Food and Obesity Essay

Submitted By saleemIFS
Words: 658
Pages: 3

Ahsan Saleem Position Paper
English 135
Prof. Murphy

Is Fast Food the Cause to Obesity, or is it Just a Factor?
Over 300,000 deaths occur every year due to obesity. Obesity adds over 117 billion dollars in health care every year. Obesity is an ongoing epidemic in the United States as well as in other countries. Kids eat out more than often, portion sizes are exceeded, and fast food has started being served in school cafeterias. Eating out often leaves the consumer used to eating above average portions .They then think that these portion sizes are normal, when really they are way above normal. In the United States, one out of every five people is obese. 15% of kids are obese and one third of adults are obese (Holguin 11). Fast food acts a contributor to obesity, but the real cause is the individual’s choice of what to eat as well as how the individual allows snacking and advertisement to influence them.
Obesity harms the body in many ways. Obesity adds unnecessary weight to the body, through fat, and the unnecessary weight can add up to six extra pounds a year. The disease also increases the amounts of cholesterol, salt, saturated fat, and trans fat in the body. When these extra substances add up, they can lead to diseases. Some of the diseases caused by obesity include type two diabetes, heart disease, and depression (Schoenstadt 5). Depression from obesity can include lack of confidence, low self esteem, thoughts of suicide, and hatred of physical appearance. These diseases can lead to death.
“Is obesity fast food’s fault? The answer is no” (Schoenstadt 5). Over the last 30 years, obesity has become a major problem. Portion sizes have increased, eating habits have changed, and snacking has become a major issue. During the 1970s, people consumed 13% of their daily calories from snacking. Now, people consume 25% of their daily calories from snacking. With this increase in snacking, people have not started to eat less of other meals. On average, adults eat four meals every day and kids eat five meals every day. The proper amount should be three. Over 38 billion dollars are spent on snacks every year. Snacks lack nutritional value and are high in calories. Soda is an example of one of these snacks. Soda drinking has increased over one hundred thirty percent since 1970. Soda serves as one fifth of the recommended sugar per day. On average Americans drink forty four gallons of soda a year! (Oliver 21-22). Other types of snack that lack nutritional value include chips,