Fast food restaurants are places where everyone goes to eat to get a quick bite, but people don’t understand the effects of it overall on health and business. Many of us don’t think twice about what we eat and this could really affect us and the society. There should at least be some changes in the way food is made, and how they should sell it and where because all this comes into factor with our lives. This research paper will explain how we need to get rid of fast-food restaurants in our society because it causes health problems, targets the low wealth communities through affordable prices, and they convince people to buy through false advertisements.
To begin with, we all know that fast food isn’t good for us, but yet we still eat it which isn’t the best thing to do as it can cause major health issues. One major health problem it can cause is obesity or also being overweight which most Americans are.“Overweight is defined as a body mass index of 25 kg m^-2 or over and obesity as a BMI of greater than 30 kg m^-2.”(Rosenheck R.) With this, we should be able to see how fast food affects our overall health by having too high of body masses and because of this, fast food isn’t the best way to go. Being obese can cause lots of issues and could also kill us, all in all, we shouldn’t be living this way knowing that we could “experience a short life expectancy.” (Rosenheck R.) all because we didn’t choose the healthiest choices to eat. Calories are another factor that fits into our health problems relating to fast food. We should be more careful in what we eat because we go through more calories than we are supposed to. According to Gale student resources from the article Fast Food and Obesity, “the daily recommended calories falls between 1,000 to 2,000 per day”,(Fast Food and Obesity), and just a big mac by itself is 540 calories not adding a drink and fries which could add up already in just one meal to the 1,000 calories. As we can see from this in just one meal we could have already been done with the recommended calories in which we already pass the limit per day.
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To add, another reason why we need to get rid of fast food is that it's not actually real food. Real food is something that comes fresh from a grocery store or we make it homemade, not bought and prepackaged. Some fast food that we eat is “processed to the point of not decomposing after more than a decade is not actually real food and shouldn't be consumed.”(Mercola, Joseph) Since our food is processed so much why do we eat it? We eat it because we are so used to society giving us these types of things that we don’t care if it's bad so we do it anyways or in this case eat it anyways. Fast food places do this so they can gain profit which has, “transformed American dining into a tasteless, unhealthy, prepackaged experience.”(Marcel, Joyce) We can see by this how since the society really only cares about making money they don’t mind having people become obese or overweight by eating unhealthy food.
In addition, to add to the health issues is that fast food isn’t safe for us as some foods can carry diseases. Some restaurants don’t look into if their food is good so they just give it out and that isn’t the right thing to do. “About 200,000 people get sick every day from a foodborne disease. Of these, 14 die…USDA does not inform the public when contaminated meat is recalled
from fast-food industries.”(Swasy, Alecia) Looking into this quote, we can tell that they try to hide what really goes into their food so that they won’t get a bad reputation and so they can make a profit. Do we really want to let society do this? Do we really want to get a disease and have to spend our own money to get better from what a fast food restaurant caused? No, none of us would really want this to happen, but it does because we aren’t careful. Another fact is that “millions of animals continue to live in confined spaces; suffer mutilation, overfeeding, and neglect, and are slaughtered inhumanely”.(Tracy Brown Collins) They do this as another way to easily make a profit by killing as many animals as they could so the fast food industry could have them ready and packaged and ready to sell. This could also be another reason why some foods carry diseases because when packaging or killing they aren’t sanitary.
Next, Fast food is mostly targeted to the low-wealth communities in poorer areas. They do this knowing that people in the poorer areas won’t go to actual costly restaurants because they can’t afford it. They are wrong though because some actually travel a bit to go to an actual restaurant that sells real food. In this case, since they target the low-wealth communities those communities are more likely to get the diseases and become obese than say high-class people or communities. For example, “ in South Central LA, where a Los Angeles Times survey found that 46 percent of restaurants are fast food chains, compared with 12 percent on the Westside of LA”. (Diet-conscious Los Angeles Eyes moratorium fast-food outlets) Using this example, we see how there are more restaurants for poorer communities because it's inexpensive and probably closer for those who work more than one job to get a quick lunch than going back home to get food or make food. It is also fast in preparation so they won’t take long to get back to work. However, even though it's convenient they should have these fast food places, but with healthier options. Another way they target the low-wealth community is by making fast food cheap so it will make people, even more, want to buy it. They tend to “tempt us with empty calories at cheap prices, they offer comfort food and honest value”. (Beato, Greg) They do this so we can buy their food, and so that we don’t starve.
Furthermore, the lower-wealth communities tend to be more Latinos and of the African American race than Whites meaning that society thinks lower of the low-wealth communities with that race than the white race and that is why high communities have more fresh restaurants that sell real and not processed or prepackaged food. With this, “low-income individuals don’t have access to transportation, as a walk to the grocery store could be farther than a fast food restaurant and feeding their families is, therefore, quicker, easier and less expensive.”(Tamara Thompson) Why is it that fast food places are closer to people than grocery stores? We can tell by this that they really now only care about the profit than how people’s health is. If grocery stores were closer we would see a change in people’s choices in food and fewer people would have health problems. Also if there were just changes in our society people wouldn’t suffer so much. For example, “reducing prices on healthful foods is a public health strategy that should be implemented.” (Simone A. French) People would think this is a good idea and would make better choices and have enough to buy fresh groceries so that they can make fresh food that’s not processed or prepackaged and high in calories.
Next, advertising is a big factor that makes people want to get or eat fast food. Advertisements are either in magazines, news articles, or posted on boards, and the most famous thing that shows advertisements is on television. They are posted in these areas so people can notice or see them so that they would want it or want to go buy it. Advertisements persuade people to buy by making things look better than what they actually are or they make something catchy that will catch a person's attention to buy. For example, “Analysts attribute children’s unhealthy eating habits to this barrage of junk food advertisements”.(Jamuna Carroll) This shows how advertisements cause people and especially kids to have bad eating habits which could lead up to health issues. “There is the advertising of junk food to more than 6,000 young people through TV commercials and other types of media.”(Bubar, Joe) The advertisements that show junk food go to more kids' channels and media because they are more likely to buy or want it than adults because they don’t know much about what’s healthy and what’s not yet. Another thing is that is issue with advertising is that “foods are prepared in a way that they look delicious”.(PR Newswire) This means that they either falsely advertise to make food look good or it’s good but not healthy. False advertisements can lead to some nasty fast food too.
In conclusion, this research paper explained why fast food places should be gone and changed into healthier places. From this, we learned to be careful in what we choose to eat as a meal because it can lead to health problems like obesity, being overweight, and getting food-borne diseases. People should become aware of this and choose not to eat fast food. Another thing is that it targets the low-wealth communities so people could buy more and that it’s cheap which should change. Lastly, advertisements affect the way we eat as they promote unhealthy food mostly to children, but also to everyone and we should be more cautious of this.
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