Proposal: Change in the fast food industry (we can take a specific restaurant like McDonald’s) to fight obesity
Fast food and obesity
The relationship between a nation's fast food consumption and its rate of obesity has been studied. Schlosser said "it seems wherever America's fast food chains go, waistlines inevitably start expanding."
Schlosser argues that the North America has the highest obesity rate of any industrialized nation. More than half of all adults and about one-quarter of all children are now classified as obese or overweight. Those proportions are believed to have increased dramatically during the last few decades, along with the consumption of fast food, with the rate of obesity among North American children twice as
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* Discourage consumption of poor foods through a "fat tax," earmarking the funds for nutrition and recreation.
Here are some changes that McDonald’s implemented as a response to critique its unhealthy foods to give consumers more choices and healthier alternatives. Such initiatives include: * The introduction of the Salads Plus menu. This is now a permanent feature on the McDonalds menu, which brings a healthier, lighter focus to the original menu, consisting of a range of products that have 10 grams of fat or less, per serve. * Introducing nutrition information panels on the packaging of regular menu items. This allows for enhanced consumer information and education, enabling individuals and families to make better dietary choices. * Introducing hamburger buns that are low in sugar. * Reducing the calorie / kilojoule (energy) and sugar content of Salads Plus muffin and yoghurt menu items. * Launching an alternative (healthier) Happy Meal for children, containing fruit and vegetables. * Using a liquid canola cooking oil blend in restaurants, to aim for enhanced cooking methods. * Introducing a new breakfast menu known as “Quickstart”. McDonald’s have teamed up with some of Australia’s favourite brands to launch this new menu, which offers cereals, fruit, yoghurt and juices (that’s an example of what was done in Australia, we can offer to implement it here, in Canada). * In America, McDonald’s has made available
Schlosser and Wilson discuss obesity, mentioning a 16 year old, 300-pound boy named Sam, who drank about two quarts of soda a day. The authors also mention the facts behind obesity and why it is hard to lose weight, stating that once an overweight person gains fat cells, the body is more vulnerable to illnesses. A tour of the inside of a normal body compared to an obese body is also illustrated in the book. The authors discuss how this increase in obesity is partly caused by a large increase in portion size served by restaurants. Despite very unhealthy foods, fast food companies argue that being overweight is the customer’s own
Once people start to realize what fast food it doing to their kids and better themselves, there will be a positive change for the better. Many fast food industries try to make their foods more appealing to kids by introducing popular character to sway the younger audience. Instead major companies such as MacDonald’s should try to use those characters to promote healthier living and healthier foods, whilst advertising their brand at the same time. Major companies should understand that once people realize how unhealthy their foods are they would be loosing customers. By providing healthier alternative and promoting healthier lifestyles they will be able to keep their customer and be known for promoting a healthier lifestyle a the same
An example of this, is a salad which is considered one the healthier items on the menu. Zinczenko broke it down in calories
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.
In 2012 CDC statistics show that “over 35 percent of adults and 32 percent of children in the United States of America are recorded as obese (30kg/m2), the obesity rate has doubled since 1971.1” Not only is epidemic growing in numbers of victims but also in expenses. The United States spent 147 billion dollars in 2008 on medical expenses costs and that does not include the programs that fight against the problem. “In 2003 over 300,000 died due to obesity related health problems, diseases and cancers.6” One of the most important battles we wage on American soil is the war for citizens to be fit, and it nearly always starts in the childhood. Since 1971 the problem of childhood and adult obesity started to grow annually due to many reasons related to our ways of living. Now the food industry, including fast food has been getting more and more unhealthy due to unnatural modifications. What Americans eat is not organic anymore and is taking its toll on American lifestyle. The fast food industry has been making advertisements and foods focused upon youth. Since the original commercials directed towards children, it has nearly tripled since the rise of technology. Technology has been growing rapidly as obesity is, statistics show that with the advancement of technology, the population starts to slow down, stop exercising and eating healthier foods. As long as there is childhood obesity, there will be adult obesity, with effects on children causing obesity, there will be a
For this reason, I believe there is great need to campaign for new legislation and social programming that addresses the following supportive evidence for obesity resolution. According to Frieden, Dietz, and Collins, implementing legislation that heavily taxes unhealthy food will help reduce consumption of these foods. Decreasing the cost of healthy foods, subsidizing farmer’s markets in underprivileged areas, creating zoning legislation that prohibits the building of fast food restaurants in the vicinity of schools and recreation areas, prohibition of unhealthy food advertisements directed at children, requiring restaurants to offer healthy food options for kids with the nutritional information listed on the menu, increase active transportation and recreation, and improve physical activity programs will also reduce childhood obesity (Frieden, Dietz, & Collins, 2010). The difficulty in implementing these solutions is monetary and political. The businesses negatively affected by these changes will fight against them and the cost of subsidizing groceries for the impoverished areas will cost.
