Fast Food Restaurants: Why They are Popular and the effects of their Popularity According to the 2016 article Children and Fast Food,” More than one-third of American children and adolescents ate some form of fast food every day in the mid-2010’s.” That is a high number of children eating fast food daily and it is only becoming higher and higher as time goes on because most people are not willing to change their eating habits. People think since the last five years there has been such a craze for healthy food that fast food would be declining but it is actually the opposite, it is on the rise and becoming more popular than ever before. The popularity of Fast Food Restaurants is caused by peoples busy lives, convenience, saves time, and the food is cheap; the effects of this are bad eating habits, obesity, and other health issues.
Causes
To start with, the popularity of fast food is caused by Americans busy lifestyle. Most Americans work eight hours or more a day. Then they have other commitments after work such as children, chores, sick family member, or another job. Americans that do go home have to take care of their kids and themselves, do chores, or go to their kids sporting events, which leaves them with no time to cook forcing them to have to stop on the way home from work or following a after work activity and pick up a meal to eat. People who are do not have children tend to go out with friends or colleagues, go home and relax, or find something else to do. These
When someone thinks of various fast food restaurants, they often think of quick and easy way to obtain food. However they do not stop to think about how it is affecting their health. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser exposes to the public that various fast food restaurants, such as McDonalds, are detrimental for your health. He does this by showing the reader how unhealthy the food is to the public, as well as showing us how they make their food more desirable to buy to the general population. The one problem that arisen from fast food restaurants is the increase of childhood obesity since the beginning of fast food.
Childhood and teenage obesity has been an issue in America for more than twenty years now. The percentage of obese children has nearly doubled in this time, according to the article “Is Your Kid Failing Lunch?”. Today’s generation of kids is recorded as the fattest generation in history. One of the main causes of this is believed to be fast food kids are exposed to every day in school lunches. Schools are now starting to serve fast food in their lunches as more kids demand it, causing an increase in the schools profit. Outside of that, Americans are currently spending more than $100 billion a year on fast food. Each day one in four Americans will eat at a fast food chain (Beaver). This is easy to believe as the global fast food industry spent
In this essay I will explore the positive and negative effects of legalizing Cannabis in California. I support the legalization of Cannabis, these are my reasons why; If California does legalize Cannabis then it would decrease the money spent on drug enforcement and criminal persecution. Legalizing Cannabis would also reduce the value of the black market product. It would also generate revenue for the California economy because it would be a taxable item that is in high demand.
Food companies make millions just from advertising junk food to kids. Food companies advertise using very known cartoon characters to appeal to kids that contain high-sugar levels that can cause many different disorders that can affect them in a server way. Kids tend to beg their parents for junk food and other types of foods just for seeing that they would receive a toy. In the article “10 Things the Food industry Doesn’t Want You to Know” states “On TV alone, the average child sees about 5,500 food commercials a year.” With these advertisements, kids can get the idea of going to eat in places that have unhealthy food. Advertisement like these can cause children to view fast food as something they can be constantly eating without having any problems.
In this era today, the social norm is everyone wants everything right here and right now. Which is why fast food has become so popular among Americas. Not to mention fast food is so much cheaper than fresh, organic groceries from the whole foods store. You can get a meal for 10 people
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
According “Eating More; Enjoying Less” from Pew Research Center by Scott Keeter, there are many different statistics that play a part in the consumption of fast food. According to the Pew Research Center and the research by Keeter, “fifty million Americans are served daily in some type of a fast food restaurant” (Keeter).According to Food Safety News, a study is completed by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington and Bill Marler reports on this research information saying that “the IHME identified the top ten risk factors for health loss in 2010 and the number of deaths attributable to each one” (Marler). During this study, the IHME found that diets are the number one leading cause of death. High blood pressure, high body mass index, physical inactivity, high blood sugar, and high total cholesterol all also follow closely behind on the list of risk factors, according to the IHME. Marler claims that fast food leads to every single one of these risk factors in one way or another, and that “fast food kills more people than smoking, alcohol, and illegal drug use all combined” (Marler). Austin Bryn worries that diseases and sickness will develop at a much earlier age and will cause problems for many kids as they are not getting the nutrients their
Wake up look at what the fast food industry is causing and how it is affecting many people and especially teens and kids. The fast food industry has become very clever throughout the years, making us eat more with their special deals and bigger serving sizes. These companies are getting worse and worse and it will keep happening if nothing against this process is done. Various factors have changed since the 70s to the present day such as changes in serving size and proportions causing excessive consumptions of these foods. Thanks to the so ever convenient and cheap prices of these foods compared to the prices of healthy foods like fresh produce used to make homemade food that are healthier than fast food junk. Ever since
The majority of Americans enjoy fast food like bees enjoy their honey. Fast food is hard not to love due to families experiencing fast paced days, parents who work more than 20 hours a week, and having children with picky appetites can be rough. For most American families, it can be a challenge to not consider eating fast food more than once a week. The fast food industry has grown tremendously through the years. The one restaurant that is known all over the world for their golden arches and their big macs is McDonalds. With knowledge and personal experiences, I can say that McDonalds is by far the worst fast food restaurant in America. I believe this due to how unhealthy the food is for our bodies, the disturbing facts about the happy meals, the poor service, and the non-cleanliness of the restaurant.
Fast food has without a doubt changed the way people eat in America, and is partly to blame for diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. According to Murray (40) more than 300, 000 every year are related to obesity. Individuals should know what they are consuming and how it is prepared or made; they should spend their hard earned money on restaurants that make healthy food. So why is fast food unhealthy? Fast food may look tasty and appealing, however, they contain a myriad of hidden health hazards that are dangerous if consumed in large quantities and are a primary cause of obesity, particularly in children. The effects of eating fast food on a person’s health are: increase in blood pressure, a delay in the metabolic rate, increase in the levels of bad cholesterol, destabilization of blood sugar levels, and weakening of the immune system. Furthermore, the effects of fast food include obesity, nutritional deficiencies, and cardiac problems among other health hazards. No one is forcing individuals to eat fast food, but the fact is that fast food restaurants will change when consumers demand changes. Even if three percent of Americans complained about fast food, it would make a substantial drop in
Fast food popularity has grown tremendously over the years. People spend more time trying to save time in today’s world and in
Several studies have shown that the increase in fast food restaurants over the past few decades has resulted in a negative impact on the already outrageous obesity rate.According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the number of fast food restaurants over the past thirty years has tripled, which equates to about three hundred thousand establishments in the United States alone. During this time the number of children, ages six to nineteen classified as obese, has risen from five percent to seventeen percent. The percentage of adults classified as obese has risen from half to two-thirds the population. Although fast food restaurants may be a contributing factor to the increasing obesity rate in the United States, people are
growth which shows that more and more people are eating unhealthy foods more often. An estimated 10% of America’s energy
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.
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.