Fast Food and Its Consequences
Shirley Lozano
Prof. Fonts
ENC 1101-1
16 March 2011
Fast Food and Obesity
Obesity is an excess proportion of total body fat. A person is considered obese when his or her weight is 20% or more above normal weight. What causes obesity is when a person consumes more calories than he or she burns. For many people this boils down to eating too much and exercising too little. On the other hand, there are many factors that play a role in obesity such as age, gender, genetics, physical activity, psychological factors and even medications. For years, people have felt that fast food chains are to blame for obesity because they do not alert their customers to the hazardously high calorie and fat content of the food they offer. Needless to say obesity is directly linked to a customer’s choice to spend his or her money on fast food. Fast food is not to blame for obesity for various reasons. According to Fast Food, researchers claim “We now eat to relive our stress, to alleviate our boredom, or simply make ourselves feel better” (18). Moreover Fast Food Franchises donot obligate people to buy from them. People choose to grab bad eating habits all by themselves. So does being bored and feeling sad mean you have to eat a cheese burger or get an ice cream bar? The only thing humans need is self control. If a person is bored they can go do exercise, and if they are sad and feel like eating there stress away they can eat fruits instead ice cream. Nonetheless there is always other options on what you can eat other than fast food. Over the past forty years America has transformed from a society where most people prepare their own meals from scratch to one where most meals are either prepackaged or eaten outside of home (Fast Food 20). One of the problems with eating prepackaged food is that it contains more calories because it is served in larger portions. This is a reason why the cause of obesity has increased in America. Not only because most Americans are eating
Prof. Fonts
ENC 1101-1
16 March 2011
Fast Food and Obesity
Obesity is an excess proportion of total body fat. A person is considered obese when his or her weight is 20% or more above normal weight. What causes obesity is when a person consumes more calories than he or she burns. For many people this boils down to eating too much and exercising too little. On the other hand, there are many factors that play a role in obesity such as age, gender, genetics, physical activity, psychological factors and even medications. For years, people have felt that fast food chains are to blame for obesity because they do not alert their customers to the hazardously high calorie and fat content of the food they offer. Needless to say obesity is directly linked to a customer’s choice to spend his or her money on fast food. Fast food is not to blame for obesity for various reasons. According to Fast Food, researchers claim “We now eat to relive our stress, to alleviate our boredom, or simply make ourselves feel better” (18). Moreover Fast Food Franchises donot obligate people to buy from them. People choose to grab bad eating habits all by themselves. So does being bored and feeling sad mean you have to eat a cheese burger or get an ice cream bar? The only thing humans need is self control. If a person is bored they can go do exercise, and if they are sad and feel like eating there stress away they can eat fruits instead ice cream. Nonetheless there is always other options on what you can eat other than fast food. Over the past forty years America has transformed from a society where most people prepare their own meals from scratch to one where most meals are either prepackaged or eaten outside of home (Fast Food 20). One of the problems with eating prepackaged food is that it contains more calories because it is served in larger portions. This is a reason why the cause of obesity has increased in America. Not only because most Americans are eating
Cited: Greenhaven Press. Fast Food. Michigan: Farmington Hills, 2009. Print. Greenhaven Press. Obesity. Michigan: Farmington Hills, 2006. Print.