How Fast Foods Effect You Negatively:

A fast-food combo meal may have over 1,000 calories.

Most people realize that stopping at the drive-thru for fast food isn’t the healthiest choice. It’s no secret that fast food is typically high in fat, sodium and sugar, and low in fruits, vegetables and fiber. But it’s convenient and often affordable. The downside, however, is more than just an unbalanced meal. Especially with long-term consumption, fast food can negatively affect you physically and emotionally.

Calories and Weight

The average fast food meal contains too many calories. A 2007 survey from the July 2009 journal “Obesity” found that the average fast food lunch in New York totaled 827 calories. Moreover, one-third of purchases topped 1,000 calories. Your caloric intake varies depending on your energy output. The average adult woman generally needs between 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day, and the average adult man usually needs from 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day. Consuming excess calories puts you at risk of weight gain and weight-related health conditions. In fact, a May 2012 study in “Obesity Surgery” suggested that among behavioral factors, fast food consumption had the most influence on the growing rate of severe obesity in America.

Insulin and Type 2 Diabetes

Regularly eating fast food over an extended period may increase your chances of type 2 diabetes, according to study findings published in a January 2005 “Lancet” article. According to the 15-year study, people who ate fast food at least three times a week gained an extra 9.9 pounds of body weight and had a two-fold greater increase in insulin resistance when compared to those who ate fast food less than once a week. Insulin resistance occurs when the hormone insulin does not properly regulate blood glucose levels. Hypertension, dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease are also linked to insulin resistance.

Fat and Cardiac Events

Most fast food meals are high in fat and low in or devoid of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables help balance a high-fat meal, reducing -- but not eliminating -- the adverse effects on the blood vessels. According to a study by Dr. Gary Plotnick, a cardiologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center, within three to five hours after eating a high-fat meal, the blood vessels function abnormally. For a healthy person, this is usually a minor, temporary event. For someone with coronary disease, this could cause a cardiac event, such as a heart attack or stroke.

Depression and Addiction

Researchers have linked fast food to depression. Compared to people who eat little to no fast food, people who regularly eat fast food are 51 percent more likely to develop depression, cites a March 2012 “Public Health Nutrition” article. The more fast food you eat, the greater your risk of depression becomes, the study concluded. Additionally, some research suggests -- but has not proven -- that fast food may be addictive, according to a September 2011 article in “Current Drug Abuse Reviews.”