A huge controversy we are dealing with in American society today is obesity; Obesity is defined as a condition characterized by the excessive accumulation and storage of fat in the body, and this issue has really become a huge epidemic. Society has tagged obesity as a “disease” and it seems that it is becoming the case due to the fact that it is causing more problems for the general health of the American population. This is because more and more people are becoming susceptible to obesity and the problem is becoming harder and harder to fight. These disease aspects also come from the general idea that when you are obese your risk for life threatening illnesses are severely increased, and many obese individuals do not live nearly as long as healthier persons. In all fairness, most people are not educated on the subject of weight gain and loss. There are “magic pills,”, exercise machines, and “unbelievable diets” and just about anything you can think of.  Yes, exercise is a contributor in weight loss but the main factor is diet but that is the missing key that most people do not have. Diet is crucial when dealing with weight gain/loss because what you eat is the fuel for your body. Similar to putting mid-grade gasoline in a Ferrari, it is not smart to put empty calories in a human body. The fast food corporations are huge contributors to obesity in this country and this industry preys on young children with tasty entities and start a horrific trend in order to gain billions of dollars in profit. The fast food industry has a negative influence that directly impacts the obese population and many individuals in this group do not have proper knowledge on what they are consuming. 

Obesity is an issue to me because health is wealth and many people do not believe how bad fast food is for the human body. Millions of people are losing their loved ones to heart attacks, heart liver, and kidney failures, coronary heart disease and many other life-threatening problems. Furthermore, millions of people continue to live their lives with chronic illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and other issues. As sad as these issues are, many people do not know that plenty of these health issues can be totally prevented. Many people have the same question as I do: Why are Americans so fat? Is it exercise? Diet? Genetics? Fast food? There is answer is very un-clear. In my research I found a few studies that deal with advocacy of weight gain, the weight trend that has started since the 1980s, and journals that help appeal to why we gain weight. Opinions can be debated over but facts cannot; however, a huge issue is the fact that most individuals are not educated on these types of subjects. For example, many fast food organizations received a ton of scrutiny years ago because they didn’t have nutritional values of the foods they were serving in plain sight. Laws were passed back in 2010 that forced fast food and any other eateries to have nutritional values of their foods in plain sight/accessible to the customer. Nowadays majority of establishments have caloric numbers of the food in the menu that you order from.  This law was very helpful for those who are conscious of what they eat and would like to know the calories of a food before they purchase it. This law helps in regard that people know the calories of what they are eating, but it doesn’t help with people being told to eat right. A lot of people don’t make the right food choices simply because they are not told how to eat a healthy and balanced diet. How would you be able to make better decisions if nobody told you to make them? This is where the issue lies in the fast food fiasco. In the year 2012, fast food restaurants spent $4.6 billion dollars on marketing (Harris et al.,). We see hundreds of advertisements a day, and are told to consume, consume, consume. Nickelodeon is a popular children’s television network and a study was conducted in 2013 and it revealed that 70 percent of the ads on the network were about unhealthy foods (Center for Science in the Public Interest). How would you feel if your child saw 70% of their TV ads on food? What do you think they will think about majority of the time? The issue becomes the fact that they see all of these ads and have no instance of control or moderation because they are subject to it all the time. 

