Fast food is killing Americans Why is fast food not good for the American population? Fast food refers to food that can be prepared and served within a short time period. Fast food has been really popular because they serve cheap food that taste good and also doesn't cost much money. But most often, the food contains cheaper ingredients with high cholesterol that contain a lot of fat instead of nutritious ingredients with low fat. A majority of Americans today consume fast food. According to a new study School of Medical Sciences at Australia’s University of New South Wales, junk food can alter behavior by causing lasting changes in the brain’s reward circuiting; an alteration that triggers obesity. As reported in an article by daily beast, “Every year, at least 310,000 Americans go to an early grave and many more are sickened because of largely preventable diet-related conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, strokes, and some cancers”(Warner, 2013). The American diet over the last century, has undergone unprecedented change. Most percentage of the calories Americans eat now are made from highly processed food with a lot of calories from fat. This goes to say that Americans should eliminate the continuous consumption of fast food …show more content…
It has been found that depression affects closely to one hundred and twenty one million people world wide. Researches have linked depression to fast food eating habits. People who eat fast food compare to people who do not are more likely to have depression. “Even eating smaller quantities is linkd to a significant higher chance of developing depression”, as the researchers point out. And also, some research suggests that fast food may be addictive. According to a September 2011 article in “Current Drug Abuse Reviews", people who eat fast food turn to show a more addictive behavior towards the consumption of these
Fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society. Everywhere you turn you can see a fast food restaurant. An industry that modestly began with very few hot dog and hamburger vendors now has become a multi-international industry selling its products to paying customers. Fast food can be found anywhere imaginable. Fast food is now served at restaurants and drive-through, at stadiums, airports, schools all over the nation. Surprisingly fast food can even be found at hospital cafeterias. In the past, people in the United States used to eat healthier and prepared food with their families. Today, many young people prefer to eat fast food such as high fat hamburgers, French-fries, fried chicken, or pizza in fast
What is happening to our economy is that so many people are going to these fast food restaurants because they are basically on just about every corner. So, for adults that makes it easy if they didn’t have anything planned for dinner because they can just pick something up from the local fast food restaurant on their way home from work. Also, it is very cheap. For example, a bundle at McDonald’s can feed up to four people at one time and it only costs about fifteen dollars! So, in the long run, it is just easier to go pick up some fast food rather than wasting your time cooking an actual meal. Lastly, even though fast food is very cheap and on every corner, it is not healthy at all. Studies have proven that a person that ate McDonald’s for his meals for a full month ended up having some serious health changes. In conclusion, even though it is very easy to access and very cheap, fast food has some serious health issues and be very harmful.
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.
The Western Diet mainly consists of fried foods, refined grains, sugar, high carbohydrate and fats, and meats (3). It has been hypothesized that having a Western Diet increases one’s chances for developing depression. There has been a great deal of research into why the western diet increase’s one chance of having depression. A common sense reason maybe that the Western Diet consisted of large amounts carbohydrates, fats and sugars which promotes obesity and then causes depression (1). More scientific evidence suggest that having a improper diet like the Western Diet negatively affects peripheral and central dopamine, which are neurotransmitters (chemical which transmit signals across the synapse from the nerve cell to the target cell) directly linked to the mental health of the brain and are negatively affected by high fat diets (4). Research has also suggested that having a poor nutrition status such as lacking folate (a natural water form of vitamin bg which is crucial for many of the bodies processes) and key vitamins like vitamin b12 significantly increases the risk of depression in elderly people (5). Research into the topic of dietary habits and mental health is very crucial with the growing rates of obesity and depression in the United States compared to the rest of the world. Thus, does having poor dietary habits increase the likelihood of having depression? The likelihood of developing depression has been linked to the type of diet one consumes such as the Western Diet, Diets Low in Fat and Carbohydrates and weight control diets like binge eating.
Obesity is an epidemic in America, greatly impacting youth, the health care system, and economically vulnerable populations. Among all of the high-income countries in the world, obesity rates remain the highest in the US. According to Harvard, US obesity rates have more than doubled since 1980, although they have remained the same since 2003. (Harvard School of Public Health) Approximately 31.9% of children and adolescents from the ages of 2 to 19 are obese or overweight (NPLAN), while roughly 69% of adults fall into the category of overweight or obese. (Harvard School of Public Health) With obesity rates this high, America is facing a huge crisis that could become greater in the future. In order to understand the issue of Obesity in America it is important to evaluate the extent to which the problem effects large populations of children and adults and how the fast food industry has served as one of the major causes of this epidemic.
Fast food has been part of life in the USA for over 60 years. It has become extremely popular by Americans simply for the convenience.
