Fast Food Consumption: Driving Obesity in America?

“Americans now spend more money on fast food than on college education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, and recorded music-combined.” (Chew On This, Eric Schlosser & Charles Wilson) Academia debates about the affair of the cause of obesity in America because present day Americans spend more money on fast food than their hobbies, cars and education. By examining primary and secondary sources, manifestation can be overseen whether or not the consumer or fast-food industry is responsible for obesity in America. Food editor J.M. Hirsch, reports for CBS News, “It's not the industry's fault that people don't get exercise, or that schools have cut physical

For instance, J.M. Hirsch states, “Ellen Van Gelder, an obese 41-year-old healthcare worker from Concord, N.H., doesn't need a lawsuit to make her diagnosis. Though she disapproves of many of the food industry's marketing methods and wishes food companies would make it easier to eat healthier, ultimate responsibility for her weight is her own, she says. I would love to blame somebody else. The reality is it's each person's responsibility," says Van Gelder, who has battled her weight her entire life. "You put the food on your plate. You choose whether to eat it.”’ Ellen Van Gelder, an average obese woman, indicates that the blame for her obesity is herself because the individual chooses whether or not they will eat what they put on their plate. “Something is off, though.” Chris Weller remarked of a recent survey, “If nine in 10 put the responsibility on ourselves, and three in 10 are obese, that means that some of the respondents are obese. And extrapolated for the entire country, huge chunks of the population are blaming themselves, essentially, for their own obesity.” The nation is blaming themselves about obesity in America, because it is their choice to eat the food on their plate. There are also the factors of how it is the consumer’s choice and how their choice makes the country overweight. Well most kids will pick the sugar (unhealthy) over healthy foods. Samantha Olson writes for Medical Daily examining Lustig’s research, ‘“A calorie is not a calorie,” Lustig said, explaining the common misconception that all calories are created equal. “Where those calories come from determines where in the body they go. Sugar calories are the worst, because they turn to fat in the liver, driving insulin resistance, and driving risk for diabetes, heart, and liver disease.” There is a huge difference between sugar calories and a regular calorie. Sugar calories