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Fast food contribution to obesity
Fast food and its effects on obesity rates worldwide
Is fast food responsible for the percent of obese people increasing
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Is fast food to blame? Fast food restaurants advertise all their ingredients in plain sight. They provide healthy options to their more popular foods such as grilled items, skinless options, low calorie/no calorie beverages, and small portion orders. Most obese Americans are overweight because they are uneducated about the dangers of the fast food. Once they learn about eating healthy, managing overweight issues becomes more elementary. Fast food restaurants should not be the blame of American obesity because there are healthier options, self-discipline, and self responsibility for each individual. To be specific, one out of every three Americans is considered corpulate, which is 33.8 percent of America 's population. It may not seem like a lot, but the percentage of obese Americans doubles every five years. The larger portion of the obese society is the youth, who make up 19 percent out of the 33.8 percent of …show more content…
Mcdonalds admits their fried foods in particular are not very nutritious, but people tend to overlook that because they believe it is too much to read. Is the restaurant really the one to blame when they visibly reveal the nutritional value of all their food? Instead of accepting the blame for their bad choices, people find ways to overlook their personal responsibilities in making good food choices. Everyday twenty-five percent of Americans eat at fast food restaurants; therefore, it appears that self-discipline is the culprit that lacks in the United States (Hernandez). We can all agree that each of us have our own particular favorite fast food restaurant. The fast food industry has really opened up and added a variety of food that you can quickly grab on the go. This makes it hard for the average American to ignore, because everyone is looking for the quickest and simplest ways to get things done in this fast paced
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
Fast foods have been around for a long time. Each day, more a more people turn to it for a quick meal, whether it is breakfast, lunch or dinner. As fast foods begin to progress and expand throughout the world, people, especially in the United States, have started to blame fast foods for their obesity and/or health problems. But is it really the fast food companies ' fault or the customers who consume their food? David Zinczenko wrote “Don’t Blame the Eater”, which states that fast food companies should be held responsible for giving all these people unhealthy food with them not really knowing what they are eating. I absolutely agree with this article, because these companies drag customers in by making the food fast, cheap, and a mystery. Fast food restaurants should be held accountable for
He acknowledges that many people may argue that consumers need to have the willpower to avoid unhealthy food. He refutes this argument by asking, “where, exactly, are consumers -- particularly teenagers -- supposed to find alternatives? Drive down any thoroughfare in America, and I guarantee you'll see one of our country's more than 13,000 McDonald's restaurants” (Zinczenko 196). He explains that fast-food restaurants are more available than restaurants or markets that serve healthy foods. Consumers cannot be expected to avoid restaurants that are available and convenient when acceptable alternatives are scarce. This article is somewhat dated, and restaurants have become more willing to provide healthier alternatives. For example, Chick-fil-A is planning to implement a new menu item that is a healthier substitute for french fries. “The new so-called superfood side features hand-chopped kale and broccolini tossed in a maple vinaigrette dressing” (Peterson 1). They will provide accurate nutrition information for the new side dish, and the company suggests “pairing the side with an eight-count order of grilled nuggets for a healthy 280-calorie meal” (Peterson 1). This addition shows that as time progresses, fast-food restaurants are pressured to incorporate healthy meal choices on their menus. Although Zinczenko’s point that there is a lack of
...not entirely their fault. The fault rests partly on the shoulders of the parents, who make it too easy for their children to over-indulge in fast food and then blame the restaurant when their child gains weight, partly on the shoulders of the children and teenagers who eat out at these establishments multiple times a week and then do nothing to balance the junk food with some healthier snack alternatives, and partly on the shoulders of the “enablers,” who choose to place the blame solely on the fast food industry and allow these children and their families to play the victim, rather than admit that they are part of the problem. David Zinczenko was right about one thing, obesity is not just the problem of the person who is overweight. Obesity is everyone’s problem, and everyone should be thinking of ways to combat it, rather than just continue playing the blame game.
Obesity is a largely spread issue throughout America. Did you know that 35.7% of Americans are considered to be obese? Not only that, but 1 in 20 are considered to be extremely obese (The State of Obesity). These seem to be some pretty high numbers, and in many peoples lives the label of “overweight” or “obese” can cause many other issues throughout their life. Just as Anna Mae is addicted to McDonalds in the play “French Fries”, many Americans have addictions to things such as fast food chains. Are restaurants, such as McDonalds to blame for issues such as obesity in Americans? Many would argue yes.
