“Grandma’s Fast Food Obsession Sparks Family Feud: Will She Face Eviction Over Her Grandkids’ Cravings?”
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Junk food is addictive, delicious but often nutritionally worthless
The term junk food came about in the 1950s, in a newspaper article about the risks of food made from white flour, containing refined white sugar or syrup. This is a pretty broad definition, but to this day, there is a lot of truth to this idea. This isn’t to say that folks in the past were always eating “healthier,” although they did have less access to processed foods.
In general, junk food, as opposed to simply rich and hearty dishes, is often sold ready to eat, with plenty of calories, sugar and salt, while often having almost no real nutritional value. However, junk food and, by extension, its restaurant equivalent, fast food, is often very tasty and even addictive to some degree.
This is often why kids in particular absolutely love it, as our brains love sugar and salt. These items are also aggressively marketed to all demographics and are often cheap and easy to acquire. After all, if you are exhausted and don’t want to cook, you can get a meal from your local burger chain pretty quickly and without hassle.
As with so many things in life, junk food is ok in moderation. However, researchers have found that even semi-regular use of fast food comes with a variety of risks, for example, people who eat a lot of fast food have a tendency to overeat in one sitting, as the food is cheap and accessible. At the same time, research suggests that people who eat a lot of junk food are often less likely to get additional nutrition from fruits and vegetables.
