Entry #6 - Fast Food and the Fight Against Obesity

Everywhere you look, there is a recognizable fast-food restaurant on the corner and coming from that is the smell of freshly fried french fries pulled from the fryer or the delicious taste of the perfect iced Coca-Cola. Fast food chains are taking over the restaurant industry because of their addicting meals and the convince of not having to leave your car. Sounds ideal right? Wrong. These companies are serving meals causing the nations obesity rates to rapidly increase, allowing for America to be the leading nation in obesity.

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It is no secret that these meals are not healthy for you, but what exactly causes Americas to gain all this weight? Too much food and little exercise is to blame. The CDC recommends that American adults should get 75-150 minutes of exercise each week, but their studies show only 24.2% are completing an effective workout based for their demographic. On top of that, food is becoming more and more processed which leads to higher fat contents, calories, and sodium levels. I am not saying to count every single calorie or watch every thing you eat; everything is good in moderation. 

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Chemicals are being put into our everyday foods that can cause them to be even more addicting. Added sugars, fats, and salts, release a chemical in your brain called dopamine. This chemical is known as the happy chemical and your brain begins to want more and more of it, so these companies continue to make their meals, taking advantage of consumers. The most common chemical found in fast food related items is called phthalates, this chemical is good for packaging foods and creating a softer, pliable plastic. There have been many health risks related to this chemical such as early onset puberty and reproductive defects. That is just one of the many chemicals embedded in our food. The National Library of Medicine reported:

The prevalence of obesity changed relatively little during the 1960s and 1970s, but it increased sharply over the ensuing decades—from 13.4% in 1980 to 34.3% in 2008 among adults and from 5% to 17% among children during the same period.

Americans today are eating foods that are not good for their bodies and the fast food chains are taking advantage of these people. Putting chemicals and preservative in our foods and falsely advertising the freshness of their meats. Lacking nutrients and vitamins the body needs, Americans continue to over eat and not exercise properly. These multi million dollar companies are the reason why America has a huge health problem.