The Greasy Grip

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Estefania Valencia in Op-Ed

Vanessa Centeno

Chronicle Reporter

Have you ever come out of school with a starving sensation and realize your only choices in a meal are Fast Food restaurants? As a school located in Hollywood, it is more than likely to get caught in the middle of an area filled with unhealthy foods. These places may be eye catching to the tourists visiting the area, but what does it do to students attending school?

It is common knowledge that burgers and fries aren’t the best choices in terms of nutrition and it is recommended we should always go for greens and vegetables, but after asking 30 random students in school, 14 of them said that they eat around the area at least once a week,  5 of those students say that they eat out at least 3 times a week or more, and only 2 of those 5 students are athletes. That means that 46% of students on campus are being victimized by these fast food chains and 16% of the students are on a pathway to a very disappointing result in health.

Even when exercising 5 times a week for about 2 hours still doesn’t add up to burn the amount of sugar you gain per meal. On a daily basis one should only consume 23 grams of sugar a day but if you were to have a meal at In N Out including a burger with ketchup and dressing (20 grams), drink ( 54 grams), and fries (7 grams) you would be consuming approximately 81 grams of sugar. That’s enough to cover about 3 and a half days! And it is necessary to do at least three hours of vigorous exercise a week to maintain your weight, not lose, according to the Center for Disease Control Prevention.

The effects of having a lifestyle of constant fat and sugar result in many different diseases such as: Type 2 Diabetes, Coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer, liver, and gallbladder disease. So having made these points, is risking one’s health really worth it just to eat out ? Maybe it would be a better choice to eat a home cooked meal instead.