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Revolution of Americans and fast food
Essay about the fast food revolution
Essay about the fast food revolution
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Effects of Eating McDonalds
Ask a teenager what their favorite fast food restaurant is and most of them will probably say McDonalds. "McDonalds operates approx. 30,000 restaurants on 6 continents, and feeds about 46 million people in a single day! In the U.S. alone, McDonalds accounts for 43% of the fast food market." Manhattan alone contains 82 restaurants packed into the island (Super Size Me). McDonalds has been criticized by the media and other people for offering too many unhealthy choices on their menu, therefore leading to obesity in America. Eating too much McDonalds, or any other fatty food, will give you many long term health problems.
When Ray Kroc opened his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, the famous chain was born. The company has become very successful with having sold over one billion hamburgers within just eight years of business (McSpotlight - History of McDonalds). So if this chain is so popular, why has McDonalds been criticised so much lately? Mostly because their food options are very high in calories and fat. The most caloric item on their menu is the Triple Thick Chocolate Shake - 1160 calories, 27g of fat, 168g of sugar, and 510mg of sodium. The most fattening menu item is the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese - 740 calories, 42g of fat (19g Saturated), and 1380mg of sodium! “It delivers the highest calorie, fat, and sodium content of any sandwich or burger at McDonalds.” The other three most unhealthy foods on the top five list are: Chicken Selects with 660 calories, Grilled Chicken Club with 570 calories, and the Big Mac with 540 calories (Fitzpatrick). Only seven items on the McMenu contain no sugar - fries, sausage, coffee, Chicken McNuggets, hash browns, Diet Coke, and iced tea (Super Size ...
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America has always been about being the biggest nation: the biggest houses, the biggest cars, biggest cities and unfortunately the biggest bodies. There is no doubt that fast food is causing major health problems for many Americans today. In his documentary, Super Size Me, released in 2004 Morgan Spurlock decides to eat only food from McDonald’s for thirty days to see how it would affect his health. Spurlock starts out healthier than the average man for his age. Throughout the film, we can see that his health gradually degenerates and reaches a critical point, before his thirty days are over. Super Size Me is very persuasive in showing the negative effect in fast food restaurants by using logos, pathos, and ethos.
“Children's current levels of fast-food consumption probably are even higher because of an increase in the number of fast-food restaurants and in fast-food marketing since the late 1990s (Holguin),” stated Ludwig at CBS. Ludwig is right, and this is outside of schools. Most students eat breakfast and lunch during school hours.Therefore, these fast-foods are their main meals… unhealthy meals. Also, where is the money from that allows franchises such as McDonalds to be in high school cafeterias?
Fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society. Everywhere you turn you can see a fast food restaurant. An industry that modestly began with very few hot dog and hamburger vendors now has become a multi-international industry selling its products to paying customers. Fast food can be found anywhere imaginable. Fast food is now served at restaurants and drive-through, at stadiums, airports, schools all over the nation. Surprisingly fast food can even be found at hospital cafeterias. In the past, people in the United States used to eat healthier and prepared food with their families. Today, many young people prefer to eat fast food such as high fat hamburgers, French-fries, fried chicken, or pizza in fast
The obesity problem in this country has gotten worse, a lot worse, and the surge in obesity can be tied directly to fast food. I was appalled by the fact that since 1980 the number of people either fat of obese has doubled, and in that time frame there are twice as many overweight children and three times as many overweight adolescents. Looking strictly at the numbers, it is very easy to find a direct correlation between the number of overweight or obese individuals and the number of fast food establishments. However these fast food outlets are not created in a vacuum, they are servicing a demand. Each day one in four Americans visits a fast food restaurant. Our culture has evolved to one of immediate gratification, we want it convenient, and we want it now. The fast food industry has simply seized that cultural demand and has taken advantage of it all the way to the bank. I think we have a cultural weakness that looks for someone to blame for our problems and McDonalds certainly makes a nice target.
The American life has been transformed by the fast food industry not just changing the American diet but also the culture, workplace, economy, and the landscape. “Today about half of the money used to buy food is spent at restaurants-mainly fast food restaurants.” (Schlosser) This could be due to the fact that about two-thirds of working women are mothers. The impact of fast food on the American culture is transparent when just looking at McDonald’s. McDonald’s has become the world’s most famous brand; the golden arches are more known than the Christian cross. “A survey of American schoolchildren found that 96 percent could identify Ronald McDonald.” (Schlosser) McDonald’s is responsible for 90 percent of new jobs in The United States. The landscape has changed due to the fast food ...
However, when creating fast food restaurants, the industries were not thinking about the negative effects such as obesity. Other than obesity, other harmful effects exist as well. Fast food restaurants serve unhealthy products such as greasy foods and artificial meat that lead to dietary health issues in many adults and children. A recent study showed that “Young children who are fed processed, nutrient-poor foods are likely to become unhealthy teenagers, and eventually unhealthy adults. Now twenty-three percent of teens in the U.S. are pre-diabetic or diabetic, 22% have high or borderline high LDL cholesterol levels, and 14% have hypertension or prehypertension”
What is happening to our economy is that so many people are going to these fast food restaurants because they are basically on just about every corner. So, for adults that makes it easy if they didn’t have anything planned for dinner because they can just pick something up from the local fast food restaurant on their way home from work. Also, it is very cheap. For example, a bundle at McDonald’s can feed up to four people at one time and it only costs about fifteen dollars! So, in the long run, it is just easier to go pick up some fast food rather than wasting your time cooking an actual meal. Lastly, even though fast food is very cheap and on every corner, it is not healthy at all. Studies have proven that a person that ate McDonald’s for his meals for a full month ended up having some serious health changes. In conclusion, even though it is very easy to access and very cheap, fast food has some serious health issues and be very harmful.