America is known for being one of the most obese countries in the world. Once you step foot in America, people can quickly find out why; everywhere you look there are a ton of fast food chains on nearly every block. Fast food to Americans is a quick, easy, and affordable way to get food. In the past Forty years, more than 160,000 fast food restaurants have opened in America (Pirello). This cheap and quick meal comes at a cost; according to the Centers for Disease control and Prevention (CDCP), more than 66 percent of Americans are overweight and obese. To make things worse, the CDCP notes that one third of children and adolescents are obese. David Zinczenko, the editor-in- chief of Men’s Health
It was designed for quick service, yet having great food to eat. That right there, will come back years later to haunt Americans. With a small menu of only 9 items, there was one food item that stuck out like a sore thumb when it came to the sales charts. That item would be the delicious fifteen cent hamburger. By 1958, McDonalds sold 100 million hamburgers. Over the years, they opened many more restaurants. Not only were they selling, they were expanding. Business was booming, so they had no choice rather than to expand their services. In the very next year, they had opened their 100th McDonalds restaurant. All this was in just four years, if time could tell how quickly things change, lets skip ahead another three years. The year 1962 truly marked an era of how Americans are today. Lazy and arrogant! A Denver, Colorado McDonalds introduced indoor seating for their McDonalds restaurant. This seems like everyday dining for most of everybody reading this. With just one food chain opening up, surely it could not be the only cause of obesity rates in the United States. Please remember, McDonalds is not the only fast food chain around. They inspired others along with their success. Burger King, Checkers, Hardees, Wendys and Sub Way are just a few example of fast food chains that have began to dominate the food industry.
When McDonald’s has recognized that consumers are becoming increasingly more health conscious, they made changes to their marketing, brand, and products that reflected their audience’s changing interests. In 1987, fresh salads were introduced to the menu, and today there are even more healthy options such as apple slices, Halo oranges, and more. To satisfy the needs of customers in the world, they redesign their menus and make it specific to each country's cuisines. McDonald's India offers many vegetarian items, from the McVeggie to the Veg Pizza McPuff. McDonald's France has a attractivedessert menu that includes macaroons and cheesecake.
Obesity is a big topic in American society, it has grown over the years and it has become very well known. It has become an American concern and the food industry has been an easy target to blame for this “epidemic”. The truth to this is that it can be easy to blame the fast food industry, but the real truth it is, that obesity has become what it is now because our society has let that happened; the government, the citizens, the food industry's. They have all played an important role to what it is now obese.
Ultimately, obesity is sweeping the nation because of how easy it is to eat cheap and on the run from fast food restaurants. If Americans do not change their habits of eating with no physical activity the obesity rates will never decrease but only continue to steadily increase. Not only is fast food easily accessible but over the years serving sizes have increased two to five times (Miller,
McDonalds changed menu with items such as porridge, smoothies and chicken wraps is on reason for the growing business
using salad dressing the dieter needs to watch out for added sugars. For beverages “The Atkins
Products and Services: McDonald has to continuously evolve its menu to meet the emerging customers need and to attract new customers. Currently, nutritional value has become very important for customers.
While, McDonalds is the world largest fast food chain that does not come without problems, the more knowledge that people have the more power they have, McDonalds has in recent years made many adjustments to preparation of certain food items, adjustments to the size food items as well as increased nutritional value to certain food items. Many