Hash browns for breakfast, double-patty cheeseburgers for mid-morning snacks, a large helping of fries and supersize double everything burger for lunch, chocolate sundae and float for afternoon snacks and hotdogs with all the sidings for supper. Don't forget the late night bacon and cheese pizza for after dinner. And everything must come with the largest soda available. Ah! This is the fast food life. Delicious, absolutely mouth-watering and leaving you wanting more.

As you continue to indulge your taste buds, fats slowly and insidiously creep into your midsection, lying there in comfortable sleep. Fat deposits build up in your arterial walls until one night in the middle of your comfortable life as a couch potato watching your favorite television show, you feel the shortness of your breath and tightness in your chest, then you begin to see stars and black dots and pretty soon, that sharp searing pain that threatens to rip your heart apart. You grip your chest and had the presence of mind to call 911 before passing out. The next morning you find yourself talking with your doctor as he grimly informs you of the need for a heart surgery of some sort that you just can't digest. After all, you're only 25 and in the prime of your life.

Our reliance on fast food has become a matter of national concern. As obese Americans continue to grow by the numbers with more coming from the young adult population, it becomes imperative that we start the campaign to wean the fast food addict that have slowly crept into each of us. But because it's food, we don't consider it addiction. After all, food nourishes the body, right? Not all kinds of food.

Food stuffs that are rich in nothing but sodium, preservatives and additives serve to poison our own bodies. But because they are delicious, we are tricked into believing that they are good for us. It's our sad plight that we have become a nation of fast food addicts and don't even recognize this malady that has hit us.

When we say fast food addicts, we do mean those of us who rely on processed fare morning, noon and night. No, we're not out to declare war against all fast food establishments and we're not quick to condemn them either. We put the focus on the individual and his or her lack of restraint in indulging in these conveniences. A family day to treat the kids out to their fast food place is certainly acceptable. But when individuals begin to treat it as their dining room then that becomes a cause for concern.

If you know of a friend or relative who fits this description, he or she definitely needs your help. Like any form of addiction that can be difficult to get rid off, the fast food addict needs all the moral and emotional support he or she can get to get back on the road to good health. In most of these cases, psychological intervention is even necessary. If you yourself is a fast food junkie, then you need to seek help before those fats that are now deposited in your midsection starts off a chain of inflammatory processes that will ultimately end in the scenario described above. In some cases, you don't end up facing the doctor but a man with a rooster. That's when you'll know just how addicted you have become. And by then, it's already too late to make any changes.