The Pros And Cons Of Fast Food

Fast food chains are a rapidly growing industry. Although it is popular, it is not healthy for people, especially children. Schools shouldn’t serve fast food because it will cost more, it’ll lead to diabetes and heart disease, and increased weight gain.

In David Zinczenko’s article “Don’t Blame the Eater” he focuses on the fast food industry and their role in the increasing health and obesity issues of our nation’s children, as well as these issues potentially becoming a serious problem that we will all have to deal with if we collectively don’t do something about it now. When it comes to the topic of fast food, most of us can agree that it is not the best source of nutrition. It is unhealthy and can be the cause of many serious health issues with our children such as obesity related Type 2 diabetes, stomach ulcers and even heart disease, high cholesterol, sleep apnea or even cancer. We can even agree that fast-food diets are a major contributing factor to

There are various different perspectives on the issue of fast food. Some people believe that this

This food is available in a wide variety of places for low prices. These kinds of cheap foods are unhealthy and highly contribute to obesity. Many people enjoy going out to dinner at restaurants like Applebee’s or TGI Friday’s where the food is good and not too expensive. But most of this food is greasy, deep fried or covered in sauces. Some families go out to eat at places like this once or twice a week, and all the fatty/ greasy food they eat will eventually cause problems unless they do something about it. Fast food restaurants are allowed to air commercials during children’s television programs in hopes they will pressure their parents to take them there to

Brand name fast-food items now account for almost 50% of schools sales (Brockett). As one can see, the financial benefits of the brand names in lunches can help boost a school’s declining profit. If fast-food was taken away from menus, many schools would fail to break even and have to cut their staff (Brockett). “Financially, it’s better for us if we go up to 400 meals” said Amy Hedrick, a food service supervisor in California (Lehmann). If she tries to sell off brand pizzas, her profit declines dramatically as she only sells 250 to 300 pizzas. If kids are being forced to eat healthy through their school lunch, they will leave the school over their lunch hour and go find a fast food restaurant. Even if they don’t leave, will taking away their brand name foods really solve the problem? The solution is not to frighten kids away with putting bans on school lunches. Rather, teach them about nutritional values of the healthier options and leaving them the choice, as it talks about in “The State Has No Place In The Lunch Bags Of A Nation”. If students know the benefits of eating healthy, they will start to turn away from fast

The government may not be the only responsible party for what is going on in America, Fast Food corporations have grown into a part of everyday life. Relentless advertising focused on children with the use cartoon characters and larger portions or extra sizes to entice people. Yves Engler, author of Obesity: Much of the Responsibility Lies with Corporations, points out it’s not only fast food restaurants where unhealthy products are being consumed, but also soft drink companies with high calorie soda pop who are giving money to cash-strapped schools to advertise their product on school televisions. Meanwhile targeting young children who get their parents to buy their products. Engler proposes a solution regarding the increase in childhood obesity by first stating that vending machines should be removed from schools and the

The food industry has mastered the delicate art of trickery over many years and has been able to convince consumers to buy their products, thinking they are healthy, when in reality they are contributing immensely to the obesity epidemic in America. Food corporations have developed a marketing strategy where they target juvenile audiences with their products. The companies do this by having advertisements on children's television programs encouraging children to buy their processed, high-sugar food products. Companies get kids’ attention by including beloved children's figures with their commercials, thus piquing their interest. Children view their favorite characters on television programs and ask their parents or guardians to purchase the items for them and the parents, remaining blissfully unaware that they are relinquishing their child's health to mass food corporations, concede and buy the food, which causes their child to become unhealthy and eventually obese. Another way food companies market their products is by embedding their advertisements with words like “Cheap, easy, fast”, which appeals to low income families looking for a inexpensive meal, or families on the go that need to quickly get a bite to eat. Due to the fact that unhealthy fast food choices are often the easiest method for gaining a quick meal, more and more families are

These corporations know that we have long work hours, chronic stress, and lack of sleep, making us prone to put on excessive weight. They increase portion sizes, create more opportunities for snack times, for example vending machines in schools and add ingredients to foods that make you want to eat more. Examples of common ingredients in foods and drinks that can cause you to want to eat more are: sugar, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, aspartame and refined mineral-depleted salt(“Food Industry and Obesity”). Because of this knowledge factory owners know exactly what to do to get us to buy their products, therefore making us vulnerable to excessive weight gain.Not only do food companies target adult, but also children. Bill Whitaker, a CBS News correspondent conducted a similar study of TV ads on kids. The results showed that American children are bombarded with commercials for unhealthy foods that contain a lot of salt, fat, and sugars.Children are an easy target for the food industry. Young and impressionable, children are eager to eat whatever looks and tastes good.(Voiland and Haupt). The food industry is now capable of influencing the youth of America, making it easier to raise the rate of being overweight and or obese. Mcdonald's being the largest fast food industry has found ways to attract children. A cheeseburger Happy Meal has 520 calories, 20 grams of total fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 50

