Fast Food & Obesity
Fast food restaurants have been a part of American Culture for well over thirty years. The convenience of speedy service, cheap prices, and the appeal to families has been some of the major highlights of fast food restaurants over the years. Furthermore, fast food from the past is much different than fast food today. According to Liz Monte of Divine Caroline magazine, In the 1970s obesity was up by 47% (today it is up 66%). Today’s burgers have gotten bigger due to the meats being injected with more chemicals and steroids, sodas have even become larger, and this is causing higher rates of heart disease, excessive weight gain, and increased rates of obesity in children and adults. (See fig.1. pg.5) Prices as well have been set to sell more products; for instance the dollar menu at McDonalds offers double cheese burgers for one dollar, which alone is between 500-550 calories. Because of the misleading nutritional facts fast food restaurants should be required to state the risk of eating excessive amounts of fast food to its customers.
Janelle Stanish from Student Pulse wrote an article called The Obesity Epidemic In America… The Responsibility of Big Food Manufactures (2010). Stanish argues that because fast food restaurants are misleading their customers by not putting all the nutritional facts on the menu that they are to blame for the rising number of people becoming obese. As seen over the year’s people are now taking these big name companies to court because of their misleading facts one case was the big name cereal company Kellogg’s, being taken to court for false advertisement of their products being healthier than others but these big food manufactures are making arguments that the consumers should be ...
... middle of paper ...
...ently which is why the Obesity epidemic has increased at a fast pace over the last thirty years, that and the tripling numbers of fast food restaurants. Today consumers have a choice of different options to not eat fast food or to eat healthier items offered at these restaurants. Thing to consider when ordering or when considering eating out as much is the way the food is handled and processed, the chemicals, and the steroids that the food is injected with. Fast Food in America has widely become a part of the American culture and if people don’t make significant changes soon the American People will continue to see: rising numbers of obesity rates, heart problems, excessive weight gain, and a list of other health issues.
Fig.1. these are pictures from Devine Caroline Magazine that show how burgers started off smaller and have gotten bigger over time. (Liz Monte)
“For someone not to know that a big mac is unhealthy is ignorance, and ignorance is not the responsibility of the fast food industry,” (Daniel Speiser). The amount of fast food joints has largely increased which has become a problem for many people throughout the United States. Several people place the blame for the rising obesity among children on the rising fast food industries due to its convenience, price, advertising, and somewhat un-nutritional content. Some people even take it as far as court to place blame on the fast food industries and for those industries to make changes to their restaurants. The high percentage of obese children in the United States is not caused by the fast food industry. The obesity epidemic has other outside influences, the fast food industries have changed dramatically, and people should take responsibility for their own consumptions. It is time for people to stop placing the blame on others and take responsibility for themselves and their actions.
Throughout the United States many American’s go through and eat at fast food places such as, McDonalds, Burger King, and Jack ‘n the Box. Mainly unaware of the amount of weight one can gain if consuming it on a daily bases or even two times week, can cause health issues, diabetes and possibly obesity. This was the main premise for writer Dave Zinczenko essay Don’t Blame the Eater, who makes an argument that many people are becoming obese and diabetic because of the fast food they eat. He asks a regarding his concern; Shouldn 't we know better than to eat two meals a day in fast-food restaurants?, As a way to engage the general public, like parents and teenagers, he expresses his argument through his own experience when he was a teenager eating at fast food places and information on the fast food industry in regards to how many calories are in the food.
