10 Reasons Why Frequent Dining Out Can Harm Your Body

The next time you order a burger or a pasta from your favourite fast food restaurant or are planning a dinner with your friends outside, you must know that it will cost your health. According to researchers, dining out more often at restaurants, cafeterias and fast food joints will boost health-harming chemicals called 'phthalates' in the body. In this article, we will be discussing about why frequent dining out can harm your body.

Phthalates is a group of chemicals which is used in food packaging and processing materials. These chemicals are known to disrupt hormones in humans and are linked to a long list of health problems.

Researchers have taken the data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and published it in the journal Environmental International. The study found out that the association between phthalate exposure and dining out was significant for all age groups. But the exposure was highest among the teenagers.

The study also threw a light on the sandwiches consumed at fast food outlets, cafeterias or restaurants that is associated with 30 percent higher phthalate levels in all age groups.

Read on to know more about the reasons on why frequent dining out can harm your body.

1. It Is Less Hygienic

One of the worst nightmares for customers after eating at restaurants is having food poisoning. The presence of cockroaches, rats and flies are sure signs of an unhealthy environment in a food joint. The biggest problem with eating outside is that it is less hygienic and often people get sick after eating out. Because the kind of hygiene which one maintains at home cannot be replicated anywhere outside.

2. Not A Healthy Lifestyle

Although many restaurants and food joints are offering more nutritious food options these days, the choices are often restricted. Most of the foods that are served in restaurants contain lot of calories and fats. These can be detrimental to your health if they are consumed on a regular basis. If you eat at home, you can opt for your own low-fat and low-calorie ingredients to prepare your meals.

3. Know What You Are Eating

Another disadvantage of dining out is that you can't keep a track of what you are eating. While you are consuming the meats and vegetables, you may not know what ingredients go into the sauces and seasoning for preparing the meals. Also, sometimes chefs can make mistakes, and they accidentally may add some things that they should not into your food.
Preparing your own food at home will let you know exactly what you are eating.

4. Taste and Quality

When it comes to taste and quality of food, eating outside may not be the best option. As only a few restaurants focus and maintain on the nutritional contents of the food. Another disadvantage with eating outside is that there is no surety whether one will get a quality food in a restaurant or not. Hence, even after paying so much money, you do not get the right quality of food.

5. There Are More Temptations

If you eat out, then you will be tempted to order more food than you would be eating at home. You'll be more tempted to order a glass of wine, and are far more likely to order a sweet pudding. You are eating out and already spending money, and it will be presented to you as an option. You will have no choice and be far more likely to make poor diet decisions.

6. You Don't Control Quantities

Another reason of frequent dining out, which can harm your body is that you end up eating much bigger plate full of things. This is because you will get bigger portions of food particularly for dessert and full courses. At home, you can have a small dinner or have smaller snacks if you're not that hungry. Having just a small chocolate is preferable than eating a huge cake.

7. It's Expensive

Frequently dining out is always going to be more expensive than eating at home. The reason is that eating out means you are paying for the service, and for the effort of cooking. If you cook for yourself, you buy ingredients for yourself and you can get a lot of use out of these ingredients. Also, you will save the cost of having drinks at home.

8. Not All Meals Are Cooked Properly

Unhealthy foods like pizza, deep-fried foods, frozen hamburgers, etc., might not be cooked properly in fast-food joints. The oil, cheese or any other ingredient that they use might be many days old. This is another reason why frequent dining out can cause serious damage to health.

Since restaurant food has different priorities, they want to make something irresistibly tasty before thinking how healthy it is, most of the time.

9. Not Being Cautious

In a restaurant or a fast food joint, the food passes through so many hands, from how they were harvested, and often prepared before eating. While cooking, if a person is sneezing or suffering with an illness, it can make the food contaminated. Not knowing any of these things is what leads to mystery illnesses and diseases.

10. Serving Plates Might Not Be Clean

This is another reason why you shouldn't frequently dine out. Compared to your home utensils, there's a vast difference whether the plate, utensils, a couple of napkins, and cutlery in restaurants are clean or not. All this makes a huge addition towards harming your health.

Share this article!

If you liked reading this article, share it with your loved ones.

10 Different Healthy Ways To Eat Apples