If you live or work in an area where nutritious food is hard to come by, diet-related problems may affect your short- and long-term health. Vending machines, fast-food restaurants and convenience stores tend to offer limited menus that are high in sugar, fat and sodium and have less vitamins, minerals and fiber. This nutrient imbalance, typical of a diet with many refined grains, sweets, fatty meats and salty snacks, can cause you to develop metabolic syndrome, a collection of health conditions that raises your risk for serious chronic diseases.
High-Blood Pressure
When you don't eat enough fresh fruits and vegetables, you may fall back on frozen dinners, canned foods and snacks that are high in sodium, which comes mainly from salt. Any food with a sodium content of 20 percent of daily value is excessive, according to the the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Foods such as submarine sandwiches, hot dogs, tacos, frozen chicken pot pies, pretzels and many canned soups meet this unhealthy criterion. High-blood pressure increases your chance of developing additional heart disease symptoms.
Arterial Plaque
If you can't get healthy protein foods such as fish, beans and lean meats, you may exceed safe limits on saturated fat and cholesterol. This can cause plaque buildup in your arteries. Fast-food burgers and convenience-store fried foods especially contribute to this unhealthy condition. The American Heart Association says that bleeding, clotting, heart attacks and strokes are potential consequences of long-term high intakes of fat and cholesterol.
Elevated Blood Sugar
Refined-grain foods such as cakes, cookies, muffins and other items made with white flour and added sugars and other foods such as potatoes and white rice cause your blood sugar to rise swiftly and then drop. If you eat a lot of these or fast-food meals because you don't have access to healthy foods, you may be getting too much sugar and not enough fiber. Your body may lose the ability to use insulin to regulate your blood sugar, causing you to develop type 2 diabetes.
Weight Gain
Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat protein and calcium foods help you control your weight, as they satisfy your nutritional needs. Getting too much fat and sugar can make you gain weight while creating deficiencies in important vitamins and minerals. You may experience these health issues from frequently eating hot dogs instead of baked fish or drinking sodas instead of low-fat milk, for instance. The Office of the Surgeon General reports that becoming overweight raises your risk of developing breathing problems, arthritis and gall bladder disease, as well as heart disease, diabetes and some types of cancer.
References
- National Institutes of Health: Metabolic Syndrome; April 2011
- FDA: Choosing Healthful Foods Using the Nutrition Facts on the Food Label; January 2011
- National Institutes of Health: High Blood Pressure; April 2011
- American Heart Association: Atherosclerosis; January 2011
- Office of the Surgeon General: Overweight Consequences; January 2007
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