The Effects Of Eating Fast Food On The United States

America is one of the largest countries in the world, and the population is one of the largest also; but not in numbers, unless those numbers are on a scale and coincide with the amount of excess fat that is on the average American. In asking why Americans are so overweight, the fast food industry is not to blame entirely. Although Americans consume more fast food than any other nation and the mass of the population reflects this fact, no one is forcing anyone to eat fast food. Americans eat so much fast food because they are lazy, hurried, addicted, and financially downtrodden. Because of these lifestyles and misfortune, America has become overweight-- an epidemic for which there does not seem to be a cure.

How does fast food affect America’s economy? Does fast food affects Americans economy in the bad way or good way? Some people say that fast foods are ruining Americans economy. They want to reduce effects of the fast food industry in America. However, the advocates do not agree because they think that fast foods are giving a major boost to the economy. They give out a few examples about the advantage of fast food to the economy such as proving jobs or helping America’s agriculture by purchasing agriculture products. In my point of view, the fast foods are affecting American economy negatively, which can be seen through the average wages of Americans, the cost of medical care for fast food

In Eric Schlosser’s 2001 piece, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, he examines the rise of the fast food industry in the 1950’s as it was associated with the rampant consumerism of the era and shows how this led to the fast food industry becoming one of the most unethical, manipulative, and greedy industries that ever existed. Schlosser shows how fast food corporations, through mass appealing advertising, were able to manipulate consumers, especially young generations, into buying their products. Children were made the targets of advertising campaigns because these corporations knew that they were the most gullible audience. The 1950’s were filled with consumer trends in which buyers went after products that they believed to be popular and wanted to have the same things as everyone else. Corporations knew that they would have a very easy job in luring consumers because many other products and services had become trend setters in the 1950’s, so consumers would line up to buy fast food if it was presented as being “modern” and “trendy” in a sense. This paper will detail how consumerism and advertising played a large role in constructing American cultural identity during the post-war era.

As the years go by, society starts to progress and develop many fast and easy solutions for everything. Not only are the easy solutions being created but the cost of living is increasing making people to work harder and later and not have time to have a healthy lifestyle. Fast foods are everywhere you go and not only is it fast it is also cheap making it harder to get a decent healthy meal. Due to society changing so much, diabetes is on the rise. What is diabetes? Diabetes is several diseases that are characterized by high levels of glucose that are the results of the insulin action or production. “The term diabetes mellitus describes a metabolic disorder of multiple aetiology characterized by chronic hyperglycaemia with disturbances of carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both.” (CDC) If diabetes is not taken seriously, it can have severe damages that include organ failures or damages and even death.

In general, Americans have long-standing problems with obesity, but this issue is not just in the United States only. Even it has spread to many countries, especially Taiwan. Many young children are a bit overweight. The obesity rate is twice the proportion in Taiwan compared to Korea. I think this number is an admonishment to let us to know that eating junk food not only affects people’s health, but also influences the country’s development.

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.

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.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print. While I was looking at the cover of the book, I noticed that it included the words “All American Meal”, and I wondered what that meant. For me when I hear those word I picture a McDonald’s, or any other fast food restaurant. Why is that? Is it because the United States comes in at 12th for the most obese country, with 35% of the population in overweight (Worldatlas). Or is it because we have made a name for ourselves, by being the country that consumes the most fast food (Economist)? In the first chapter of the book The American Way, Schlosser is disscussing various fast foods we eat such as McDonald 's, Domino 's, and describes how fast food has impacted American lives, such as obesity in all age groups due to the appeals to younger children. He talks about the McDonald brothers and Carl Karcher and how they established McDonald 's and Carl 's Jr.

Consumption of fast food in America is at an all time high. The low prices and addictive flavors have made us Americans ignorant to what actually goes into this food. Americans are constantly trying to save money on food and as a result, turn to fast food. If we really knew what was going into this food, how many of us would continue to eat it? The book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All American Meal by Eric Schlosser not only uncovers the truth about how bad fast food really is for us but it also discusses how fast food has shaped America. A numerous amount of issues having to do with the food production are addressed throughout the book.

The author of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of The All-American Meal is Eric Schlosser. The book was published in New York by Houghton Mifflin in 2001 and there are 288 pages in the main book. The author 's main points focus on the impact of fast food 's impact relating to agricultural and economic practice. Topics described in the book include the creators of many fast food chains and their origins; what goes on behind the counter of a fast food restaurant; how the food, including fries and meat, are retrieved and preparedand the safety of working in the plants that produce that food; and the rapid spread of fast food all over the world.

