Kids love eating fast food. They constantly throw tantrums to avoid eating food that is healthy for them and insist on eating junk. Parents need to teach children to avoid eating junk food, as the habits kids learn in childhood can carry into adulthood. Eating fast food is one of the biggest contributors to health problems like obesity, heart-related diseases, diabetes and more. Therefore, children must be taught about how eating fast food can badly affect our bodies. Along with that, we must also teach them the names of some fast foods.
Continue reading the article to teach your little one the names of some fast foods.
What Is Fast Food?
Fast food is food that can be prepared and served quickly. Fast food can come from many places, like sit-down restaurants, counter service, take-out, delivery and drive-thru. Fast food is popular because the food is convenient, easily available, can be prepared quickly and tastes good. Not all fast foods are healthy as they may contain saturated fats, cholesterol and added sugar and preservatives.
Let’s look at the list of some fast foods that are commonly available.
List of Fast Food Items
The list of types of fast food is endless. There are numerous fast food options available today, both veg and non-veg. Children like the taste of fast food but don’t know the side effects of eating such fast food. Let’s look at the fast food list.
1. Burger
Soft buns that are served with patty, lettuce, tomato, and onion together.
2. Pizza
A thin, flat round bread that is baked with vegetables and cheese on the top.
3. Chowmein
Stir-fried noodles along with vegetables and sometimes meat or tofu.
4. Patty
A small flat bread-shaped food item that is generally filled with minced or finely chopped potato, vegetables, or meat.
5. French Fries
These are thinly sliced potato pieces that are deep-fried or air-fried.
6. Chilli Potato
Crisp fried potatoes tossed in slightly spicy, sweet & sour chilli sauce.
7. Chilli Chicken
A sweet, spicy and crispy chicken dish.
8. Doughnut
A small and round fried cake of sweetened dough.
9. Hotdog
A food item that is prepared using the intestines of animals like goats, sheep, etc., filled with specific material and is served in a long bun with ketchup and mustard on it.
10. Sandwich
A food item made using bread. You can add cheese, meat or vegetables between them to make them taste delicious.
11. Tacos
A Mexican food item consisting of a folded tortilla filled with various mixtures, such as seasoned mince, chicken, or vegetables.
12. Ice Cream
A sweet food item made using creams and some frozen milk, sugar, fruit, nuts, and chocolates served extremely frozen.
13. Soda
A canned beverage or energy soda that is served chilled.
14. Kebab
A food item with cut-up meat or ground meat cooked with or without vegetables and other supplements according to the recipe’s requirement.
15. Waffle
A sweet dish made from semi-hard dough which is cooked between two hot plates that are patterned to give a specific size, shape, and surface impression.
16. Fried Chicken
A crispy deep-fried dish of chicken is usually dipped in seasoned flour before frying.
17. Sausage
A long piece that is processed meat is generally served with sandwiches or platters.
18. Pancake
A thin sweet flat round cake made using flour, milk, and eggs and served with chocolate syrup and honey.
19. Croissant
A French crescent-shaped sweet roll made of flaky yeast dough, generally eaten for breakfast.
20. Popcorn
Crispy food is made using corn kernels that expand when heated up indirectly.
21. Biscuit
A very crunchy and crispy food item baked from a flour-based ingredient.
22. Bacon
A cured meat dish from the back or sides of a pig.
23. Chips
An oval piece of deep-fried potato.
24. Onion Rings
This food item is cut pieces of onion in circles that are fried into a crunchy, tasty treat.
25. Hamburger
A round flat piece of finely cut beef part, which is then cooked and served with buns or bread.
What Are the Harmful Effects Of Fast Food?
Below are some harmful effects of eating fast food.
1. Obesity
Eating fast food is one of the reasons for increased weight or obesity in children. Fast food is high in calories, sugar, and carbohydrates and, thus, contributes to weight gain. Not just weight gain, obesity is where problems like diabetes, different heart conditions, joint discomfort, etc., begin to develop.
2. Growth & Development
It is very important to feed our bodies with essential nutrients. Fast food items are poor in nutrition and thus harm us when we eat such foods. It affects our growth and development and has a long-term impact on our bodies.
3. Appetite Loss
We tend to overeat while having fast food and therefore consume more food than is required by the body. As a result, there is fluctuation in blood sugar levels, and we feel more hungry than usual.
4. Digestion
Fast foods are generally difficult to digest, which compounds the negative effects of fast food consumption.
5. Impact On Mind
Having too much of your fast food alters the chemical makeup of our brains. In no time, our body starts to crave such food and thus, it impacts our mind to have such food. The withdrawal symptoms of fast food are similar to that of people who are addicts and thus cause sadness.
6. Memory & Learning
Fast food is rich in sugar content and saturated fats and, thus, inhibits the brain’s capacity for learning and memory formation. Therefore, parents should minimise giving fast food to children, especially those who are in the learning phase.
Also Read:
Cooking Verbs for Children
Food Names in English for Kids
Fruit Vocabulary for Children
