Obesity: The Fast Food Industry In America

many overweight children, for the first time ever the current generation of children is expected to have

The United States of America is the fattest country in the world. Obesity in America has reach epidemic proportions. Obesity and weight gain has become major concern of public health in the United States. In every state, at least twenty percent of adults are obese, and in twelve of these states the obesity rate is above thirty percent. Mississippi currently holds the highest rate of obesity with 34.9 percent of its residents being obese. On the contrary, Colorado has the lowest rate of obesity with 20.7 percent. CNN estimated that annual medical care costs due to obesity reached $147 billion, but the Institute of Medicine estimates it is closer to $190 billion.

Obesity within adults is a prevalent problem in the United States, with over 51% of all adults suffering from obesity by the year 2030 (Joyner et al. 217). Obesity, or the state of being excessively overweight, is sometimes a result from what is known as food addiction. Much like an addiction to a substance, to be addicted to food is to constantly crave a certain food item (Joyner et al. 217). Obesity and food addiction tend to coincide with each other. That coexistence is shown primarily in the documentary Super Size Me, in which director Morgan Spurlock focuses on the way fast food and food addiction affect the human body.

In America today one in three adults are considered to be obese. Over the years the rate of obesity keeps climbing up and up. Some people blame fast-food or the environment Americans live in. After all,someone can purchase a chocolate bar at a bookstore nowadays. But, most people are looking at the incorrect factor to blame. Although the food industry is a huge contribution to obesity in America, people are ultimately responsible for their own health.

When discussing the issue of obesity in America, it seems to be that there is plenty of blame to go around and most of that blame falls on fast food companies. When searching for a concrete answer to the question used as my title, you will find none because there isn’t one. When asked this simple question, it is easy to blame the obesity problem on fast food considering 8 out of 10 Americans consume fast food according to a report done by the Huffington Post. But after doing more research you will notice that this isn’t necessarily the case. American obesity can be blamed on a variety of things; lifestyle, accessibility of fast food, and what we are taught about food growing up. However, when the only options you are provided with by the food industry are all unhealthy, obesity cannot be avoided.

In the United States, a crisis is breaking out known as the Obesity epidemic. For the first time in history, it is possible for the children of this generation to have a lower life expectancy than their parents. Millions of Americans are exposed to ads that are luring them into eating the cheap, fast food of billion dollar companies such as McDonald’s. Obesity has established itself as the fastest growing disease in the nation and continues to make an impact on the general population. The issue of Obesity is directly related to todays technology through television, cell phones, video games and all of sorts of new gadgets.

Fast food, in today’s society, has become a major part of individuals’ lives. For it’s easy, quick and cheap food. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically it is referred to as low quality, prepackaged foods that have little preparation time. Through further research of fast food restaurants and their role in the obesity epidemic in America, it lead to further conclusions on the need for changes that must be done in order to combat obesity. There are, however, multiple individuals who feel that the fast food industry is simply taking a toll on Americans and their health. For instance, the article “Don’t blame the Eater” explains the battle of fast food chains in America, and the major causes of this epidemic. Obesity in America, costs the United States about 147 billion dollars annually. In a recent article, Author Eric Finkelstein, a researcher for Triangle Park conducted a study in which explains the multiple causes and affects of fast food chains and its role in creating an unhealthy society. Considerably, “The Effect of Fast food Restaurants on Obesity”, an in depth article written by authors Janet Currie, Stefano DellaVigna, Enrico Moretti and Vikram Pathania, share their studies and findings on how fast food chains are indeed a major player in obesity across the country, as well as a leading player in the up rise in health related illnesses. There is a connection between neighborhood scarcity and fast food industries.