The frequent advertisements of fast foods in our country has a direct correlation with the amount of money spent on the fast food industry. The United States leads the entire world in consumption of fast food (New York Times). Back in 2015, it was concluded that Americans spend $384 Billion a year on fast food (The Daily Mail). Needless to say, we have a ton of interest and resources invested into the fast food industry. This investment has not been a positive return for the U.S. Instead, America has been the world leading country in heart issues, cancer, deaths from heart problems, childhood and adult obesity (U.S. News). All of these issues point to one contributor, fast food. Let’s think about it; there has never been a case where an individual severely gains weight from a healthy and balanced diet. Every case we come across, the person’s health issues stem from years of an unhealthy diet and lack of proper exercise.  Obesity is a huge issue in our country that needs to be dealt with. Obesity is not a priority in this country and that is an issue. It has even gotten to the point to where there is a show called, ‘My 600-lb Life.” When did it become acceptable to parade the obese like they are in a talent show? These individuals should not be on television: they should be seeking advice for the betterment of their health. I think the problems of obesity stem from the fast food industry and the lack of knowledge the consumers in the industry have. People in this country need to be educated on the type of foods they put in their bodies, for example: working out and then not eating the proper diet negates the effect of attempting to lose weight. A lot of internet blogs claim that exercise is everything; however, the research backs up the information that diet combined with exercise is the biggest factor for a person’s weight. Also, the purpose of ordering a diet coke is defeated the second you also add large fries and super-size your order from McDonald’s. There is no true answer for why millions of people keep running back to fast food. For some, they simply do not know that the consistent diet of unhealthy foods cause weight gain and major issue for their health. Some people are truly addicted to fast food because the ingredients in the food truly have addicting agents; the food corporations want you to come back for more and will take any and every measures to achieve this goal. For others, they truly cannot afford to eat healthier meals daily and have to result to buying cheap, processed foods. The information about their diet is so limited and the ignorance has caused a massive rise in overweight and obese individuals in our country for the last thirty years. If we cannot solve the fast food crisis in our country, America will continue to have issues and the condition of these issues will continue to worsen in the long run. 

 Is fast food the real reason behind the expanding waistline crisis? Yes, because I believe that if you take fast food out of the equation, many of people’s health issues go away. NBC news posted a piece on this very subject and this article discusses whether the fast food industry is responsible for the trend of weight gain in America. The article also depicts the weight gain among different minorities and their genders. You can also see the amount of money Americans spend on food at home vs. food on the go. Listed on the next page are the graphs from the study. Roland Sturm, from Pardee RAND Graduate School, preformed a study about the body mass index in different ethnicities over time and also the amount of money spent at home vs. money spent on fast food. According to Rand Corp, although there are differences in obesity in racial and ethnic groups, all of them are gaining weight at about the same rate. So there is no specific outlier that is causing the data to skew. Everyone is getting fatter, no matter the skin color. BMI is also calculated in these graphs. BMI stands for Body Mass Index, and it is a rating given based on the appropriate weight range for a given height. Graph 1 shows the weigh trend of multiple races starting from the year 1986. As you can see, the graph climbs at an alarming rate. Graph 2 depicts the same results but for women. Graph 3 shows the amount of money 

Americans spend on two food categories and the decline of disposable income throughout the years.

The BMI of Americans has increased tremendously since the 1980s, for men and women. This is a huge issue. More than 60% of all Americans get no form of exercise. The article comes from some researchers at Arizona State University. They presented the facts that more than one-third of the U.S. population is obese, with 6.4% being extremely obese (Lorts). The rate of obesity has increased by 134% since 1980 (Lorts). There was a study limited to 548 obese adults and interactions between the patients and their healthcare providers. Of the 548 in the sample, only 48% percent were given advice within the last 12 months from their healthcare provider to lose weight with good diet and exercise (Lorts). The article later goes on to say that those who received advice to lose weight, 72% of them said they attempted to lose weight (Lorts). Those who were not advised to lose weight, 60% of them said they were attempting to lose weight (Lorts). It brings in a pretty large sample size and talks about the ethnic populations, income, and the education level of those participated in the study. At the end of the article, the author declares that there are no conflicts of interest and I happen to agree. There does not seem that there is a side taken, just facts presented. There are no obvious signs of bias from the author. 

