Why is eating out not good for you?

In our lives, food is not just a source of energy; it is a way to enjoy life. Whether it's a family get-together, hanging out with friends, a birthday, or an anniversary celebration, food is always the center of attraction. So, it is not just limited to nutrition; our happiness is attached to it.

Factors such as financial independence, a busy schedule, or simply the love of tasty food have influenced our eating habits. We are dining out more or ordering food from the food delivery apps.

Most of the time, eating out involves unhealthy, high-calorie foods or deep-fried options. Even the so-called healthy foods from the restaurants are not so healthy and contain ingredients that can harm your health.

In this article, we will discuss the hidden, harmful ingredients in restaurant foods and why eating out regularly can make you ill.

1. High in calories

Foods from restaurants are often high in calories due to the excessive use of oil, sugar, butter, and cheese, which are used to make the food more appealing and tastier.

Restaurants prioritize taste and profits over nutrition. Many restaurants prefer deep frying, as it saves time and enhances the taste. Deep frying makes the food absorb more oil and increases its calorie content.

Whether it's a pizza, pasta, or burger, the restaurant puts a generous amount of cheese and creamy sauces to make it taste and look good.

Even so-called healthy foods outside are loaded with hidden calories in the form of condiments, sugar, and dressings.

Restaurants often serve large portions for marketing and customer satisfaction. Due to which the person overeats and consumes more calories than required.

Eating calorie-dense foods regularly can cause weight gain and obesity. You can prepare the restaurant dishes at home with less use of oils and fats. By simply replacing the deep-fried foods with shallow-fried foods, you can lower a significant amount of calories.

2. Excessive Sugar

The restaurant uses sugar in almost every dish, even in the savory ones, for a better taste. Sugar, when used with salt, balances the flavor and enhances the taste.

Restaurants use sugar to increase the shelf life of the food. Sugar acts as a preservative, slowing down the growth of bacteria.

Sugar is extensively used in breads and pastries to get the softness. It also gives ice creams a smooth texture. Lots of ketchups, barbecue sauces, and salad dressings are high in sugar.

Soft drinks and packaged fruit juices contain excessive amounts of natural and added sugar, which is harmful to health.

Sugar is addictive and releases dopamine in the mind, which creates a sense of pleasure. That's why people get addicted to restaurant food.

Eating out unknowingly increases your sugar intake, which can cause type 2 diabetes, obesity, and liver, heart, and kidney disease.

3. Harmful saturated and trans Fats

Restaurants generously use harmful saturated and trans fats to enhance the taste and texture of the food. Most commonly used oils, such as palm oil and coconut oil, are high in saturated fats.

Both palm and coconut oil have a high smoke point, which makes them preferable for restaurants for deep frying. Additionally, palm oil is relatively inexpensive and has a long shelf life, which is why restaurants often prefer it.

Margarine and vegetable shortening contain trans fats. They are used in many bakery products for the desired texture and flakiness.

Foods like burgers, cheese, pasta, etc., are rich in butter, cheese, and mayonnaise, which contain saturated fats.

Excessive saturated and trans fats in the body can cause weight gain, type 2 diabetes, increased triglycerides and LDL (bad cholesterol), and a higher risk of heart disease.

4. Bad Hygiene

Most restaurants and eating outlets fail to maintain proper hygiene, which can be detrimental to one's health.

Bad hygiene can be due to several reasons, such as a lack of cleanliness in the kitchen area, dirty utensils, not using gloves and masks while cooking, unsanitized staff, not properly cleaning raw food ingredients, and improper handling of cooked food.

Poor hygiene increases the risk of hazardous bacteria, viruses, and parasites in the food, causing food poisoning, vomiting, diarrhea, and other digestive issues.

5. High in Sodium

Restaurant foods often use a high amount of salt to enhance the taste and texture of the food, which increases the sodium intake.

Use of salt increases the shelf life, as it acts as a preservative. It reduces the water content in the food, slowing down the growth of bacteria.

The sodium serves many purposes, as it not only adds saltiness, reduces bitterness, enhances sweetness, and balances the food's flavor.

Additionally, pickles and various sauces, such as soy sauce, tomato and chili sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, and barbecue sauce, are high in sodium.

Eating out regularly can make your taste buds accustomed to high sodium, so that home-cooked food tastes bland and unappealing.

