Preview

Proposal for Research on Fast Foods

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
904 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Proposal for Research on Fast Foods
Proposal: Change in the fast food industry (we can take a specific restaurant like McDonald’s) to fight obesity
Fast food and obesity
The relationship between a nation's fast food consumption and its rate of obesity has been studied. Schlosser said "it seems wherever America's fast food chains go, waistlines inevitably start expanding."
Schlosser argues that the North America has the highest obesity rate of any industrialized nation. More than half of all adults and about one-quarter of all children are now classified as obese or overweight. Those proportions are believed to have increased dramatically during the last few decades, along with the consumption of fast food, with the rate of obesity among North American children twice as high as in the late 1970s.
An obese person is someone with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or higher. Today about 44 million American adults are considered obese, with an additional 6 million so-called super-obese i.e. they weigh about a hundred pounds more than they should. Schlosser comments that "No other nation in history has gotten so fat so fast." In simple terms, Schlosser argues, when people eat more and move less, they get fat. In North America, people have become increasingly sedentary and consume more restaurant meals, including fast food. As people eat more food outside the home, they consume more calories, less fiber, and more fat.
We propose some changes in the fast food industry to reduce rates of obesity and improve overall health of our nation.
Possible changes: * Phase out artificial trans fan in all restaurants; * Require calorie labeling in restaurants; * Make activity more accessible, by, for example, building communities to allow more walking or biking. * Regulate TV food ads aimed at children and mandate equal time for pro-nutrition messages. * Ban fast foods and soft drinks from schools, instead forging school contracts with sports-related companies. * Restructure school lunch

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    A common, yet often ignored, issue in today's society is obesity in young adults. Everywhere you go there is streets crammed with fast food restaurants serving way more food than people actually need. The foods, along with their prices, are irresistible just because they seem like a value. Of course we could try regulating our diets by reading nutritional facts, then again, who actually understands what it all means. Tackling this has one solution that may not be the easiest, but can result in a longer lifespan than what is currently being predicted. The chain restaurants we are all familiar with will not be closing their doors anytime soon, so instead it is the job of young adults everywhere to have the willpower to control how much of the…

    • 1533 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    c. Before discussing facts of the article, I feel that it is important that we become familiar with the platform of the “Let’s Move” campaign. The campaign’s strategies are changing nutritional labeling of products by the United States Department of Agriculture, improving the nutritional standards of school lunches, increasing children’s opportunities for exercise and physical activity, and improving access to better quality foods in the U.S. This campaign is effective at targeting individuals as well as larger communities. However, the authors list some important information that should be considered while trying to prevent childhood obesity.…

    • 1451 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Modest proposal paper

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Scientific research has been made over the problem of obesity in the US, and the numbers thrown, by this research, indicate that the amount of obese people in the United States of America is around 100.000.000 people, which makes almost one third of the population.…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Curing of an Epidemic

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Over the last few generations, obesity has become more common than it has ever been. Spurlock states in Girth of a Nation that “[t]he obesity epidemic is truly nationwide, cutting across class, race, ethnicity and gender” (25). In the past the only group who was obese was the wealthy, due to the fact that the lower classes did not have enough money to buy food enough to make them obese. Nowadays, a lot of food items have been made cheap for everyone, but this food is not necessarily nutritious. Spurlock points out that the rise in obesity appears to coincide with the rise of fast food (31). Fast food gives everyone a chance to get a plethora of non-nutritious food “fast, cheap, and easy.” In addition to getting the food cheap, one can choose to “super-size” the meal making it twice as harmful to the body.…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Supersize Me Debate Essay

