Fast Food, Fast Death Almost 75% of people in the United States of America are considered to be overweight or obese. Food such as burgers and chicken nuggets are being consumed by the average American daily, this may indicate why our Nation’s waistline is increasing from the overconsumption of meat and unhealthy fats. Fast food is the leading cause for this spread of obesity in America providing the drug addicts with their fix, and due to ignorance and lack of motivation Americans are doomed to fight an up-hill battle for their health. Fast Food has become a way of life for majority of the American population.
People are following this lifestyle path absentmindedly, like zombies looking for brains. In Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser it shows how much fast food has expanded in the past 90 years and how it has affected the food industry negatively. People are practically worshipping McDonalds as a religion, “Like other charismatic leaders of new faiths, Kroc asked the people to give up their former lives and devote themselves fully to McDonalds,” (Schlosser, Eric 98). Fast food is apart of their daily routine for some people and they wouldn’t be able to function on a day-to-day basis without it.
Once an addiction sets in for someone either based on the high sugar content or the processed fats in this food, it is hard to kick the desire for fast food. The brain wants these foods because it is immediate gratification and gives us a false sense of happiness that eventually crashes. Fast food is not nutritionally dense and lacks essential vitamins that humans need. The cycle of getting hungrier quicker and fixing it with inadequate fast food continues. Due to this children are now growing up in an environment where being obese and overweight is almost considered normal.
Fast food is being shoved in the kids’ faces everyday, and it is only natural that their brains want the sugar and fats. It becomes an easy way for parents to make their kids happy but ruining their children’s health at the same time. Fast food may seem like a simple way to make everyone happy but it also will lead someone to an early death. Lack of motivation and being caught in a downward spiral can make exercise difficult for anyone, but with the help of fast food making excess calories cheap and easy, it is no wonder the weight average in America has skyrocketed.
Fast Food creates the ability for someone who sits at a desk all day the easy access to pick up food via a drive through and not move a muscle. The fast food prices also do not help issues either by providing cheap unhealthy processed foods making people think it is the better deal than the “high” cost of fruits and vegetables. But not just the money conscious are affected, more than one third of the people in our nation are obese meaning there is a prevalent issue, and self-will although may help some will never fix the root of the problem.
Humans do not have to hunt for food anymore and do not have to worry about starvation; humans are eating too much, “Sedentary adults in the United States eat an average of 500-800 calories more per day than needed to maintain weight,” (Marks, Jennifer B. ). And majority is not doing any physical activity to help combat this issue. People should simply try and eat as plant based as possible and then they will easily ingest the right nutrients the human body needs.
No should try and complicate their diet with added processed foods that claim to be for our health, stick to the basics and the average person will be successful in their nutritional goals. Exercise is important for many different reasons and can provide numerous different benefits. The required minimum exercise per week according to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is two types of physical activity, aerobics and muscle strengthening for at least 150 minutes. This can be easily achieved through simple walking around a park or neighborhood and doing a couple push-ups a few times a week.
But if someone wants to lose weight more strenuous activity is necessary, and the amount of time spent exercising also increases. To be a truly healthy individual with low risk of preventable diseases, exercise and eating the right food is necessary. Why does any industry choose to sell a product? The answer is simple: because consumers will buy it. Dietary Patterns are fostered at a young age by parents and caregivers, “Children’s diet beyond fast-food consumption is more strongly linked to poor nutrition and obesity,” (Fast Food…) .
Nutritional information is not yet important to Americans and thus fast food cannot be entirely blamed for this obesity epidemic. Vegetables and fruit are not as appetizing to children who have been conditioned by marketing to just want sugary processed foods. Bad diets impact a persons weight no matter where they eat and one could also argue that not all fast food is unhealthy. Fast food restaurants have made a serious attempt to offer healthy alternatives. Fast Food like any other restaurant has unhealthy and healthy options.
It is the job of the people to educate themselves on what they should consume and let their kids consume. Without proper education no one can be healthy and make the right food choices. Fast Food is not to blame for peoples’ weight issues; it is their own responsibility. For people attempting to regain their lives back from the hazardous waste they have been consuming, lack of knowledge can immediately set them up for failure. Once the blindfold has been taken off and people realize the situation they have put themselves in they tend to want to fix it.
Parents who decided to make their family healthy for once and are trying to do what is best for their children and themselves are doomed by the government being, “Complicit in consumers being duped by lax front of packaging labeling laws that allow cereals like Froot Loops to boast about its nutritional benefits,” (Yoni Freedhoff). The way of eating has so drastically changed that most people do not know correct portion sizes or amount of calories necessary for their brain to function. The population need to educate themselves on what is good for the human body and what is not.
Many people think they are powerless in what food companies will do, but food companies simply just want to increase sales and make a profit, so it is in the peoples’ hands to request healthier items and the food industry will provide them. Everyone will have to stop buying the extra large hamburger or chicken nuggets if they truly want to see a change in what fast food companies sell. As of right now they are selling what the general public wants and the food companies are continuing to make a profit, as a result they will not being changing anything in the near future.
Said best by, Mike Howard, “The only way this feast of indulgence will stop is if people quit buying it. ” Not all processed foods are bad, some have to be processed for us to even use them, but many processed foods have added sugars or salt that we may be unaware of. Many people are busy and do not have the time to prepare a full meal once home from work but sometimes, “even healthier ready meals may be higher in fat and other additives,”(Mike Howard).
It’s all about being prepared and reading nutrition labels to truly understand what we are eating. Research has clearly shown that Fast Food is not helping our society; it is causing numerous early deaths from preventable diseases. Without the easy access of unneeded calories and less falsely advertised “health” food items, and with the power of education and activeness, American’s can actively reverse the fast food industry take over and become a healthy country once more.