Common sense seems to dictate that fast food is bad for you, however, many Americans consume fast food on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis. In “Don’t Blame the Eater,” David Zinczenko argues that fast-food companies and the food industry are to blame for America’s obesity epidemic, essentially that it is not the individuals fault for becoming obese, and that in essence, fast-food companies ought to take responsibility for the health issues induced by consuming the food. He explains how bombarded you are with unhealthy, greasy, and fattening food everywhere you look; whereas it is much more difficult to access healthy alternatives. He describes the vicious cycle of purchasing cheap ailing meals, rather
Zinczenko shares his personal story about how fast-food restaurants such as Taco Bell and McDonald’s led to a weight problem during his high-school years. He claims that the ease of accessibility and lack of healthy alternatives make it all too easy to fall into the cycle of unhealthy eating. Zinczenko also contends that the lack of nutrition labels on fast-food products leaves the consumer in the dark about what he or she is actually consuming. At the time Zinczenko wrote his article, fast-food restaurants were not willingly disclosing nutritional values of their products. Today this has changed. Fast-food companies, including McDonald’s, have put the full nutritional information of their products directly on the packaging and wrappers. All other fast-food establishments either post it on the menu board (Panera), offer easy access to pamphlets containing all nutritional information of their menu in store, or have it easily accessible online (Taco Bell, KFC). I am sure that this is a helpful step forward toward educating the public as to what they are consuming, but has this new knowledge to consumers had a dramatic change toward ending obesity? No. People have always known that eating a Big Mac and fries with the giant soft drinks that McDonald’s and other chains offer is not healthy; putting the nutritional labels on these items has done little to nothing to stop people from eating these high-calorie meals. This again leads back to the point that people as consumers need to be more accountable to themselves and stop blaming others for what they willingly choose to put in their
The obesity problem in this country has gotten worse, a lot worse, and the surge in obesity can be tied directly to fast food. I was appalled by the fact that since 1980 the number of people either fat of obese has doubled, and in that time frame there are twice as many overweight children and three times as many overweight adolescents. Looking strictly at the numbers, it is very easy to find a direct correlation between the number of overweight or obese individuals and the number of fast food establishments. However these fast food outlets are not created in a vacuum, they are servicing a demand. Each day one in four Americans visits a fast food restaurant. Our culture has evolved to one of immediate gratification, we want it convenient, and we want it now. The fast food industry has simply seized that cultural demand and has taken advantage of it all the way to the bank. I think we have a cultural weakness that looks for someone to blame for our problems and McDonalds certainly makes a nice target.
Obesity is an epidemic in America. Fast food can be compared to the same type of mindless addiction as cigarettes, and can be equally as dangerous. Not only is there a problem with fast food restaurants, but the food industry as a whole. Slaughterhouses that control 80% of the market produce meat in such a way that is not healthy for consumption, in turn the products are doused in harmful chemicals and still served to the public. No wonder the obesity rate in America is 69% and rising. Obesity is a true problem in our country- people are neglecting their health and quite literally eating themselves to death.
Best selling author of Eat This, Not That, David Zinczenko’s article “Don’t Blame the Eater,” blames the fast food industry for the growing rate of obesity in the United States. Zinczenko’s main idea is that fast food companies should have warning labels on all the food they supply. Zinczenko believes that since health labels are put on tobacco and preserved food product, fast food industries should put labels on today’s fast food. Discussions about the availability of fast food compared to healthier alternative were brought up as well. Zinczenko states that when looked at, a salad from a fast food restaurant could add up to half of someone’s daily calories (155). He believes that because of fast food, Americans are having more health risks, which includes an insane rise in diabetes. Some agree with Zinczenko saying fast food companies should be the ones responsible to show people the truth about their foods. On the other hand Radley Balko, a columnist for FoxNews.com, states that fast-food consumption ...
In the book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser writes about the fast food industry. Schlosser tells the story of J.R. Simplot, the man behind McDonald’s source for potatoes. He started his own business right out of the eighth grade, after dropping out. He started out small but eventually became one of the riches men in America. He owned then 160 acres of land to start off this business. He sold his potatoes to companies at first all natural. But he soon discovered that if you dry out the food it will keep for longer, more companies then bought from him. Then in the 1950's he found out about freezing them, and the method of frozen food. McDonald’s started buying and selling Simplot fries. The customers seemed to like it, they didn't mind the change or even realize it. As a result though from freezing the potatoes, they lost a lot of the natural flavors. Companies began cooking their food in a high percentage of animal fat to capture that flavor, but soon they switched. They traded beef fat for more chemicals. The fries flavor all depends on the chemicals, it is all fake, and there is even more saturated fat from their fries than in their burgers.