Super Size Me is an American film that is directed by and features Morgan Spurlock. Spurlock eats pretty healthy but he thought similar to me. Is fast food really that bad for the American population? Spurlock decides that for thirty days he will eat McDonalds for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He monitors his progress and it is a very tough journey. He visits the hospital, many occasions of vomiting, tremendous fat gain, and many other issues. Spurlock ends the movie with his point being that the large consumption of fast food is not good for the human population. Many people would agree with Spurlock because they can physically see the journey he is going through. You can witness his struggles and the deterioration of his health. Spurlock to me seems very credible. It is obvious he’s bias against fast food or he wouldn’t be on a campaign to try and see if it hurts his body. He had to have known that the food would have done damage to his health, or else why would he do the experiment in the first place? Many people would also believe that Spurlock is credible because he’s just like us. He’s an average American citizen with a wife. Spurlock should be giving a ton of respect/credit for sacrificing his body to prove a point. His findings at the end of the movie were astounding. In the thirty-day period, Spurlock gained 25 pounds, his liver turned to fat, and his cholesterol shot up 65 points. His body fat percentage went from 11% to 18%, he doubled his risk for coronary heart disease, and he made himself twice as likely to have heart failure. Spurlock recalls a consistent feeling of depression and exhaustion with constant mood swings on this diet, and his sex life was non-existent. Spurlock craved McDonald’s more and more every time he kept eating it, and he received massive headaches when he did not satisfy these cravings. It took Morgan two months of a vegan diet and exercise to lose only 20 pounds. Spurlock was blessed with the best of a bad situation. Plenty of other people could’ve had way more health issues. At around day 22 and 23, Spurlock was waking up in the middle of the night with shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and chest tightness. Morgan had seen three specialists before his diet to record his normal body levels and ask them questions of what he should expect while on this McBinge. When he went to go see his specialists on day 23, they all strongly advised him to come off the diet. They were generally concerned for his health and believed he was doing much more damage than even they expected. Spurlock was considered to be above average for his physical shape and maybe that is why he got away with what some would consider minor detriments to his health. Imagine had this been for someone who was predisposed with serious health risk. Yes, this is an extreme case being that no one really eats the diet consistently like the diet Mr. Spurlock attempted; however, many people eat similarly to this diet. Some people consume fast food every day. The fact that Mr. Spurlock put his body and physical health on the line to try and prove a point, shows the bias against the fast food industry. This is not only being an impressive feat, but it is unprecedented for what Spurlock tried to prove. It has never been documented before where somebody wanted to test the limits of their body because they simply wanted to see what happened. Morgan Spurlock knew that the fast food company would not tell you the damages that their products could cause and therefore he had to take a risk. With his 30-day diet, he was able to tell numerous people the struggle he went through and the issues these foods that billions of us eat every day can cause.

What fact proves that fast food is the cause of obesity? Some will say that fast food is bad when it is not eaten in moderation (Huffington Post).  On top of that, why can’t people just cut out fast food altogether? Corporate businessmen will lie and say there is nothing wrong with the food they serve. They’ll explain that the food is fine in moderation; however, they will be quick to market the product everywhere. They will also not tell the individuals buying the food to eat in moderation. The reasons there are coupons and specials because they want you to keep coming back and spending more money. They are selling you an addiction and it can’t be refunded. Cornell University published a study claiming that a poor nutritional diet was not to blame for obesity in the United States. The University study proclaimed that fast food, sugar, candy and other products do not lead to weight gain for 95% of the population (Cornell University). The issue I have with this claim is the evidence behind it. The article shows no source of graphs or statistics, so how am we supposed trust what one study says? Especially when there are no statistics or graphs presented. At this point, the Cornell facts are just heresy and invalid. 

The general public needs to be educated on the types of foods they put in their bodies. Who is responsible for that? The fast food business. Some establishments do not even have a nutritional facts sheet up in a clear and plain view. Fast food places expect people to eat things simply because they want them to and people will eat these foods because they look and taste delectable; however, when people sue these companies claiming that their food is the reason they are fat, companies will deny and use moderation as an excuse. Essentially, it is like they are asking you to ride in a car without a seatbelt and then saying it was your fault when you’re ejected in an accident. It just doesn’t make sense. It frustrates me that these companies are worried about their pockets. But what else should I expect? The issue of our obesity starts with the education of consumers. If we try to give people healthy alternatives and explain to them that moderation is key, we can already make a difference for people who would like to lose weight. Obesity will never be cured; it is truly impossible. But we can help those who are willing to try and better their lives. The first step is attempting to change your lifestyle habits. Fast food has become an everlasting cycle that is extremely hard to break.
