While no single, specific food causes type 2 diabetes, regularly eating fast foods that are high in fat or sugar can make you gain weight, increasing your chances of developing the disease. Diabetes changes the way your body processes carbohydrates. Eating a lot of fast foods that are heavier in starch than fiber --- such as burger buns, flour tortillas, biscuits, rolls, muffins and breading --- can trigger blood sugar imbalances in people who already have diabetes or hasten the onset of the disease.
Tacos
With all their veggies, tacos seem like healthy fast foods, but they have some of the highest calories of any entrees, and a high proportion of fat. The Federal Drug Adminstration sets your daily allowance for total fat at 65 g, and according to the USDA Nutrient Database, a large fast-food taco contains 32 g. If you add a fried side order or dessert, you can hit your daily limit in one meal.
A similar threat attends the taco calorie count. The 571 calories in a single food item can make you exceed the average of 2,000 calories for the day. If you don't work it all off, you'll store the excess as fat and become heavier. A large taco has 41 g of total carbohydrates.
Burgers
The fat and calories in large hamburgers and cheeseburgers can cause weight gain and raise your diabetes risk, especially if you order fatty double-patty sandwiches and bacon or avocado extras. A large double-patty hamburger delivers 27 g of fat in 540 calories, as well as 40 g of carbs. The American Diabetes Association recommends ordering single regular hamburgers or cheeseburgers --- the only fast-food burgers that have about 300 calories or less.
Fries
Portion sizes directly affect how much fat you'll get in an order of french fries. Routine super-sizing doubles your chances of weight gain, from the 14 g of fat and 271 calories in a small order of fries to the 28 g of fat and 539 calories in a large order, as per the USDA. Adding mayonnaise-based dipping sauces, cheese or chili toppings can send those totals through the roof, and raise your risk for type 2 diabetes. A large order of fries has 63 g of carbs.
Shakes
Milkshakes add up to 62 g of sugar to 63 g of carbs and 22 g of fat, per 16-oz. serving, producing a serious threat to weight control and diabetes risk. The FDA doesn't set a recommendation for sugar intake, instead advising as limited consumption as possible. Milkshakes contain nearly twice the sugar of regular soda drinks and, at 493 calories, more than triple the soda calorie count.
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