Fast Food and Obesity Essay

Fast food chains are a rapidly growing industry. Although it is popular, it is not healthy for people, especially children. Schools shouldn’t serve fast food because it will cost more, it’ll lead to diabetes and heart disease, and increased weight gain.

Fast food restaurants are basically all over the place, and the cost for unhealthy foods are significantly less than healthy foods. Even unhealthy drinks are so easy to get by anyone. Schlosser also mentioned in Fast Food Nation that McDonalds is also targeting for more kids by adding things like play sets and even having Ronald McDonald. Parents see this as an opportunity to bring their children into a child friendly environment. Those reasons will ultimately contribute to the rise of childhood

While everyone generally knows that fast food is not good for their health, however people still eat it for various reasons. Most people that buy fast food have low incomes, are uneducated, and/or are people just trying to save a couple of bucks. Most people trying to save money are buying fast food and it is costing their health in the long run. This will eventually end up costing people even more money.

Fast food has a harmful effect on society because it can cause obesity. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry believes obesity “Overweight children are much more likely to become overweight adults unless they adopt and maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.” (parag. 1).The causing and treating of obesity is complex but it is the most recognizable disease. Consistently eating fast food and a poor can lead to obesity in anyone. The risks of obesity include an increased risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, fast food “Studies have shown that over the past four decades, consumption of food eaten away from home has also risen alarmingly” (parag. 8). This means that fast food is high in fat, sugar, salt, carbs, calories, saturated and trans fats. This type of eating leads to a higher body mass index or gained weight. Children and adolescents are at a

“I’m Lovin’ It.” This slogan has become one of the most recognized in both the United States and in the world. Our nation has slowly gravitated towards fast food, allowing for a new industry to explode and expand over the past few decades. This monumental fast food industry has become a symbol of America and our diets. Fast food is convenient, quick, and cheap, requiring hardly any effort. It is the perfect formula for our fast-paced nation and suffering economy. The problem is shown through our sky-high rate of obesity. Though fast food has some short-term benefits like saving time and a few dollars, it has severe physical, mental and financial consequences for children, showing that the negatives of consuming fast food outweigh the

An argument for fast food companies may be that in recent years they have started offering healthier options. Some menus now offer milk as a beverage and apples as a food. While these are healthier choices, there is still very few of these options as opposed to the unhealthy ones. Not to mention in advertisements the apples are always shown with a sugar filled dipping sauce. The fact that these companies still have mostly unhealthy choices, they should not target children in their advertisement. It is obvious that many factors play into the epidemic of childhood obesity. Factors that play into childhood obesity are things such as family income levels and restaurants that are in close proximity. Let me pose this question, what food places are the cheapest and have locations on almost every street corner? Yes, that is correct, fast food. When they already have those factors in their favor, these advertisements just seal the deal for them.

The main point of fast food is to be fast, easy, and convenient- but sometimes we humans abuse of that option that was given to us. Yes, its true fast food is everywhere in every corner but we cannot blame the food chains for our decisions. Obesity is like a monster and we are feeding it, we stop on every school or work break to snack on some McDonalds, Wing Stop, and other fast restaurants that are in our path, the only issue with is that we consume it on a daily basis making it our routine and we end up putting our health at risk. A survey made by the college of agriculture, consumer and environmental science assures that 94 percent of people believed individuals are primarily or somewhat

Obesity has grown into a rampant issue all over the United States, over the past few decades. Fast foods also have increased their outlets in the nation, in turn, depicting a success in the business venture. It is clear that fast foods have become quite cheap in comparison to healthy, homemade meals. Subsequently, people have turned to eat fast foods for economic reasons. Convenience is yet another reason behind people’s high indulgence in eating fast foods other than healthy, homemade meals. One does not need to prepare meals when dealing with fast foods; it is just a matter of walking into a fast food restaurant. However, the rampant feeding on fast foods in America has adverse effects that seem to affect even

