TOEFL® essay: Food has become easier to prepare

[Sara Ibt]

Nowadays specially in modern societies people spend less time in preparing food. In fact they spare this time to catch up with the increasingly rapid pace of urban modern life. These kinds of foods are mostly fast foods or processed food, considered as junk foods sometimes. They are readily available, easier to make and less expensive compared to traditional meals and organic foods. However, I believe this change has not improved the way people live mostly due to health issues.
First of all these kinds of easy-to-make foods usualy contains high amount of calories and the ingredients are mostly artificial or unhealthy for example they may consist of refined sugar, white flour and salt and spices. Their good taste might lead people to overeat them with the aftermath of obesity. This is not only makes your body out of shape, but also it contributes to cardiovascular diseases which is the leading cause of death in the developed countries.
Besides the process by which these foods are prepared can sometimes lead to development of carcinogen substances in them. For example barbecued meat or canned foods may contain such materials in trace amounts. The long term frequent use of such foods may trigger various kinds of cancer. Indeed it has been proven that the rate of colon cancer in western societies is higher due to their special high protein, low fiber diet.
Last but not least these popular foods makes people less self-aware of the nutrients they need and can result in malnutrition due to defect in vitamins and essential minerals which are not usualy available in these sort of foods.
To conclude, these easy-to-prepare fast foods can make the life easier, but definitely not healthier due to the problem they cause in regard to obesity, heart diseases, cancer and malnutrition (defect in vitamins and minerals). According to a German proverb character of a person reflected on what s/he eats. Therefore, chosing the right food is very crucial in maintaing a good health status which can not be guaranteed by using fast foods.