Regularly consuming salty and high-sodium foods increases the risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and kidney disease.

6. Presence of Artificial dyes

Many restaurants and bakeries use artificial dyes to enhance the color of their food, making it more visually appealing. You can find artificial dyes in salad dressings, pickles, ice creams, cakes, cookies, muffins, and tomato and barbecue sauces.

Studies have shown that artificial dyes are harmful to health and can cause anxiety, mood swings, and loss of memory and concentration. They may also cause allergic reactions and hyperactivity in children. Certain food dyes increase the risk of cancer.

7. Use of Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

The sodium salt of L-glutamic acid, commonly known as Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), is a flavor enhancer. It contains around one-third of the sodium found in table salt. MSG is an odorless white crystalline powder made by fermenting sugar beets, sugar cane, or corn.

MSG activates the umami taste receptors on the tongue, which provides the rich, meaty, and savory flavor to the food. It enhances food palatability, increases appetite, and provides post-meal satiety.

MSG is generally considered to be present in Chinese foods like fried rice, broths, and instant noodles. However, it is also used in foods like fried chicken, chips, frozen pizzas, and processed meats. Many ketchups, mayonnaise, soy, and barbecue sauce contain MSG. Restaurants use MSG to enhance the flavor of the dish without adding extra salt.

However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers the use of MSG safe, but some people may have allergic reactions like headache, weakness, and difficulty breathing. Some recent studies suggest that consuming excessive MSG for a long period can cause obesity, bad gut health, diabetes, high blood pressure, and increase the risk of cancer.

8. Use of Processed Foods

Restaurants rampantly use processed foods like refined flour, canned vegetables, salami, sausages, pepperoni, and frozen meals to enhance the flavor and texture of the food; also, processed foods have a higher shelf life than fresh foods, so it helps restaurants to reduce wastage, maintain supply chain, and reduce the cooking time.

Processed foods are loaded with sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats. Excessive consumption can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease.

Processed meat, like bacon, ham, and sausages, contains harmful preservatives such as nitrites and nitrates that may increase the risk of cancer.

It is better to cook at home with fresh meat and vegetables. Even when dining out, ensure the restaurant uses fresh products and avoid processed foods whenever possible.

9. Use of Artificial Sweeteners

Many restaurants use artificial sweeteners like sucralose, aspartame, and saccharin to enhance the sweetness without increasing the calories and promote their food as sugar-free and suitable for people with diabetes.

The body doesn't metabolize artificial sweeteners in the same way as sugar and can't break them down into calories. Thus, artificial sweeteners provide negligible calories.

Many artificial sweeteners, like neotame and advantame, are many thousands of times sweeter than white sugar.

Artificial sweeteners are frequently used in sugar-free beverages, cakes, baked goods, low-calorie drinks, sauces, and ketchups.

Excessive consumption of artificial sweeteners may increase appetite, cause weight gain, raise insulin resistance, and increase the risk of heart disease.

10. Lack of Nutrients

Restaurants prioritize profits and taste over nutrition. So, the restaurant's food is often low in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants.

The use of low-quality ingredients, excessive cooking, and deep-frying also decreases the nutritional value of the food.

Restaurant food is generally unbalanced in nutrition; its long-term consumption may lead to nutritional deficiencies and cause weak digestion, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and weak immunity.

11. Unsafe Storage

Cooked food, if not properly stored, can become contaminated with rodents, flies, and insects, which can have a detrimental effect on health.

Some restaurant staff are not trained to store food safely, which can degrade the quality of the food. Uncovered, loose, and unsealed food storage containers increase the risk of contamination.

Many eating outlets often use low-quality plastic containers and boxes for storing and packaging hot food, releasing harmful chemicals like BPA (Bisphenol-A), BPS (Bisphenol-S), Styrene, and Phthalates in the food. These chemicals can cause hormonal instability, infertility, and increase the risk of cancer.

Even minor carelessness of restaurant staff, such as Improper freezing of deep frozen foods and prolonged lying of cooked food in the open during hot summers, quickly stales the food.

12. Impure Cooking Water

Several water-borne diseases like typhoid, cholera, dysentery, and liver diseases are caused due to the ingestion of impure water.

Restaurants often don't pay attention to the purity of cooking water, assuming that high temperature can eradicate bacteria. However, some bacteria can withstand high temperatures and are not destroyed while cooking, which can cause diseases and infections.