Obesity in America
In America today, approximately 26.5 percent of the population is considered
obese.[ CITATION Bil12 \l 1033 ] To put this in perspective that’s about one in every
four people. The fact that fast food chains are popping up all over the country isn’t
helping the statistic either. I felt like this was a huge problem that our country needs to
take a good hard look at to try and solve. Not only will being obese increase the
likelihood of all types of diseases, but it will also make a person depressed because one
might not be happy with the way that they look. No one knows for sure whether or not
fast food companies can be linked to an increase in a person’s weight. This is why I chose
the question, how do fast food chains affect a person’s weight? This question needs to be
addressed because the more educated people are about the effects of fast food, the better.
My personal opinion is that fast food does have a direct correlation on whether or not a
person is obese, and that omitting these types of foods from ones diet will yield direct
benefits to their health.
In order to first find out more about this topic, I decided to use the FIU library
research system. I ended up in the CQ researcher database and found an article called
“Obesity Epidemic,” by Alan Greenblatt. In the article, Greenblatt tried to show through
research that even though fast food products might be unhealthy, the consumer is the one
that ends up buying the product.[CITATION Gre03 \y \l 1033 ] Greenblatt argues that the
reason why a person is obese is solely their fault. Greenblatt goes on to give examples of
how fast food chains have tried to incorporate different “healthy” varieties in their menus,
but that there is no demand for them because the consumer never buys the healthy
product.[CITATION Gre03 \y \l 1033 ] I refused to believe this. With the health
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awareness epidemic that has been going on, I knew that most of the population has been
trying to eat healthier and that there was a demand for nutritious foods.
I wanted to know more about fast food companies incorporating healthy products
into their menu, so I did an internet search of healthy fast food on Yahoo. I eventually
came across “Healthy Fast Food Menu Choices,” by mgwhite. According to the author,
the only reason that fast food companies have been introducing new healthy menus, are
because of the consumer demands.[ CITATION mgw12 \l 1033 ] Mgwhite says that
“many restaurants are responding to consumer demand and ever-increasing publicity
about the link between good health and a proper diet by expanding their selections to
include healthy choices.”[ CITATION mgw12 \l 1033 ] I found this interesting, because
according to the previous article by Greenblatt, the consumers where still consuming “big