Obesity is an epidemic in America. Fast food can be compared to the same type of mindless addiction as cigarettes, and can be equally as dangerous. Not only is there a problem with fast food restaurants, but the food industry as a whole. Slaughterhouses that control 80% of the market produce meat in such a way that is not healthy for consumption, in turn the products are doused in harmful chemicals and still served to the public. No wonder the obesity rate in America is 69% and rising. Obesity is a true problem in our country- people are neglecting their health and quite literally eating themselves to death.
Now, some will argue that it is not the fast food chain’s problem, that it is the customers’ problem for buying their food. But here is why they are wrong. Fast food restaurants have not made any positive changes, at least healthier ones and many people depend on something quick to go back to what they were doing, but they do not have the choice of getting something healthy because fast food restaurants do not have any healthy options. This makes the public think twice and actually end up picking something unhealthy because they do not have any other options to choose from. Moreover, fast food has also been proven to lead to heart diseases. This is due to the high cholesterol that fast food contains in their meals. By consuming a lot of cholesterol, plaque will start to build up in the walls of the arteries, which can narrow the blood flow in the coronary arteries and cause a heart attack if blood supply is completely cut off. Secondly, fast food is also the leading cause of obesity, which has become a natural problem in the fast food era. The reason why fast food leads to obesity is because their meals are high on fat and carbohydrates which add on a lot of calories. Obesity has also been linked to leading to other health problems like heart disease, diabetes, problems breathing and other serious health problems. Furthermore, fast food chains are also a critical problem because they are causing other serious health problems by adding other ingredients and additives to their food. Fast food chains are known for adding extra ingredients like sodium or an additive like trans-fat to make their food taste better. By increasing sodium intake, the individual could experience high blood pressure (hypertension), which can lead to heart attack, stroke and other health threatening diseases. On
So I guess you could say, teenagers who “cross under the golden arches of McDonalds” are doomed to a fate of obesity and diabetes. I also guess you could say shame on you Burger king for advertising unhealthy foods. Go ahead and say, it’s the restaurants fault for the $6.2 billion in health cost for diabetes. You could also come up with every excuse in the book to not exercise too; but in the end it was your choice all along.
When researching McDonald’s through online sources, it is clear that nutrition is a major concern of the public visiting the fast-food chain. Secondary research conducted shows that there are several case studies and other secondary source searches around the same topic. McDonald’s has often been the center of nutritional attention within the fast-food industry. Secondary research shows that the restaurant has recently made changes to the American Happy Meal to reduce the amount of French fries offered and replace the portion with fruit (Strom, 2011). In a study conducted by McDonald’s a secondary source reports the meal cuts calories by 20% for the children’s meal (Strom, 2011). This is a critical move by the organization on children’s obesity is currently a hot topic within food chains and attention is driven by the Obama administration. Secondary research also shows that although the public has major health concerns with the food chain, profits are increasing during a high point of an economic recession (Dahan & Gittens, 2008). Acco...
McDonald’s is delicious and convenient, and only cost a few dollars. On days were you are extremely busy they are there to serve whatever you would like from the menu. Sometimes it seems as though you can access it quicker than a trip to the grocery store. Even though, you know you will be hungry again later, you still pull up and go through the drive thru and place the order. While placing your order do you ever think of what this kind of food is doing to your body? Alternatively, that for just a few dollars that conveniently priced meal over time could cause your health to deteriorate. Fast food restaurants are adding to the obesity epidemic. Living in the age were technology has taken the place of personal interactions,
“For someone not to know that a big mac is unhealthy is ignorance, and ignorance is not the responsibility of the fast food industry,” (Daniel Speiser). The amount of fast food joints has largely increased which has become a problem for many people throughout the United States. Several people place the blame for the rising obesity among children on the rising fast food industries due to its convenience, price, advertising, and somewhat un-nutritional content. Some people even take it as far as court to place blame on the fast food industries and for those industries to make changes to their restaurants. The high percentage of obese children in the United States is not caused by the fast food industry. The obesity epidemic has other outside influences, the fast food industries have changed dramatically, and people should take responsibility for their own consumptions. It is time for people to stop placing the blame on others and take responsibility for themselves and their actions.
According to some of my friends, their parents buy more unprocessed and local foods rather than the usual processed foods (Mei, Murray). There could also be children, or teens, whose parents simply don’t allow them to eat at a fast-food restaurant quite often. Unfortunately, according to the table below McDonald’s seems to be the fast-food chain restaurant that is targeting the youth the most (see table 1). Nowadays, many parents tend to take their kids to a fast-food restaurant simply because it’s easier and faster to order food then it is to cook an entire meal (Murray). Not only is eating out, or at least take out, efficient, but it’s also less stressful on the parents. Children can tend to be very picky eaters, well most of them at least. My younger cousin for one refuses to eat anything green, unless it’s a cucumber. As we progress more and more into our culture of industrialized eating, we need to consider what we are risking in the long run. There’s actually many different things that not only college students but the entire population could do to help reduce our risks in the long run. For one, it would be to stop eating so frequently at these fast-food restaurants. I know many of my peers, who I went to high school with, would often go to McDonald’s for breakfast before school started. Fortunately, at Denison, it’s not that common for us to go to McDonald’s for breakfast; probably because the closest one is in the next town
Fast Food in my opinion is a big reason for the giant increase in obesity rates. Fast food is more convenient than ever since there is practically a place around every corner. For teens this food becomes nearly an everyday thing that transfers into adulthood.