    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Alison Motluk believes that people who are obese shouldn 't be to blame for their obesity. (562). Motluk claims that “In 1992 about 13 percent of Americans were clinically obese...ten years later that figure skyrocketed to 22 percent...” (562). Many other countries such as the UK, Australia, and many other Western countries are following the United States lead in the obese epidemic, which is seen as one of the developed world 's biggest public-health problems. (563). Motluk claims that people who are obese can 't actually be blamed for it because the culture in the United States promotes obesity which makes unhealthy eating the default option. (563). Motluk quotes Martin Brinks, a psychologist at Duke University 's Diet and Fitness Center, when she states that calorie rich foods are much more easier to obtain than ever before. (563). This is proven by the fact that most of the average American 's food budget is spent on food that is eaten outside of the home, most of which is high in fat and calories. (563). Portion sizes are larger than they used to be, making the consumer want to eat more. (563). In the 1960s a McDonald 's meal of a hamburger, fries, and a twelve-ounce coke contained about 590 calories but now a quarter-pounder with cheese, super sized fries, and a coke contains around 1,550 calories. (563). This really goes to show how much of a change that America has done when considering diet. Motluk provides a valid argument that children are not receiving enough physical activity to balance the amount of calories that they are consuming. (563). In schools, many children do not even participate in a gym class. (563). There is also little to no walking access anymore in towns that are very developed because there are little to no sidewalks available, thus forcing people to drive…

    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Essay 3 Final Draft

    • 2301 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Walk into any all you can eat restaurant and look around. There are servers busy waiting tables and clearing dishes. There are diners eating and chatting. The smell of cooking food lingers in the air, steam rises from the hot food tables and the chocolate cake on the dessert bar is looking quite tempting. Look a little harder though, particularly at the diners sitting at the tables. Are they looking a little overweight to you? How about the customers just walking through the door behind you, do they look like they could afford to miss a meal? The answer is probably a resounding yes. There are a staggering number of people severely overweight. In America obesity is fast becoming an epidemic, second only to smoking. According to the Centers for Disease Control one-third of adults in the United States are obese and another third are overweight (Freedman, 2011, para. 1). The effects of the nation’s obesity epidemic are immense: taxpayers, businesses, communities, and individuals have spent hundreds of billions of dollars each year because of obesity. This includes an estimated $168 billion in medical costs (CDC). Obesity is the reason that the current generation of youth is predicted to live a shorter life than their parents.…

    • 2301 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Obesity is an epidemic in America. It has had an alarmingly growing prevalence rate since the 1960’s: almost 34% for adults alone. The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2010 and rising yearly. Obesity occurs across all socioeconomic groups regardless of race, gender and age. Studies do show that obesity occurs in America’s minority and ethnic populations at slightly higher rates, 25% more than white Americans. According to the centers for disease control and prevention (CDC), an alarming 1/3 of U.S adults are obese. Another 1/3 is overweight, leaving 68.8 percent of the total population of the United States overweight or obese! No state met the nation 's Healthy People 2010 goal to lower obesity prevalence to 15%. Rather, in 2010, there were 12 states with an obesity prevalence of 30%. A person is considered obese if he or she has a BMI of 30 or higher, which is a weight of at least 20% more than the maximum healthy weight for his or her height. To be considered overweight he or she must have a BMI of 25-29.…

    • 2502 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Knowing what is in your fast food might make you think twice the next time you devour it. As the rise of the fast food nation in America has increased to an all-time high, so has the weight and waists of Americans all around the country. Not only has the United States grown to love the acquired taste of greasy golden fries and juicy burgers, it has also grown ignorant to the way their food is prepared. In the novel, “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal”(2002), by Eric Schlosser, he makes compelling points in his position against the fast food industry.…

    • 1454 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Obesity in America

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Throughout everyone’s existence regardless of the number of times, society has always faced some type of issue. Whether it’s big or small, personal or global, everyone constantly comes across obstacles throughout time. In today’s world we are continuously facing many issues, some with easy solutions others hard to solve. Global warming, governmental spending, health problems, etc are just some of the few types of issues we are facing in today’s society. In my opinion I believe that one of the many difficult problems that we are now encountering is the rapid increase rate of obesity. Now a day the intake of fatty foods and high calories by American citizens is spinning out of control. People are not being cautious of what they eat therefore the rate of their health is on a rise for the worst. Obesity is not a stranger in the USA; however by the rate the consumption is being done, it’s not only becoming a major problem but more like a problem without a steady solution.…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Obesity Satire