One out of every three Americans is obese and the majority of these obese people in the United States have eaten regularly at fast food restaurants. As the obesity rate increases, the number of fast food restaurants goes up as well. Although it is not certain, many believe that obesity in the United States is correlated to eating fast food. Since the United States has the highest obesity rate out of any country, it is important for Americans to monitor the fast food industry that may be causing obesity. With the pressure to get things done in a timely manner, fast food became a big necessity. 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” (May, Kuklina, Yoon). The food that they provide is made to be eaten quickly, causing problems for the digestive system. Also, the health problems lead to the use for health insurance, which adds to the costs of Medicare. Health care costs will only worsen an already failing economy. Therefore, the government should regulate fast food restaurants in the United States in order to repair the deteriorating health and economy in America.
Not only is it not good to intake so much fast food, but this can hurt many college students’ mentality. “The study found a dose-response relationship between fast food consumption and depression, meaning the more fast food you consume, the greater the risk of depression” (Berry). Our future generations suffering from high risk of depression can lead society to distress. When a huge age group is affected, this can affect each one of us, directly or indirectly. Future doctors, lawyers, engineers, musicians, teachers, and many other professors who go through college may suffer depression.
Take a second to understand why fast food firms choose to sell products that are unhealthy. Their unhealthy products are in a high demand in the food market; in fact, they are simply giving us what we demand for. Most firms have started putting food labels on their menus so there is no room for excuse when making the right food choices. Nobody is forcing us to eat a whole box of Krispy crème donuts or a super-size meal at McDonalds. I believe that we are always looking for shortcuts in life and now we can anticipate there is a shortcut in what we put into our bodies. So we are consistently after things that are cheap, fast and affordable. Who better to attend to our needs than the fast food industry?
Fast food contains high amounts of salt, sugar, fat, and preservatives. Americans in today’s society want food and they want it now. Manufacturers have figured this out and fill the food with many artificial and unhealthy chemicals. If a person saw what the food looked like in the pre processed state, one would most likely not buy it or eat it.
Food in America, in particular is cheaper than almost anywhere else. As the writer Bryan Walsh from TIME explained, this is because the price of corn has decreased immensely allowing buyers to make food cheap (Thompson). So, if fast food is so cheap, what about the healthier options? Healthier options have actually become more expensive. “A dollar today buys 1,200 calories of potato chips and 250 calories of vegetables or 170 calories from fresh fruit,” (Thompson). The food options in fast food generally are also over portioned, high in fat, carbs, and sodium. When customers choose to eat the meals because of how cheap the meals are, they are demonstrating the eating style that is becoming more and more relevant in today’s society. This eating style is gastro-anomie. Gastro-anomie is the “condition of unsatisfying, meaningless eating of foods, and the loss of pleasure to be gained from food,” (Eating Culture). In many cases, advertisers do not tell customers about the poor quality of their food, but rather encourage the customers to buy the food for how cheap the products
“Eat healthy and live healthy’ is one of the essential requirements for long life. So think twice of your health before eating a junk food. The major risk of consuming too much fast food is on health of people. Fast food contains high calorie or calorie rich food which lacks in micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals, or amino acids, and fiber but has high energy (calories). These foods do not contain the nutrients that your body needs to stay healthy. The foremost risk of consuming excess calories is weight gain and weight-related health conditions. According to the 15-year study, people who ate fast food at least three times a week gained an extra 9.9 pounds of body weight and had a two-fold greater increase in insulin resistance when compared to those who ate fast food less than once a week (Lancet)....
Which all provide either ready to eat food, or it will be ready really quick, hence the name “fast food”. The process they use to make the food is very efficient, so efficient it makes you question if the food is really food. All the food is processed, all made in a factory somewhere, using god knows what kind of ingredients, then frozen and shipped to all the restaurants over America. People say that Americans are becoming addicted to it, or are addicted with the efficiency of it. Being able to stop quick, get fast food and go on about their day with minimal time loss. Why not right? Why wouldn't you save your time, by simply grabbing some fast food? Being that it’s so efficient, there’s no way that it’s going to have the same health value as a home cooked meal. Most of these meals are high in fat, calories, and sodium; this is because they are prepared in factories with little regard for dietary
In society we are accustomed to waking up, and being surrounded by fast foods. Fast foods appear to be an extremely liked foodstuff in America. This has made such an impact all over the world, because specific general fast food places such as McDonalds and KFC are not only in North America but Africa and Europe. Everywhere we turn there isn’t a place where you won’t see an advertisement or the actual fast food place. Why is fast food so common and widely held? Loads of families all over the world have fused this kind of nourishment in their diet. People are incorporate this to their everyday lives because fast food is inexpensive, suitable and generally tastes good. However people do not know the effects of eating Fast foods such as health and obesity issues.
Fast food has more calories and unhealthy fats because of how poorly it is made. Eating unhealthy fast food increases the chance of stroke,and heart attack because of the saturated fats.Fast food is also high in sodium. Sodium in fast food especially the amount it has can cause High blood pressure,Obesity,osteoporosis if consumed in large amounts.These unhealthy foods have many calories but lack it's nutritional value and you will not benefit from eating fast food at all.As a final result you will be unhealthy because of the unhealthy fast food that you