- Sanyukta Iyer

Fast food in a Fast World often leads to fast Fat that is not at all fast to get rid of. However, tempting and economical as it is, it also makes your taste buds water. Therefore, wouldn’t you choose a burger at Mc. D’s over ‘Dal Chawal’ in your hostel mess. Obesity grows in the city as fast food joints get more successful. This direct connection has now become a food for thought.

Fast food is defined as any kind of food that is prepared and served quickly because it is generally low quality preparation and served to the customer in a packaged form often also as takeouts. Chain restaurants form an upscale atmosphere and use branding strategies to increase their sit-in ratios and casualty.

The history of fast food only involved Burgers and later Pizzas, but now we have all kinds of food on the take away list, topping that in the city is now Chinese food, chips and aerated drinks. The fast food industry in India has its major players that include Mc Donald’s, KFC, and Pizza Hut, Dominoes, Cafe Coffee day and Barista. These chains have created a lot of employment and rise in the standard of living, giving the people a reason to let more of globalization affect us. Which may be good, but a calorie check is a must. The Trans fat that these fast foods inject into our body in great quantities has a negative effect on our health. Moreover, fast food is all that our future generations may have.

Ever wondered why we are not so prone to sickness, because here in India all our childhood we eat homemade food. This scenario seems to be changing by the minute and so undoubtedly will be its consequences.

Paediatricians and Diabetologists in the city state that the cause of obesity in the city is mainly being attributed to an unhealthy lifestyle and lack of exercise here by added to the lack of awareness, because of which people are unable to pay attention to their diet thus, aggravating the symptoms of obesity and the diseases that follow it.

Abhay Mutha, a consultant and president of the Diabetes Care and Research Foundation, says, “I had conducted a study on obesity in the city last year, with a sample size of around 1,200 students from across six schools. Almost 15-16 percent of those students suffered from obesity and faced health problems ahead in their life because of their bad diet and unhealthy lifestyles. Others too had some minor health problems.”

Agreeing with others is city-based Bariatrician, Dr. Shashank Shah who also feels there are multi factorial reasons for the symptoms. “Westernisation is a major factor. It has led to a paradigm shift in the lifestyles of people today. The nutritious food of olden times has been replaced by calorie-rich, economical, fast-food.” He adds saying that obesity could also lead to a slump in social and emotional performance. “Many students feel inferior to others and feel abnormal. Such students need proper counselling. There is a need to increase awareness about this ‘disease’ in the society,” he says.

The Americans currently spend more for fast food than they do for higher education, personal computers, software or new cars. Fast food also ranks higher in Americans’ expenses than movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos and recorded music – combined. Is that where we seem to be leading? We better start working our way out or else we would end up too fast that we could ever handle.