast food facts
According to Steven Witherly, a food scientist who spent the last 20 years in studying food and what makes certain types of foods more addictive in his detailed report: Why humans like Junk food.
According to Witherly, when you eat any kind of food, there are 2 dominants factors which make your experience memorable and you keep coming for more:
- First, Sensation what it tastes like (salty, sweet, umami, etc.), what it smells like, and how it feels in your mouth. Food companies hire professionals and scientists to find the perfect level fizz in a soda. All these factors create the ultimate sensation for your brain to get maximum satisfaction.
- Second, is the actual nutrient composition of the food- The fat, protein, and carbohydrates that it contains. Manufactures look for the perfect composition that appeals to your taste buds and your brain that makes you keep on coming again and again for more.
“The Evolution of Diet” National Geographic Magazine fact-Fast food facts
“From an evolutionary perspective, it feels reasonable to be confused about why humans have strong desires for as unhealthy of behavior as eating high-calorie and sugar-heavy foods. They’re bad for hearts, bad for pancreases, bad for physiques. But they taste so good. One answer is found in a careful examination of our evolutionary history. An unhealthy behavior will indeed, in general, But at one point, a high-calorie meal was crucial for human success.”
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Shocking fast food facts about Health ( Following facts have been proven by Science)
There is also evidence that sleep deprivation makes people choose junk food rather than a healthy meal. When sleep is restricted, the brain becomes more active while executive functions of the frontal lobes become more suppressed, this effectively diminishes willpower.
Diminishing of will power leads to irrational decisions and trying to make the brain excited over the unique taste of a fast food meal. (Source: www.thegaurdian.com)
Dependence on junk food might be one of the reasons for its addiction. Studies have shown that eating junk food releases chemicals similar to those that develop in drug addiction. (Source: www.healthline.com)
McDonald’s shocking fact-Fast food effects about health
On your next trip to McDonald’s, remember this shocking food fact- TBHQ (E319) a petroleum-based ingredient that is also used for lighter fluids are used as preservatives in their French fries. This ingredient shows links to asthma, skin conditions and cancer. (Source:Freeletics.com)
Fast food very quickly breaks down in your mouth and does not require much chewing, this tricks your brain into thinking that less chewing= less food. This combination trains your brain to prefer highly processed foods instead of freshly made ones and also results in an unwanted increased appetite. (source: medicalnewstoday.com)
Disturbing facts about fast food
An adverse effect of fast food is that children and adolescents take exponentially more calories in restaurants than at home. It adds up to 160 to 310 calories a day, linking to obesity; Shows a 2013 study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
Many fast-food meals have a high additive sugar quotient. That means extra calories, but little to no nutrition. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends eating only 100 to 150 calories of added sugar per day. That adds up to six to nine teaspoons, fast-food drinks alone have well over 12 ounces. A 12-ounce can of soft drink might have 8 teaspoons of sugar! That amounts to 140 calories and a shocking 39 grams of sugar! This can lead to weight gain and an increase in risks for heart disease.
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Surprising fast food facts about your favorite food items
Fast Food Facts about Vanilla Ice Cream
How Vanilla Ice Cream is made?
Ice cream is a sweetened and frozen food typically eaten as a dessert and it is loved by almost everyone. But, if you love ice cream too, especially the case of vanilla, because of this news you will probably forget it for a while. In 2013 the “TIME” magazine published an article where it said:
“Your Vanilla Ice Cream May Smell Like Beaver Butt” and they were not lying. The mix that makes this cold dessert so delicious is usually milk, cream, sugar and sometimes egg. A harmful ingredient that many do not share with the public is called: “Castoreum”, which is a compound that beavers use to mark their territory. You can find this ingredient in other things like perfumes and many products with that odor.
Still, concerned about eating beaver behind? Due to its FDA label, in some cases, some manufacturers don’t have to list castoreum on the ingredient list and may instead refer to it as “natural flavoring.” EWEEE.. that makes you think twice before eating ice cream.
Fast Food Facts about Beer
How Beer is made?
You may expect your beer to be vegan, but that may not be the case. Beer production has been around for more than 700 years and the truth is that most people love it. Now let’s show you which ingredient of it found a little disturbing. The brewing companies add a product called: “Isinglass” which comes from the skin of a fish and makes the liquid produced become clearer.
Guinness has slowly been phasing out the use of isinglass and is on track to eliminate it, though the process has been taking longer than expected. To check whether or not your beer is fish-free, you can check out the Barnivore database which keeps a list of vegan and vegetarian alcoholic beverages.
Fast Food Facts about Red flavor food
If you’re eating something that seems to be unnaturally red, you might want to rethink it. A lot of red food coloring is made by crushing bugs. This ingredient is completely safe and has been used for centuries, but there is a definite ick factor involved. Officially known as cochineal dye, it also pops up on labels as carmine or carminic acid so look out for those words if you want to avoid a serving of dead insects with your food.
Fast Food Facts about Potato Chips-Shocking fast food facts
How Potato Chips are made? Eating potato chips is our guilty pleasure and we are sure it is yours too. But there is something you should know before you go on and eating that pack of chips.Yes, we all know that the ripest and freshest of potatoes are thin cuts in slice and fried in oil till they turn golden brown. But do you know, to ensure that the packet of chips stay fresh and crispy brown by the time it reaches you, preservatives and chemicals are added to it? While you may think that preservatives are added to all packaged food items to keep them fresh but you must know potato chips have something more lethal in them, which we should all pay attention to.
A lot of chemicals and preservatives are added to factory-produced food as well as fruits and other vegetables to help them grow faster. This stops and prevents the growth of bacteria on them. One of the most commonly used chemicals is known as sodium bisulfite, which is a powerful chemical used in small quantities.