In recent years there has been a growing epidemic of obesity, especially in America. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey posted on the Center for Disease Control website there are 12.5 million children from ages 2 through 19 that are obese. Many people are starting to complain that the commercials and ads for these restaurants are the result of such an incline in obesity. Although there have been current ad campaigns aiming at children to live a healthy life style there are still hundreds of advertisements that are putting restaurants in a sort of ultimatum position. Either restaurants change their advertisements or they improve their menus. In 1979 McDonalds debuted their world famous Happy Meals to the

Obesity has become an epidemic in today’s society. Today around 50% of America is now considered to be over weight. Fast-food consumption has been a major contributor to the debate of the twenty-first century. Chapter thirteen, titled “Is Fast-Food the New Tobacco,” in the They Say I Say book, consists of authors discussing the debate of fast-food’s link to obesity. Authors debate the government’s effects on the fast-food industry, along with whether or not the fast-food industry is to blame for the rise in obesity throughout America. While some people blame the fast food industry for the rise in obesity, others believe it is a matter of personal responsibility to watch what someone eats and make sure they get the proper exercise.

Fast food tastes best when they are fresh out of the restaurant. No matter how big the portion is, fast food can be hardly eaten as leftovers. So children have gradually trained their stomachs-adults likewise-to hold fattier, oily, sugary foods that come in super sizes. The initial issue seemed to be just being overweight and obese, as these children who consume more fatty foods than necessary grew up to be a fat generation of adults. But now, the fast food monster has grown bigger and wilder that it brings children critical health issues at much younger ages.

In today's society, fast food has become a large part of many American's lives. With the rising numbers of obese people, it is hard not to draw a correlation between the increase in fast food and obesity. Most obese people don’t want to be obese and wish they could lose weight, yet they continue to struggle with their fast food intake and obesity. This is due to the advertising done on the consumers, the highly addictive food itself, and most importantly, how advertising and addiction combine with children to form habits that are kept once they become adults. These factors are the reasons that fast food restaurants are to blame for the rising obesity and health risks across America. The government needs to step in and place regulations on

Now days, you can find a fast food restaurant every time you turn a corner. According to, Sarah Muntel, the Author of “Fast Food- Is It the Enemy,” you can choose from a variety of things to eat. You can get a greasy burger, crunchy tacos, or a drink that is filled with sugar. Why should we take the time go buy and prepare a meal when there are a variety of foods all around you? That is the problem that we are facing. Fast food is extremely cheap. You can order dollar cheeseburgers, dollar sodas, and you can even make those orders supersized just with pennies. People even claim that it is cheaper to eat at a restaurant than it is to prepare a meal in your own kitchen. Most Americans now days are having overscheduled and overcommitted jobs, which means that there is no free time in their daily lives to prepare their own meals. There is not anything easier than just going through the drive thru at your favorite fast food restaurant on your way home from work, or taking your child out for a milkshake if they do well in their baseball game. The problem is, people don’t look

So on the way to work they will buy dinner at a fast food restaurant. Places such as McDonalds's, Burger King, and Taco Bell have begun to appear on every street corner. Fast food restaurants made an appearance in America in the 1960's. They have not been around for very long and already the effects are destroying the health of the people in America. This is because people go to what to tastes good and these foods taste good to the kids. When their parents grew up a trip to grandmas for Sunday dinner was a treat and a variety from the meals at home. Today the treat is going out to a fast food restaurant. These foods are usually inexpensive, prepared for the person, and they taste good. The downside to these places is that their food is greasy and high in fat. Both of these are contributors to high blood pressure and high frequency of heart attacks among the American population.

This is spent on advertising alone, and this advertising is mostly going to children. Fast food restraunts should use this money on more important things such as, produce, or donating, or even more restraunts. “40 percent of parent’s report that their children ask them to go to McDonalds at least once a week” (Harris, Schwartz, and Brownell). Children wouldn’t be asking to go so often if fast food companies didn’t target them so much. Children see about 3-5 commercials a day just for fast food. Fast food chains target children through smartphones now to. They reach consumers with an app that can reach children anytime anywhere (Harris, Schwartz, and Brownell). It is ridiculous what companies will do just to get innocent children involved in something so unhealthy.