"We don 't walk. We overeat because we 've made it easy to overeat. We have fast-food joints on every corner. By the way, the 'we ' is all of us. It 's not the government. It 's all of us doing this together.”(Mehmet Oz). Fast food has been affecting Americans lives since the 1919’s and 1920’s where the first fast food restaurant originated. They were called A&W in 1919 and White Castle in 1921. More than 3 million cases of obesity in America happen a year. Over time the frequency of fast food restaurants increased and became more common in people’s lives. Big fast food franchises such as McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy 's, and Pizza Hut have changed the world and not in a great way. Over 3 million cases of diabetes happen in a year and an estimated 17.5 million people died from CVDs in 2012, representing 31% of all global deaths. Diabetes is a metabolic disease in which the body’s inability to produce any or enough insulin causes elevated levels of glucose in the blood. Fast food is food that can be prepared quickly. It is easily and quickly sold in restaurants and snack bars as a quick meal or to be taken home. Obesity is the condition of being grossly fat or overweight. Cardiovascular conditions are a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels. Many people suffer from these diseases and it becomes a negative impact in their lives. Fast food causes diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular conditions.

People today believe that the government is supposed to eliminate any possible danger from the food they consume, but that is not the case. In the book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of The All-American Meal written by Eric Schlosser, he discusses numerous problems with food production. Some of these issues are discussed in the “Epilogue”, “What’s In Meat”, and “Most Dangerous Job” chapters where Schlosser elaborates on the government’s role and how workers are mistreated. In the article, “U.S. Meatpacking Under Fire: Human Rights Group Calls for Line Speed Reduction, ERGO Standards,” it explains how the working conditions in the meat packaging industry are hazardous and are violations of basic human rights. Although workers are affected by the government’s role in the food industry, consumers are affected as well. The consequences of the lack of governmental oversight, like food contamination and others, are discussed in the film Food Inc. “Escaping the Regulatory Net: Why Regulatory Reform Can Fail Consumers”, an academic journal written by Henry Rothstein, explains how “putting consumers first” is difficult for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to accomplish because with consumer’s interests that means regulatory reforms are most likely going to fail.

In the United States in 2010, “diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death” and out of all these, “a total of 234,051 death certificates [listed] diabetes as an underlying or contributing cause of death” (American Diabetes Association, 2014). In 2012, “29.1 million people or 9.3% of U.S. population have diabetes” (Center for Disease Contro, 2014). Out of 29.1 million, 21.0 million people are diagnosed and 8.1 million people are undiagnosed. About 25.9% are ages 65 and older and approximately 0.25% is under the age of 20. With the growing number of fast food restaurants opening on almost every corner, these numbers are, sadly, not very surprising. People these days have schedules that are so hectic that they almost always don’t have time to care about their well-being and have such unhealthy lifestyles. With that, serious health complications arise and unfortunately, diabetes mellitus is one of the most prevalent.

Eric Schlosser, in his nonfiction book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (2001), acknowledges that the biggest fast food chains in America first started out as small restaurants, mainly in southern California, that adapted to the changing lifestyle of Americans and revolutionized the way people eat their meals. He supports his claim by first giving a brief story of Carl N. Karcher’s life and how he began his business in the fast food industry in Anaheim, California, then he explains how “curb service” worked for customers with automobiles since cars became a more common method of transportation thus serving food to customers in their cars since they were too lazy to get out of them, only to expose the reasons of why Richard and Maurice McDonald came up with the “Speedee Service System” in 1948, which eliminated the use of carhops, waitresses, dishwashers, bus boys, dishes and glassware, and the items on their menu that had to be consumed with eating utensils; the system also adopted the guiding principles of an assembly line, dividing the responsibilities of the workers so only one person controlled one task in the food preparation, which is exactly what we see today in the fast food restaurants, and finally he mentions how every other fast food chain like Burger King, Wendy’s, and even Carl’s Jr., which was owned by Carl Karcher, copied this method

Fast food, the highly addictive food that many people can not go a day without eating. In our society today fast food has become the “norm” when we are looking for something to eat, causing our society to accept it as something to be eaten ALL the time. Fast food can affect our bodies more than most people comprehend. According to the United States Healthful Food Council, they say 8 out of 10 people eat fast food monthly and half say they even eat it weekly. By ingesting these large amounts of fatty, salty, and sweet foods, children and adults are becoming increasingly obese. Fast food causes long term negative health effects and is a direct contributor to America 's increasing obesity problems.