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Obesity has become a huge problem throughout America. All Americans have quick and easy access to food at any time during their day. From 24-hour fast food restaurants to food stamps, there is no reason to go hungry here in the United States. However, this unlimited access is creating an unhealthy community. American Citizens are finding themselves stuck on their couches because their body weight restricts their movement! Some can hardly walk! Americans need to make change to their daily life styles before this issue becomes any worse than it already is. In effort to prevent overweight Americans, we must take a stand. All electronics must be removed from their possession, all motorized vehicles must be removed from the United States, and removing food from our society all together. This is the only way to help Americans fight their battle with obesity.…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Obesity in America

    • 1811 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In todays’ society, especially in America, obesity has become an epidemic of all sorts. In every state in the U.S., at least 20% of the population is obese. More and more people are dying due to heart related problems, and more people are becoming ok with being “big boned”. This is a huge problem for all of America and is becoming increasingly worse.…

    • 1811 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nutrition and Obesity

    • 1536 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Americans are heavier than ever before and, according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight, 60 million adults are obese, and 9 million adults are morbidly obese. Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems. Obesity increases the likelihood of various diseases, particularly heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breathing difficulties during sleep, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis. It can be caused by many reasons. One obvious reason is the rise in fast food consumption that companies are so adamant on pushing the public to buy, especially children. With fast food chains creating more and more ways to entice the American public to eat their food, it is becoming harder and harder to stay in shape these days. The fast life of America is quickly taking its toll on the public with the silent enemy called obesity creeping up at an alarming rate. In fact, the rate of it overtaking our lives is so fast; the Surgeon General has called it an "epidemic". Now, the real question is- are fast food restaurants really the culprits at work here? In this essay I intend to compare two very different takes on fast food companies and their ways of making people fat as well as my stand on the matter.…

    • 1536 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Obesity In America

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages

    According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, approximately one-third of Americans are obese. There are several culprits to this alarming increase such as lack of exercise, failure to research nutrition information, and modality of convenience. Author of the book, “Fast Food Nation”, Eric Schlosser states the expenditure on fast food annually by Americans, has increased from six billion to 110 billion dollars in the span of approximately three decades. Schlosser correlates the increase of consumption to increase of Americans becoming obese. As mentioned earlier, fast food availability is only one aspect of the poor health epidemic. There are not enough valid grounds to prove the increase of obesity and diseases such as diabetes. The employees of the tobacco industry are not slipping cigarettes into the pockets of civilians forcibly. Similarly, these fast food corporations despite their sophisticated marketing are not completely directing individuals to consume their foods. Individuals have the freedom of choice and should be aware that their choices may lead to…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Obesity in America

    • 3126 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Obesity in America is an ever-growing problem each day. As of 2011, The United States of America has the highest obesity rate of any other country of the world. What is obesity? Obesity is defined as “a condition characterized by the excessive accumulation and storage of fat in the body” (Webster). Excess obesity usually begins to have negative affects on the body and often causes health complications. The obesity rate in America has been on the rise for many years and will continue to only get worse if Americans do not take action immediately. Jeff Levi, Ph.D., executive director of TFAH said “Today, the state with the lowest obesity rate would have had the highest rate in 1995.” This is a fact that is not easy to hear and even harder to disprove (Levi). Based on polls taken in 2008, more than 50% of 4,000 people that took part in a poll said that they would give up a year of their lives if it meant they would no longer be obese. The same poll also gathered researched that shows the increasing weight of passengers on planes. Airlines have had to spend almost three hundred million on extra fuel to compensate for the massive growth in weight and size of passengers (Heather).…

    • 3126 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fast Food

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages

    My solution is Fast food should serve little more healthy food with fried sandwich and healthy juices so people will not get diseases like heart attacks, and stokes and it should just opened on weekends. If they started opening fast food restaurants on weekend only then people will cook in their home, eat healthy food, and will stay healthy too. They should issue id to everyone so people cannot eat twice and the people who ate on Saturdays they will not able to eat on Sundays. Fast food restaurant should also not be close to high schools because most of the teenagers love to eat junk food and they will not to eat healthy food.…

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays