Nayely RodriguezLynnette MorininiEnglish 114B3 March 2014 Fast Food vs. Home Cooked MealsEating out used to be a treat to ourselves occasionally to eat at fast food restaurants to celebrate special occasions, a get together with friends, or simply to spoil yourself and your family once in a while. Now that has all transformed throughout time, meaning that many individuals and families eat out almost on a daily basis! Whatever happened to home cooked meals, healthy food ingredients, and family time around the table? In today’s modern society, fast food has taken over almost every household in America. Apparently, fast food and eating out is more convenient for every working household. However, home cooked meals provide us more control over what we eat; we generally know what types of ingredients are going into our meal and where our raw ingredients are coming from. Individuals and families must be aware of the negative effects of eating fast food versus a healthy home cooked meal. Eating out to fast food restaurants has grown high in today’s society since it is so convenient, cheap, done in a couple of minutes, and tastes so good. Fast food makes people lazy to get up to cook; instead many buy cheap ready meals from supermarkets, and save the cost of the ingredients they would have bought, preparation time, and cook. People need to know that those unhealthy foods lead to devastating health problems and become a burden on the health care system. In Surprising Health Dangers of Fast Food, a recent study found “eating significant amounts of fast food can contribute to atherosclerosis (clogged arteries which can increase your risk of conditions like a heart attack or stroke), increased risk of arthritis, sleep apnea (sleep disorder when a person’s breathing is interrupted during sleep) some kinds of cancers, diabetes, liver disease,obesity and mental health problems.” Most meats used at fast food restaurants contain “nitrates, artificial sweeteners, and monosodium glutamate. These contents are known to increase high blood circulation and often cause migraines.” Junk food on the other hand contains “emulsifiers, preservatives, stabilizers and flavor enhancers,” the consumption of meat and junk food lead to an “increased blood flow can cause prolonged headaches and which could affect the mental health,” according to the article Encourage anti-fast food campaign. . Then again there is an explanation to why many cannot stop eating so much fast food leading to those horrible health problems. In the article, “Why Do We EatSo Much Fast Food?” Sarah Clark mentions a study in “2003 controversially suggested that fast food is as addictive as heroin due to the sugar and fat content,” that some people could not stop eating out because they begin to crave it and will not be able to give up fast food because it is so delicious. Unfortunately people have a great range of fast-food easily available, easy access, and cheaper than other healthy alternatives. Obesity has grown to be the leading number one problem with fast food among children and adolescents. Children are now overweight or obese, “children aged 6-11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. In adolescents aged 12-19 years who are obese from 5% to 21% over the same period,” states the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Today’s children may be the first in history of North America to live shorter lives than their parents. Not only do we have to worry about those bad health conditions affecting yourselfand your children but the way those employees working in fast food restaurants treat our food. It can carry unsanitary diseases in our food by the same employees! For instance, inSurprising Health Dangers of Fast Food, it mentions “some of the recurring problems at franchises such as McDonalds, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, and Burger King, were rodent droppings, insects, food borne illnesses, debris, and grime on counters and prep areas, and poor employee sanitation.” Can you imagine the unsanitary conditions your fast foodis being made in and then to find out a fast food employee sabotaged it. Given the fact that “25% of Americans eat fast food every day,” there may be a high chance of a person going through a bad case such as: “a McDonald's worker in South Carolina arrested for spitting in two customers' cups of iced tea after they returned them because they weren't sweet enough,” states Surprising Health Dangers of Fast Food. I know no one wants to be that person that results to get the very unsanitary fast food that the employee made nasty for you and without knowing you may be eating it.In addition to fast food being unhealthy for you it takes away time from communicating, sharing, and interacting with family at dinner time. According to Carrison Hager, “this is a special time that is necessary in taking away from the drudgery of work and school. The convenience of fast food has taken away from the family dinner.This trend has gotten worse over the past thirty years and today it is rare to find families eating together more than twice a week. All of the above are solid reasons for preferring home-cooking to the drive-thru window.” Benefits of preparing a home cooked meal is everyone can contribute to preparing the food and spend family quality time together. Eating a home cooked meal at home versus fast food is much more healthy and convenient for individuals and families in the long term. Cooking your own meals gives you the peace of mind that goes along with having complete control over the type and quality of ingredients in your meals and the degree of cleanliness that goes into their preparation. You are able to accommodate to those people at your home who have allergies or any other types of sensitivities. Fast food is not as healthy as regular diets those type of foods are fine for special occasions. More meals cooked and eaten at home may help trim the waistline and lower the obesity epidemic. Tracey Roizman in The Advantages of a Home Cooked Meal, states that “food-borne illnesses caused by bacteria-laden or under-cooked meats and vegetables regularly make headlines and occasionally claim lives. According to University of Kansas food safety expert Dr. Douglas Powell, upto 25 percent of the population succumbs to a food-borne illness each year to a total cost of $1.4 trillion. While food you buy at the grocery store