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The same chemical, sodium bisulfite is also found in most toilet cleaners and other household cleaning agents, although in larger quantities. When they are added to chips and other snacks, it increases its shelf life, helps in preservation and also prevents the problem of discoloration, which usually happens with food items that are kept in the open.
Disturbing Fast Food Facts about Processed Bread
How Bread is made? Not all bread is created equal and the important word here is “processed.” When we consume processed bread, we’re consuming some questionable ingredients. for instance, l-cysteine is used as a dough conditioner that is meant to keep commercial dough soft so it can be easily manipulated, as well as increase the shelf life of the bread. Sounds reasonable right?
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Well, what if I told you l-cysteine is an amino acid produced from human hair? That’s right real human hair is dissolved in acid and put through a rigorous chemical process before being sent to commercial bread manufacturers to then be added to the bread.
No one wants to find a hair in their food and especially in slices of bread, but that just might be what you’re eating every time you have some toast. A lot of commercial bread has an additive called L-cysteine.
Fast Food Facts about Chewing Gum
Chewing gum is made of?
Chewing gum comes in a lot of delicious flavors and we all love them but a lot of them have one thing in common: they’re made out of sheep. To be more specific, many chewing gums are made out of a discharge made from the skin glands of sheep. The substance, called lanolin, is the stuff that makes chewing gum chewy and soft and is also found in many skin products. Chewing gums that do not use lanolin are often made out of synthetic rubbers instead.
Fast Food Facts about Chicken Nuggets
Chicken Nuggets are made of? As kids, there was no bigger treat than your parents taking you to McDonald’s for a Chicken Nugget Happy Meal. But now once you learn how these delightful nuggets are made you may think twice about ever eating them again. McDonald’s uses non-free-range chickens this means that the chickens are raised in tight quarters and most likely juiced up with antibiotics and hormones to make them bigger. It is one of the most horrifying fast food facts about health for the chicken nugget lovers.
Of the 30 ingredients in the McNugget, many are toxic and dangerous such as sodium aluminum phosphate and dimethyl poly-silicon a silicone substance used in sealants and breast implants. So you may want to put the happy meal down and have a salad instead.
Fast Food Facts about French fries
How French Fries are made? Our favorite delicious food—French fries—now has another sad strike against it. A new study finds that french fries, along with other types of fried potatoes, increase our risk of mortality over the years. Other types of potato preparations did not seem to have the same risks involved, which suggest there’s something intrinsic about the fried-ness of French fries that makes them not just unhealthy, but actually (well, potentially) deadly.
The study was published this week in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
And then there are the chemicals in fried potatoes known as Acrylamide, which is especially present in overcooked fries and potato chips (and toast) has been linked to cancer risk in animal studies and is likely risk to humans, too. A few years ago, the FDA warned against taking in too much acrylamide.
Fast Food Facts about Chocolates
How chocolates are made?
Known for its delicious taste, and it is loved by many. In 2015, worldwide it’s sales exceeded 100 billion dollars. And while chocolate has some health benefits too but these alleged advantages may come at a price.
Antigen contamination provides us one of the biggest risks of chocolate production. Here is one of your fast food facts about health uncovered.
Modern manufacturing practices have greatly decreased this risk. Still, 25 percent of chocolate samples had bacterial and fungal contamination when examined during a study featured in a 2015 article in the journal Food Control. Interestingly, the cocoa beans showed little contamination, so the contamination occurred during processing. Enterobacteriaceae on the workers’ hands revealed the source.
Fast Food Facts about Soda machines
Many of us like to enjoy an ice-cold soda, but have you wondered what might be lurking on the soda dispensers, from the older ones to the new machines with one central nozzle?
Since restaurant workers rarely clean up the soda machines, there’s most definitely a crap ton of mold in the pipes that your bubbly beverage runs through. And the ice in your drinks from places like McDonald’s, Burger King and Starbucks is even worse. Another of the shocking fast food facts about health revealed.
The ice from these establishments has more bacteria than water samples taken from their toilet bowls. Yuck.
And when the workers do clean, they typically just dump down the pipes to unclog the mold. That means you are probably drinking way more chemicals than what’s already in your soda.
Cheap but doesn’t reap-Fast food effects
One of the most obvious reasons for people to buy junk food is affordability. With inflation on an all-time rise, junk food is a quick and cheap option for many. On average a burger costs Rs. 89 in India whereas a proper meal costs up to a whopping Rs 468. It’s quite obvious why people go for a burger instead of some rice and curry. Why wouldn’t you want to choose a cheap and tasty snack over an expensive one?
Be cautious in consumption-Fast food effects
According to one study, about 90 percent of adults undermine the amount of salt in an average fast food meal. The study surveyed 993 adults and found that they were nowhere close and ended up guessing 6 times lower than the actual figure(1,292 milligrams). This means their estimates were off by more than 1,000 mg! This amount of salt will spike up your blood pressure exponentially. (www.healthline.com)
Not all fast food is bad, however. Some menu items might be lower in these harmful amounts of substances than others, while some fast-food manufacturers might focus on comparatively healthier options. However, this is not the case for the majority of fast food outlets, or the majority of the food items they sell.
Because health is priority-Fast food facts about health
A few of the “Healthy” options at certain food chains also have proven to be harmful, sometimes even more when compared to a regular fast food choice, such as a burger. To take precautions, one must carefully examine the nutritional value of a meal and make sure they contain a balanced amount of salt, sugar, and fat to avoid health problems in the long term. So, here you go! We have discussed some shocking fast food facts about health. With the advent of harmful diseases taking over the world, let us promise to avoid binge eating on junk food.
Comment below your favorite junk food and we will share some interesting facts about the same with you.
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