Put that burger down? Obesity is a public epidemic because it is rising by the day. Some people are so quick to blame the fast food industry like McDonalds, Burger King, and other firms claiming that these industry aide in creating a society in which it is encouraged to eat unhealthy food. So who really is to blame? While we are busy pointing our sticky finger at restaurants, grocery stores, farmers, or government policies, we need to focus on our individual self as the main cause of this increasing epidemic.
Fast food is one of the most controversial topics; most people tend to blame fast food industries because of their obesity or a disease they got, and never hold responsibility for their own action.
Over the last three decades, fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society and has become nothing less than a revolutionary force in American life. Fast food has gained a great popularity among different age groups in different parts of the globe, becoming a favorite delicacy of both adults and children.
Is fast food to blame for more obese Americans? Fast food restaurants advertise all their ingredients in plain sight. They provide healthy options to their more popular foods such as grilled items, skinless options, low calorie/no calorie beverages, and small portion orders. Most obese Americans are overweight because they are uneducated about the dangers of fast food. Once they learn about eating healthy, managing overweight issues becomes more elementary. Fast food restaurants should not be blamed for America 's obesity issue because there are healthier options, self-discipline, and self responsibility for each individual.
...but that does not prove that fast food franchises are the culprit. I believe the people are to blame for their own obesity. A single person can single out themselves to buy the food from a restaurant knowing the proper nutrition will not be in the food. It all comes down to common knowledge and self control. Many Americans lack both of these and it has resulted in a obesity epidemic.
Is fast food to blame for the growing obesity in America? Obesity affects more than half of the population. With so many Americans gaining weight and so many health problems the matter has to be addressed. There is no one would argue that obesity, especially the children is considered a problem. In any case the cause of childhood obesity is fought about daily. Many people will say that fast food restaurants are to blame. In my research, I will explain the argument that who is to blame for the obesity in America: fast food restaurants or common laziness from the obese society.
“Are we taking it too far by blaming fast food restaurants for obesity? When is it individual responsibility and when is it appropriate to place blame?” - Midway College
Since 1980 the total number of overweight and obese Americans has doubled. The fattest state in America is Mississippi, with 1 out of every 4 people being obese. Each day approximately one out of fourteen Americans eats at a McDonald’s, and each month about nine out of ten American children visit one (Schlosser and Wilson 7). There are more than 31,000 McDonald’s selling Happy Meals in 120 countries, when in 1968 there were only about 1,000 McDonald’s that were solely located in the United States (Schlosser and Wilson 7). Due to McDonald’s excessive advertising their “Golden Arches” of the “M” are now more widely recognized than the Christian cross (Schlosser and Wilson 8). One of the most important things people buy is food and yet most people don’t think, nor care where it comes from (Schlosser and Wilson 9). Fast food is sold everywhere all across the globe. Americans spent approximately $6 billion on fast food in 1970; in 2006 they spent about $142 billion (Schlosser and Wilson 10). These number changes are astonishing and only increase by the year. What’s even more astonishing is that according to ...
Today, many people eat fast food instead of home made food. The reason is that fast food is fast, cheap and convenient. However, at the same time, fast food is contributing to a big social problem in the U.S., which is obesity, and recently some people are beginning to sue the fast food companies for causing their obesity. Should the fast food companies have responsibility for American's obesity? My answer for this argument is "No". I think that whether people eat fast food or not is an individual choice. There are many people who eat fast food, but aren't obese. They may do some exercises for burning calories, or try not to eat fast food as much as they can, caring for their health. Moreover, some fast food companies serve relatively healthy foods, such as Baja Fresh, Subway and so on. Even though people don't have enough money or time to eat except for fast food, they can choose those fast food shops. Therefore, the responsibility of obesity should be taken by obese people, though fast food companies should also take actions to decrease the number of these people by showing their food's calories, serving healthy food, and giving more choices.
McDonalds is somewhere everyone has eaten at, but do they really know what they are eating? People today trust anyone with their food in order to save time for work and other important tasks. The time spent on cooking meals in America has "fallen by half since the mid-sixties" (Pollan, "Cooked" 3). Nutrition has been put in the hands of fast food corporations around the world, and they are unfortunately concerned more about money rather than health and nutrition. In other words, the food produced by McDonalds and other fast food establishments is the unhealthiest food people can eat and often leads to serious illnesses if consumed enough.