How are Americans supposed to eat healthy when they don 't have time to cook for themselves? It is no wonder that our nation has the majority of people eating fast food as standard diet. This should be a driving force for food production industries to focus more on quality and impact on the earth and our health, rather than making cheaper, higher calorie, higher sugar processed products.…
Obesity is perhaps one of the biggest problems society faces today, people are asking the question: Who is to blame? Fast food, while a major contributor, but it is not the only cause of the obesity epidemic in America. In particular, food producers that supply the high calorie, minimally nutritious, and highly processed foods that dominate our market must be examined. Although the external factors are important, it is more important for American citizens to educate themselves to make more informed individual decisions.…
America’s obesity can be an argument that has many sides to it. The one that is the most straightforward and logical is that us as americans are bringing this upon ourselves. We know the kinds of foods that are good and healthy along with the foods that are bad, fattening, and unhealthy. We try to blame fast food restaurants and grocery stores for serving us foods that are unhealthy. In reality, we know. We try to blame those companies because we don’t want to blame ourselves. As much as we are told what is good and bad for our bodies, we tend to ignore that and keep eating those unhealthy products. America is blaming the fast food industry for obesity, when in reality, it comes down…
America is one of the richest, most technologically advanced and powerful country in the world, but it is also known as home to the most obese population in the world. It is because of the environment that is filled with fast food stores. As David Zinczenko says in his essay “Don’t Blame the Eater”, “Drive down any thoroughfare in America, and I guarantee you’ll see one of our country’s more than 13,000 McDonald’s restaurants. Now, Drive back up the block and try to find someplace to buy a grapefruit.” (p392). Paraphrasing this quote, it says how easy to get fast food and how hard to find fresh food in the same place. Now, fast food is almost unavoidable. Regulating advertisements to include warning labels about…
The fast food industry is not the only cause for obesity. One can buy this unhealthy food in abundance at pretty much any store that sells groceries. Even the public school systems provide this food to kids. Spurlock says that “[m]any lower-income kids depend on the federally funded National School Lunch Program for their primary hot meal of the day – and get basically the same high-fat, low-nutrition food dumped on them there as they’d get at a fast food joint” (26). Even though this problem is still prevalent, over the past few years the government has…
How important is the food that the averages person puts into their bodies every day? Eating is a way of making peace, passing the time, sharing friendships, and having a communion. The narrator of Food Inc points out that, “The way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000” (2008). How has it changed? Americans have gone from eating hunter-gatherer style organic greens and fruits, to severely processed sugars, carbohydrates, and high protein meats. Most Americans eat something similar to a “chicken and pasta” diet nowadays. This may not be bad, but is this “new” food really better for us than what people ate 50 and 100 years ago? Organic foods are substances that are produced using ways that do not involve modern unneeded synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Organic foods are also not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives (dictionary). Convenience food, or tertiary processed food, is commercially prepared food designed for ease of buying and consuming. Products designated as “convenience or processed foods” are often prepared so they can be sold as hot, ready-to-serve plates; as room-temperature, long lasting shelf life products; or as refrigerated or frozen products that require minimal preparation (usually just microwaving). There are studies that show that the food people consume on a daily basis…
It is no secret that an increasing amount of Americans are gaining weight and much of this blame is put on fast food establishments such as McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, and Krystal’s, to name a few. According to Warren Belasco and Philip Scranton (2002), “The increasing consumption of convenience foods is an international trend influenced by changing lifestyles” (p. 3) From a superficial perspective, this doesn’t seem like much of a problem. However, Robert Jeffery and Simone French (1998), authors of the article Epidemic Obesity in the United States: Are Fast Food and Television Viewing Contributing? assert that “Obesity is an important public health problem that, in recent years, has reached epidemic proportions” (p. 277). In fact, some are calling the problem the “obesity epidemic.” Several lawsuits against fast food establishments have been filed by those who are overweight. It’s a serious problem, one that cannot be ignored. Before anyone assumes that it’s just the United States, think again. With the increasing number of fast food establishments in countries other than the United States, such as China, Japan, and Brazil, so are obesity rates.…
“Our instincts are designed for the African savannah, not for the food court. The sugary and fatty foods for which we are programmed to forage were once scarce. Now they’re as close as the vending machine down the hall.” The food that these fast food chains offer us are obviously not healthy. Their burgers drip with grease the fries covered in salt. We can see this as we put it in our mouth but we don’t care. What will make us as Americans start…