Many Fast food companies target children because they are young and are good at persuading their parents to get what they want. “It’s not just getting kids to whine” (Schlosser 43). Fast food companies target kids based on what they are looking for which is money. “The decade of the child consumer” (Schlosser 43). Americans need to pay close attention to how their children spend their money. As more kids visit fast food restaurants, companies will come out with more items for kids to purchase as time goes along. More companies in America will keep targeting kids because they see an advantage in it that the reader does not see. “We see this as a great opportunity” (Scholosser 48). In the meantime, an employee at a fast food restaurant will sell fast food items to kids because they want their money in order to increase the business. As more fast food companies make sales, this will create a dynamic bond between parents and their children because the reader ponders how the fast food industry is affecting their children. As more kids leave after school to go and have something to eat with friends at a Taco Bell, or Pizza Hut, kids will buy food based on what they may be craving during lunchtime. “Research has shown children are more likely to choose foods with familiar logos” (Heyes). At some point in time, there will be millions of parents who will talk to their kids about their active interest in visiting fast food restaurants after school all of the time. The reader may

Fast-food industries may try to “target children in their ads”, but it ultimately comes down to the adults-the parents- choosing to dine at these places and pork up their kids on the high-sugar sodas, salty French fries, and greasy burgers. If they would just take the time to look out the window, they would see the healthy alternatives to fast-food, and how the alternatives are literally right in front of

Children are hit hard with all of the advertisement of fast food places and although the results are positive for the companies, the health of these children ends up in a negative.

They also offer a false sense of control. You appear to have many choices - a Big Mac, a cheeseburger, a quarter pounder, a double quarter pounder or a "Big 'N' Tasty" - but they're all pre-packaged, frozen, pre-cooked hamburger. If you want to be radical, have fried chicken, fried fish pieces, even flatbread sandwiches. But you have no control over portion size, or the way your meal is cooked. One of the ways we learn who we are is by the choices we make. Americans let this happen. Now fast-food corporations are infiltrating our public schools, in the form of funds in exchange for advertising. The deliberate marketing soft drink and fast-food companies direct at the youngest of children is wrong. It seem that Americans have just become so used to the fact that McDonalds is always there for when they are running late and do not have time to fix dinner. Or to calm their children down if they are acting up. Fast food industries make it so easy for people to be lazy. The number of obese adults and children in America has risen directly alongside the increase of fast-food restaurants and has extracted high personal, physical, and financial cost to the nation. In the end Americans are like guinea pigs for the fast food industries, being used to see what they can do and how far they can go.

As mentioned before people frequent the fast food locations and have joyous memories within it. (Supersize Me) The Franchise owners conveniently offer special packages to save money and invite the family to indulge in the food. The people take this offer instead of planning a healthy alternative use this as the easiest instead of doing the other option. The government lets this pass and do not attempt to change the culture that surrounded by fast food.American government actually promoted the consumption of it in schools by the option for students to buy the fast food products for lunch.(SuperSize Me) Even a guest speaker who went to the school to talk about obesity promoted the consumption at one of the fast food chains. The franchises connect with the people on a personal level with special promotions to bring new people to spend money. The government lenient and in favor of it in a system that include children with the available option to consume fast food on a daily basis. The people that buy into this and ignore the fact that overconsumption is the cause of obesity. “... content… eating… an industrial food chain...”.(Omnivore’s Dilemma) This cycle could end with the simple solution of the agreement between the contributors to this issue , yet the American society would rather find a cause and blame it for the entire result.

Even though some advertisements stimulate our appetite, those advertisements don't say that their fast food is healthy. Moreover, it has been often said that fast food has bad effects for our health, through newspaper, television, and other media. Most people should know these facts. To add to that, as I mentioned before, there are some fast food shops which serve health foods compared to other fast food shops, so if people are really concerned about their health, they can choose those fast food shops. Therefore, the problem should be attributed not to the fast food companies, but to individual choice.

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.