BABY BOOM + FAST FOOD = DEMENTIA BOOM
The article stated that fast food is causing the dementia boom--and it's projected to get worse. According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 3.8 million people, 71 years or older, have dementia. When these senior citizens were tennyboppers, the fast-food craze was just taking off. The KFC franchise opened in 1952, Burger King in 1954, and the first McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts, in 1955. Today's dementia boom can be attributed to the saturated fats and trans fats that began inundating the American diet with the rise of fast foods.
Saturated fats--in Big Macs, fried chicken, and other meat and dairy products--appear to encourage the production of a type of plaque in the brain that results in the Alzheimer's. According to a study reported in the Archives of Neurology, people that ate the most saturated fats had more than triple the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
Trans fats, found in doughnuts, snack pastries and often in french fries, have been shown to increase Alzheimer's risk more than fivefold. These "bad fats" raise cholesterol levels and increase the production of the plaque I mentioned earlier. While the fast-food giants are making billions of dollars, the American people are paying a huge health toll. The total cost of dementia in 2010 was $215 billion. By 2040, 9.1 million people in America alone will suffer from dementia and it will cost the country $511 billion.
When I leave work at 5:00, there's a McDonald's I drive past everyday. The line that is wrapped around the building, parking lot and out to the street is unbelieveable to me. There is so much fat and calories in McDonald's food, without any nutritional value whatsoever.....I really don't know if people just don't realize what they are doing to their health.....eating this way causes heart disease, cancers, stroke, Alzheimer's, etc, and yet people are lined up waiting to pay for this food. Everyday I think to myself, I need to let these people know what they are doing to themselves by eating this food, (of course people would think I'm some crazy person telling them what to eat and not to eat)....but then I stop and think, maybe they already know how bad it is, but do it anyway!
It doesn't have to be this way....if you have read my previous blogs there are tips showing ways to have your own "fast food" found right in your freezer. This fast food is full of fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants...all HEALTHY ingredients! Grab a container of your homemade soup that's been portioned in single serving sizes and pop it in the microwave....grab a whole-wheat wrap and throw in vegetables, leftover rice or beans you made during the week or prepared over the weekend and froze...have prepared green salads in ziplock bags ready to eat at any given moment. With just a little planning, you can eat on the run all week if necessary.
Don't spend your money on food that's going to be detrimental to your health.....spend your money on food that will give you optimal health....vegetables, fruits, beans, whole-grains, nuts and seeds. It's been proven when children are given healthy food from the very start, they will choose fruit over candy bars or cookies and they love all kinds of vegetable dishes, wraps, soups, stews, etc. Give your children a really healthy start in life and they won't have to suffer from all these horrible health issues that so many Americans have today.
Now that generations have been raised on Whoppers and glazed donuts, what do we do? We put down the fast food, as well as other sources of meaty, cheesy, fat-laden food. Alzheimer's is incurable--we have to STOP it BEFORE IT STARTS!