The Real Truth, a magazine restoring plain understanding

Eating Yourself to Death

The Junk Food Epidemic

July 10, 2004

Matt wakes up in the morning with hardly any energy. Although he did get his regular 8 hours of sleep, he still seems very tired. Unable to muster the energy to get up, he lies in bed for an extra 30 minutes. When he finally does get out of bed, he sees that he is running late.

“No time to sit down for breakfast,” he thinks to himself. “I’ll pick something up on the way to work.” So Matt stops by his local grocery store, picks up a half-dozen doughnuts and a cola, thinking the sugar and caffeine will give him that boost of energy he is looking for.

Groggy and unable to concentrate, Matt staggers through the first 4 hours of work. He then breaks for lunch. Someone makes a run to the local fast-food restaurant. Matt chooses to have a burger, fries and a soft drink.

He stumbles through the rest of the day, and then heads home. For dinner, he has a few slices of pizza and a soft drink.

By the end of the day, Matt is exhausted—even though he expended hardly any energy. For much of the day, he was sleepy, in a terrible mood and unable to get much accomplished because he could not concentrate.

The next day goes exactly the same.

Does this describe your day? Are you overweight? Are you tired and moody throughout much of the day? Do you sometimes have trouble concentrating?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you could be suffering symptoms of a junk food diet.

You Are What You Eat

But, what is junk food, and how can you tell if you are consuming a junk food diet?

Junk food is a term used for foods that taste good, are high in calories and quick to prepare, and have little nutritional value. While most people have their own list of foods that they would consider junk food, it generally refers to foods that are high in sugar (such as soda pop, candy, ice cream and most pastries), high in fat (particularly, saturated fat—such as burgers, pizza, hot dogs, french fries and most fried foods) and high in salt.

But the above list is not all-inclusive. For example, most would consider the imitation juice on the market today as healthy. However, these products are loaded with sugar, artificially flavored, and contain very little pure juice. Many foods that we consider healthy could in fact be considered junk food. One must study and investigate in order to expand on the above list.

However, it is not necessarily harmful to eat these foods IF done occasionally and in moderation (Phil. 4:5). But as soon as the majority of the food consumed comes from junk food, it could be said that one has a junk food diet—of which, the effects are devastating.

The Health Implications?

Eating an abundance of junk seems normal to today’s generation. Many parents feed their children a large amount of sugary breakfast food, causing them to become extremely hyperactive. They then take their children to doctors, whose solution is to simply prescribe medication to control their behavior—merely treating the effect, not the cause. These parents are totally unaware that a change in diet would rectify the situation.

Eating junk food is also one of the main contributing factors to the development of cancer. The body desires and needs certain vitamins and minerals to function properly. But, when you eat a poor diet, you severely impair the body’s ability—its immune system—to fight off toxins and diseased cells. As a result, those cells can become cancerous.

Another devastating effect of a junk food diet is the obesity epidemic. Eating a regular diet of junk makes one quickly gain weight. Currently, 31 percent of adults and 17 percent of children in this nation are obese. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity is fast approaching the number one preventable cause of death—a close second behind tobacco. Obesity can cause many other health complications, including cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, sleep apnea and others.

In an article in the Daily Telegraph,< one pediatrician at the Royal London Hospital stated, “Four…children were being treated for apnea, a sleep disorder caused when airways are blocked by folds of fat.

“In other words, they are being choked by their fat,” she said. “Were we able to study all severely obese children, I am confident we would identify many more with obstructive sleep apnea.”

The article went on to describe how another doctor treated “a super-obese child aged eight with type 2 adult onset diabetes.” These are chilling observations! So, as you can see, the effects of eating too much junk food could be devastating.

This leaves us with one question: Why has junk food become such a big problem?

Reasons Behind Popularity

There are three main reasons why junk food is so widely consumed. Most people could easily identify the first two, while being basically oblivious to the third and most important reason.

• Convenience: People often choose to eat junk food simply because it is convenient. It fits well with today’s hurried lifestyle. Society is so fast-paced that it leaves hardly any time to cook a well-prepared and nutritious meal. So, people pick foods that are quick, easy and convenient—which are usually also the most nutrient deficient.

• Advertisements: Junk food marketers advertise through any and every means possible, including television commercials, loud radio spots, Internet pop-up ads, and even through vending machines. Many of these contain subliminal messages or imagery. Consider. Have you ever heard or listened to a song and later found yourself unconsciously singing or humming that same tune? Even if you are unaware of the song, your mind captures it on a subconscious level. This is the same effect that junk food marketers are hoping for. And it has worked! Thus, to combat this cunning tactic, one must “keep [his] heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23).

• A Lack of Discipline: Today’s generation is one of terribly weak character. They have not had to suffer through a Great Depression or either of two world wars, and thus lack the inner strength and resolve of their predecessors. Many people completely understand the health implications of eating too much junk food, yet they consume it anyway because they lack discipline.

Weak parents, trying to be more like friends than parents, give in to their children’s every whim—and they feed their children’s taste buds instead of their bodies. What they do not realize is that they are doing their children a great disservice. They are sowing the seeds of addiction to junk food, which, left unchecked, could result in their untimely death.

However, if children are taught to eat nutritious food, they will not leave that pattern when they get older (Prov. 22:6).

A Change Is Coming

But there is good news. Jesus Christ will return soon to establish God’s government on earth. At that time, “all things” will be restored (Acts 3:21). The world will be forced to obey God’s laws, including His health laws. Gone will be the sugary, greasy and salty foods of today, and in their place will be good, nutritious, cleansing, building, sustaining and healing foods. That will be a wonderful time for all. (To learn more about this subject, read our free booklet God’s Principles of Healthful Living.)