American Culture's Infatuation with Fast Food

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Near the core of American culture that dearly loves liberty, lies its love for fast food and all that it offers. The fast food industry was initially created as a moneymaking enterprise that marketed itself as a time effective source of food, but over the years it has strayed from its marketing promise to save Americans’ time. Many Americans are regulars at one, or more, of the numerous fast food restaurants in the United States, because they want to save valuable time that otherwise would be squandered in the kitchen. The time that consumers envision they save while eating at fast food restaurants is wrongly perceived; the host of health issues linked to fast food consumption eventually eats away at any time people might have saved. By eating fast food, efficiency is lost due to its unhealthy nature, not only for the copious amounts of fats and salts it contains, but also because it lacks of vital nutrients. The people in America have fallen head over heals for fast food, because they have conceived the notion that eating fast food is more efficient. In a society that is advancing technologically, providing instant information and communication, people look to maximize efficiency. That, however, is not the only reason that America is obsessed with fast food; people also love the taste of food that the major franchises produce, and have been indoctrinated at a young age to do so. By falling pray to the relative ease of access, “great taste,” and intense advertising campaigns of fast food companies, Americans have become dependent on fast food not only to sustain themselves, but also their culture. The sustenance that American’s seek at fast food restaurants is not providing them with balanced and nutritious meals need to fuel a h... ... middle of paper ... ... Mar. 2014. Gómez-Pinilla, Fernando. "Brain Foods: The Effects Of Nutrients On Brain Function." Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9.7 (2008): 568-578. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. Helm, Burt. "Ethnic Marketing: McDonald's Is Lovin' It." Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 8 July 2010. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. Orciari, Megan. "Fast food companies still target kids with marketing for unhealthy products." Yale News. N.p., 4 Nov. 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. "The Obesity Problem." Promote Health Through Diet and Exercise. University of Utah, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. "The Research Provides New Clues to Obesity Epidemic." New Release. The Scripps Research Institute, 23 Mar. 2010. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. Wolpert, Stuart. "Scientists learn how what you eat affects your brain - and those of your kids." UCLA Newsroom. UCLA, 9 July 2008. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

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