Should I be eating that fast food?

Living in such health-conscious times it is easy to feel guilty about eating fast food. The media seems to be in a state of mass hysteria, castigating models and celebrities for being too skinny and setting a bad example for young people, whilst newspapers and news programmes are continually offering the latest obesity statistics and claiming there is an obesity epidemic. It seems that there is little room for anyone in between these two extremes. We are either seen as fat or thin, which clearly affects what we eat.

For individuals who are concerned about their health, who want to maintain their weight and eat a reasonably healthy diet, it can be hard to let themselves give into the temptation of ‘bad’ food, without feeling guilty. As we receive a constant barrage of images of extremely obese people gorging on fast food, it is hard not to make the association between fast food and obesity.

Clearly fast food isn’t particularly good for us, but that doesn’t we can’t treat ourselves once in a while. The trouble with many obese individuals is that fast food has become part of their regular diet, so they don’t even recognise what their problem is.

The documentary ‘Super Size Me’ focused on one man eating only McDonalds’ meals for a month to see what the impact would be on his overall health, having been inspired by a news story about two girls who were trying to sue McDonalds for making them obese. It came as no surprise when he put on a significant amount of weight and his health had deteriorated.

It is obvious to most educated people that eating fast food all the time is likely to have a negative impact on their health, and yet plenty of people still live on such a diet, perhaps due to lack of time and the convenience of fast food.

The fact that there are individuals prepared to sue fast food franchises for making them obese demonstrates that there is a certain level of ignorance about what constitutes a healthy diet amongst ordinary people, and this must be contributing to the obesity problem. However, why shouldn’t a healthy person have an occasional fast food meal if they feel like it, without feeling guilty?

There seems to be a perception that a thin person is naturally healthy, which is not necessarily the case, but which can put thin people under pressure to maintain this faade. There are thin people who are able to eat as much junk food as they want without gaining weight, though they are in the minority, whilst there are other thin people who completely abstain from any unhealthy foods.

However, for most people it is about getting the balance right. Why should we feel guilty about having the occasional cheeseburger? Most of us know it’s not the healthiest option, but we can always burn it off down the gym, and as long as we are not eating fast food every day, who is to tell us otherwise, obesity epidemic, or not?