Dialogue About Junk Food

One friend eats fast food daily; the other explains why it leaves him hungry and sleepy.

A dialogue between Adib and Samir

Adib: Samir, that is the third burger this week. Do you eat anything else?

Samir: It is quick and it is cheap. What is wrong with it?

Adib: Nothing occasionally. The trouble is that occasionally has become daily.

Samir: Everyone says junk food is bad, but nobody explains why.

Adib: It is very high in salt, sugar and fat and very low in fibre and protein, so it fills you without feeding you.

Samir: I do get hungry again quite soon after.

Adib: That is the pattern. And there is the sleepiness in the afternoon.

Samir: I had blamed the classroom for that.

Adib: Partly the classroom. But a heavy fried lunch does not help. My cousin cut it out and stopped falling asleep in the second period.

Samir: You are not going to tell me to eat only vegetables, are you?

Adib: No. Keep the burger on Friday. Just keep something in your bag for the other days — fruit, chirey, a boiled egg.

Samir: That is manageable. It is the hunger between classes that sends me to the canteen.

Adib: Then the bag solves the real problem, not the willpower.

Samir: All right. Bananas from tomorrow, and I will tell you in a fortnight whether it helped.