Today, in our fast-paced world of modern America, the availability of inexpensive, cheap processed food and drink is overwhelming. We have quickly become the most obese nation on the planet by simply allowing companies to lower nutritional value, raise sugar quantity, and increase fat and calorie percentages to an astounding amount. We as a nation buy into these consessions because of three main reasons: low price, convenience, and massive availability. Because of this, eating healthy is seen to be expensive, time consuming, and daunting. This is the opposite of what we need here in America. Big name companies spend billions upon advertising their sugary, fat-gushing products. When in reality, we should restrict the abundance of adverts, plastered all over major cities, social media, and television. We need to start taking a

The basic survival needs of human beings include a small list of four things: food, water, clothing, and shelter. After watching an interview with Robert Kenner, the director of Food, Inc., I began to realize that the food humans are eating is actually decreasing are survivability. Within the excerpts from the movie and the dialogue amongst the interviewers, it was made apparent that the food industry has been able to completely deceive the consumers. Instead of choosing food for quality, individuals choose food by lowest price. As Kenner said in the video, “we have skewed our food system to the bad calories” (2:38). Instead of healthy home cooked meals, families are purchasing fast food for its convenience and low cost. However, the video made a very interesting stance in regards to this mentality. Although individuals are paying the lowest price for food in history, the cost of treating diseases caused by unhealthy eating has grown to be higher than ever before (8:04).

Obesity in America is an epidemic people die from this deadly disease. As people of America, we first need to understand what does it really mean to be overweight and uncomfortable? Nutritionists classify people in today’s society as either underweight, healthy weight, overweight, or obese. Being obese is not just a cosmetic problem. It’s a health issue that needs to be solved. Excess body fat accumulated over a period of time is harmful and it hurts.imagine walking around holding a ten-pound weight every day, then a few weeks later that ten-pound weight turns into a 2o pound weight. That’s not a good feeling it’s very comfortable. Who wants to have shortness of breath heart problems, diabetes, wheelchair bound or bed bound? Let’s make a change for humanity and the next generations.

The government with all of its power is now trying to tell you what you can and cannot eat. It is true that America has an obesity problem but people’s freewill should be respected in regarding individual lifestyle choices. Americans should have the freedom to choose what food they eat and the lifestyles they choose regardless of the impact on their health.

Knowing the causes to obesity are important. Some causes of obesity are thought of off the bat. But some causes aren’t all that well known. Researchers have found many causes to the obesity epidemic in the U.S. Two main causes to obesity are added sugars/processed foods and genetics, specifically with one’s parents and grandparents. The last cause of obesity is the American government. Many citizens of the U.S think that all sugar is bad. This statement is not true. As stated in http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/1/13/14219606/sugar-intake-dietary-nutrition-science “ Sugar is in so many of the foods we eat. It’s loaded into our granola and our juice, our BBQ sauce and salad dressing. Some ¾ of packaged foods and drinks in the US now carry caloric or low-calorie sweeteners.” In a healthy diet an American should consume roughly 6-9 teaspoons of added sugars. However the average in America is currently 41 teaspoons! Statistics have found that in the 13th century one pound of sugar would have costed roughly 360 eggs. Nowadays one pound of sugar would cost the same as only two eggs… this is a serious problem. The 1980’s was the national start of making and selling “low fat” products such as milk. In all reality this was also when the lowered the fat levels and raised the sugar levels sky high. As a result of extreme amounts of sugar in products it has given scientists evidence to prove that sugar is 8x more addictive than cocaine. Another cause of obesity is

Obesity in America has become a huge problem. No one understands why the obesity rate in America is increasing, but we need to stop it. A lot of obesity rates come from poverty stricken families. Since they do not have the income to buy healthy food; they choose the cheapest fast food place to provide for themselves and their children. The fast food industry is the reason for the obesity rates rising higher each year. They are educated enough to know that people who do not have to money to buy healthy meals will depend on their company.

Limitations do ourselves a favor by keeping us away from falling apart. Obesity is an issue Americans can’t avoid anymore, our country is falling into a status of healthy warning. Obesity is growing every second, and consumers do not realized the harm they provoke to their bodies when they buy junk food without control.

Over the past several years obesity hasn’t just increased drastically, it has doubled. Due to the drastic increase and the rate of obesity health factors have also went up significantly. Obesity contributes to many major health complications such as congestive heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. In this paper we are going to explore the causes and effects of obesity, and what we as nurses can do to help.