It's a well known fact that fast food is not good for you, but what many people don't realize is the exactly how harmful this food is to their bodies. The amount of calories, sugars, and fat in many products may shock you.
Taco Bell
Let's say you stop by Taco Bell one afternoon and order 3 Taco Supremes, Cinnamon Twists, and a large Dr. Pepper, a common value meal. That's a total of roughly 1325 calories with about 46 grams of fat (18 grams of it saturated fat) and 143 grams of sugar.
Burger King
Sound amazing? Well, let's take a trip to Burger King! You get a Double Bacon Cheeseburger, a king-size french fry, an apple pie, and trying to avoid the extra calories, you get a diet coke. Even avoiding the calories from the drink, you're still consuming a total of about 1520 calories. Roughly 700 of these calories are coming from the fat alone (that translates to about 78 grams of fat with 29 of the grams from saturated fat).
McDonald's
It gets even worse then that. Finally, we'll make a stop at the infamous McDonald's and order a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese, large fry, and medium vanilla milkshake. In this one meal alone, the calorie consumption will be 2050 calories. There is 90 grams of fat (36 grams of this is saturated fat), and about 105 grams of sugar!
The average person should have an intake of roughly 2000 calories a day (give or take depending on age, sex, level of physical activity, and many other factors). Many of the meals that fast food restaurants offer for one meal meet (and even occasionally exceed) the amount of calories that a person should intake in an entire day. Fast food also has an incredibly high amount of cholesterol and sodium, which can also be very harmful to the body.
Although fast food may save you a small amount of time and money, the health risks way exceed any benefit received. I am not saying that fast food every once in awhile is going to kill you. I'm simply suggesting to search for healthier, home cooked alternatives anytime possible.