You walk into a fast food restaurant - let’s say McDonalds for example – and you order yourself a salad. You made the conscious decision on ordering that salad because you wanted to eat something that was considered healthy instead of the order of large fries that were calling your name. In Eric Schlosser’s book, “Fast food nation”, and Mark Bittman’s TED Talk: “What’s wrong with what we eat”, the issue of overeating is brought up and a question arises. We must eat to survive and we enjoy eating food that tastes good, but what happens when the world begins eating too much and we stop cooking just to get that quick cheap meal?…
Some believe that while reasons of obesity are obvious due to the excessive amount of fast food restaurants surrounding us that it is the manufactures fault for the constant weight gain in America today but they fail to realize that it is not the food manufactures who force us to consume their food. People tend to blame the manufactures for the health issues today in America, but obesity is not something that needs to be addressed as a nation, it is more of a personal problem, food manufactures have not changed much throughout the years besides boosting their prices, and fast food branches may hand out toys and other objects that would appeal to adolescents but that does not put them at fault for the individuals who consume their food.…
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, approximately one-third of Americans are obese. There are several culprits to this alarming increase such as lack of exercise, failure to research nutrition information, and modality of convenience. Author of the book, “Fast Food Nation”, Eric Schlosser states the expenditure on fast food annually by Americans, has increased from six billion to 110 billion dollars in the span of approximately three decades. Schlosser correlates the increase of consumption to increase of Americans becoming obese. As mentioned earlier, fast food availability is only one aspect of the poor health epidemic. There are not enough valid grounds to prove the increase of obesity and diseases such as diabetes. The employees of the tobacco industry are not slipping cigarettes into the pockets of civilians forcibly. Similarly, these fast food corporations despite their sophisticated marketing are not completely directing individuals to consume their foods. Individuals have the freedom of choice and should be aware that their choices may lead to…
It’s hard to walk into a grocery store and not notice a certain new kind of trend. There is a growing urge to have more organic items on shelves. The general belief is that organic items tend to be better for the consumer and the environment when compared to non-organic items. Although many people cant tell the difference, there are multiple pros and cons between organic and nonorganic.…
Obesity has become an outbreak that is encompassing all over the United States these days; it is affecting both adults and children. The marketing of fast food has gained its power and has used its magic to assist the climbing rate of obesity, with many Americans often eating at fast food establishments. Fast food availability has increased tremendously and the decrease of many Americans preparing their own nutritious meals at home; it is evident that many people are choosing to eat at fast food restaurants on a routinely basis. Many suggest that to help fight obesity, fast food chains should offer a healthier menu for consumers and should be prohibited from marketing to children. Fast food restaurants market to children because it is the easiest way to get consumers through the door; with children not being educated enough about nutrition. It makes it easier for children to be obsessed with the urge for fast food as a daily diet. Obesity puts you at greater risk of developing high blood pressure, diabetes and many other serious health problems (Obesity, 2007). Obesity has developed into an extreme dietary disarray and the main motive is generally fast food.…
America its time to wake up and smell the coffee, we are getting fatter and fatter each day and for the first time the blame is not solely put on us. The blame is on the fast food restaurants. We are getting fat and not really knowing about it. The fast food restaurants are making money off of our disability, which is not being able to stop eating their delicious food. It is so addicting but the main ones who are making trillions off of us are the McDonald’s business people. Everyone knows that McDonalds has the best fast food around over any other restaurant. We’ve grown up on their food and they have been around for decades. We have continuously eaten their food and not knowing that in the long run it will cause us serious health problems even though they portray their food as being healthy. Even their healthy food is not really healthy. They just say that so people that are on diets will want to go there and buy their food. A bacon ranch salad has as much fat in it as 3 cheeseburgers, and their dressings they have are not as low fat as they say there are. They have been lying to America for years and we as dumb Americans as we are believe them.…
Junk food. Do any of us know the meaning of the term? Do the consequences of developing lethal diseases not concern us? Apparently, today's society is well aware of what it is, (food with a low nutrition value and is usually processed or ready-prepared (Junk Food)) and what it can do, yet they prefer not to have truth repeatedly slapped in their face by the media. The way I see it, that's exactly what these individuals are asking for. They say diets are productive, but it's based off of self-encouragement which can only take you so far. According to an article composed by William Dietz, Obesity is a matter of personal responsibility. Poor dietary decisions cost individuals the expansion of their waist lines. What many do not realize is that as they continue to visit fast food restaurants for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, they develop an addiction. Sooner or later, they find themselves wrapped around junk food's salty fingers and haven't bothered to notice that they no longer can see their toes standing upright. Higher taxes should be imposed on processed goods because it could lower death rates and medical bills that tie into obesity, encourage the consumption of healthy products, and educate American's about adapting correct eating habits.…