In American society’s everyday busy life, fast food is a commonly consumed meal . You can drive down a single road and often find more than five fast food chains’ restaurants. In a society where people are always “on the go,” a cheeseburger meal with a large soda is very easy to grab, and inexpensive. Although people might think it’s just a hamburger and fries, do they really know what is in the food, and how it is going to affect their bodies. Fast food has become a dangerous billion dollar industry, and it is harmful for the consumers. Those who know the dangers need to inform the others that they are taking a risk by pulling into that drive through, and putting their health on the line. Fast food is harmful for an individual’s health
Millions of American people buy fast food every day without thinking about where, how and why. The ramifications of fast food is impacting the American people both around the waist line and the community where they live at. “As the old saying goes: you are what you eat.” (Schlosser) The customer have made the choices to eat fast food or not. The industry doesn’t care about the customers; studies have shown that the fast food industry is the reason for the rise of American obesity. “Live fast and die young” (Moore); this could not be more true when looking at the impact of the fast food industry.
However, when creating fast food restaurants, the industries were not thinking about the negative effects such as obesity. Other than obesity, other harmful effects exist as well. Fast food restaurants serve unhealthy products such as greasy foods and artificial meat that lead to dietary health issues in many adults and children. A recent study showed that “Young children who are fed processed, nutrient-poor foods are likely to become unhealthy teenagers, and eventually unhealthy adults. Now twenty-three percent of teens in the U.S. are pre-diabetic or diabetic, 22% have high or borderline high LDL cholesterol levels, and 14% have hypertension or prehypertension”
For instance, in McDonald’s grilled honey mustard snack warp plus small French fries, 420 calories 24g (6.0g saturated)that could be about six dollars. When fast food chains put labels on their food like McDonalds its consumer can’t blame McDonalds for selling them unhealthy food when they could see how many calories the food contains. Even though the article “Don’t blame the eater” is outdated, fast food chains have made a change for its customer by putting websites about their nutrition and even putting the calories table on the wrappers of the burgers or other food items. Zinczenko had many valid points on what fast food chain should do about the calorie labels. Then in 2011 many fast food chains had started to put the calorie charts on their food, but in 2015 the FDA has passed the labeling requirement for a restaurant which also go’s for retail food establishment and vending machines. So when it comes to people over eating it’s on them for not looking at the labels on the food. But it could also be that the food of the fast food is so cheap that people don’t care what is in their food and how bad the food is for them. Even if the families see how badly the food is they could still make an effort to exercise and balances how they
Obesity is a big social issue in America. Due to the popularity of fast food and other unhealthy foods, more and more Americans are developing health diseases and disorders. We should be getting the correct daily nutrition amount, but because of our fast paced lifestyles we sometimes do not have enough time. Fast food restaurants make it possible to grab a meal and go. We often do not pay attention to the nutrition amount, but are simply looking for a quick bite to eat that will fulfill our hunger. Fast food is assisting in the increase of obesity in America (“Phrase” par.2).
We are facing a big problem that will make our life more miserable. We are eating junk food constantly that is bad for our health. Many people eat junk food because they think it’s cheap and faster or some people do not like to cook their own food. “Don’t Blame the Eater” by David Zinczenko. This article is talking about how fast food is making us eat bad because of their fast service and cheap prices. People tends to choose fast food instead of cooking a healthy meal. It is easy for teenagers to gain weight by eating fast food meals. Zinczenko also argues about the absence of nutrition information about the food. I agree with Zinczenko. However, Zinczenko could also have examined the issue of fast food advertisements, mention some benefits
Fast food in the past 50-60 years has had a major impact on American Culture, and it still has that same impact in present America. It is safe to say that fast food has become an outlet as far as Americans diets are concerned. It, in some cases, has taken over some lives, as some Americans eat fast food on a daily basis. Since the fast food industry has been growing dramatically in the past couple of decades, America as a whole has suffered some setbacks as it pertains to Health and a stable lifestyle. One of those fatty foods that is popular in American Culture is Hamburgers. The first hamburger that was made came in the early 20th century. Hamburgers started to become popular in the 1950s-1960s, due to the fact that as American lifestyles were changing rapidly, and Americans did not have the time to make meals at their home. Hamburger has become one of the most popular foods today in America.