Rowland Solano
Dr Mason
Comp 2000
3/20/09
Fast Food Nation
In today’s society of hard working people with very busy lifestyle, no one has time anymore to cook a good home style meal for their families. Everyone seems to only have time to buy fast food for themselves and their families. When I was growing up I know my parents always made sure to prepare healthy meals for me and my other siblings. They knew we needed wholesome food to nourish our bodies. If we continue to feed our bodies unhealthy foods, our bodies would respond by being unhealthy. When we eat it should be for the purpose of satisfying hunger and to nourish our bodies, for this reason we should be very careful with the types of food we choose to eat. People from all different parts of the world eat different types of food for the same reason. Elsevier states that “Eating is a complex human behavior that is influenced by cultural, social, personality and food intake in terms of amount or type of food for the purpose of weight control or restraint eating.” Elsevier. "Eating . Psychology of." Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology (2004).
Certainly when we eat our main concern should be to eat healthy for the sole purpose of maintaining good health. This means if we know that there is a certain kind of food capable of raising the cholesterol levels in our bodies we should keep away from that food source. For some unknown reason more and more people are choosing to eat unhealthy foods, such as fast food, and having their bodies as a living sacrifice for others to see them struggle with obesity. Some of the popular fast food outlets are Mc Donald, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut and the list goes on…. ..These fast food outlets are not putting out healthy, nutritious food to the public, it all about the taste to keep people hooked to their menu. I strongly believe there are some people out there who are addicted to fast food, so having fast food every day is the only way they can be truly happy. When they eat they are satisfying their tongues in their mouths and depriving their bodies of the proper nutrition it needs to stay healthy. These types of cravings are what keep these fast food companies in business. Don’t get me wrong now; the food does taste very delightful. On the other hand we are not here to be solely delighted by taste, we need nutrition, our nutritional values are of great importance to us, this fast food is just not healthy, but in today’s world more and more people are turning to the fast food industry as a means of obtaining their meals. Rutledge explains, “Technology made mass produced fast food possible by automating agricultural production and food processing. Globally, fast food provided a service for busy people who lacked time to buy groceries and cook their meals or could not afford the cost and time associated with eating traditional restaurant fare.” Routeledge. Food processed and fast. Enclyclopedia of 20th Century Technology. (2005). As the economy world wide gets deeper and deeper in debt , people could no longer afford to sit in a decent restaurant to have a decent meal, and also we work two and three jobs to be able to have enough money to survive. People don’t have time to look in the grocery stores for the fruits and vegetables to prepare a healthy meal, it has become the american norm, to pick up the phone and order a pizza with everything on it if you please. People have strayed away from the values of preparing meals as a family unit, most families today eat on the go and do not take the time to sit down as a family, and have meal time as a family unit, even for ceremonies, foods are catered from companies.
Mifflin says, “Cooking food is an activity that transends culture. The ways in which food is cooked, and ingredients, depend on the environment. The ceremonies that surrounds its cooking and its eating are very much a product of human culture. Native American cuisine is a product of basic human needs, a wide range of environmental conditions, and a cultural understanding of how people relate to their environments in practical and ceremonial ways.” Mifflin, Hughton. "Food AND CUSINE." Enclycopedia of North American Indians (1996).
Most cultures today still endulge in their native way of eating, but they do not have very much time to do it themselves. This situation came about a very long time ago as nations evolve people life styles change and their eating habits as well. According to the Cambridge world history of food. “ Important Changes have occurred in the production as well as consumption of food. The alianation of cook from food had already become apparent by 1950s.” press, cambridge university. "Food and Identity." Cambridge World History of food (2000).
Foods are being made fast to satisfy more people on the go, so most families are not cooking and preparing meals as they used to. The fast food epedemic is reaching all cultures, once a culture is expose to this fast food nation, they have no choice most time but to fall in the web of unhealthy eating. Some times circumstances rule and people have to step out of their nornmal way of doing things. ABC-Clico said, “To complicate matters further, changes in food production, distribution networks, and food-processing technologies, along with the introduction of mass-produced food products, including “junk” food, has significantly altered Mexican eating habits and Mexican cuisine.” ABC-Clio. "Food." 2004. An enclycopedia of Contemporary culture and history. 22 february 2009. The Mexican fast food, example Taco Bell is a fast food chain that has altered the Mexican cuisine; it is no longer their normal healthy meat, rice, vegetables. Now the foods are processed foods, all the way to the bathroom.
If Americans are not careful with their risky eating habits, a host of health related problems would continue to plague the nation, men, women, and children especially, need to be extra cautious when indulging in fast food for their every day meals. According to Dr. Ahmad Hammou, “Obesity has been linked to sexual dysfunction in men, overeating in this country due to the variety of available fast food has been responsible for a great number of obese cases in the United States. previous studies have found that obesity is correlated to lower sperm count, and hormonal changes and diminished sexual quality of life long obese men are related to the degree of obesity.” Foundation, The Hormone. "The Obesity Crisis, What's it All About?" 2008. Obesity In America. http://www.obesityinamerica.org Obesity due to the overeating of fast food, would eventuall claim the happiness of men, because more obese men may end up suffering from sexual dysfunction, while some doctors say the condition is reversable , why should anyone take the risk?
Mc Donald’s would do anythingto attract their customers, even give the public what they want. If the public is calling for more healthy foods, well there you have it, healthy fruits on the menu, but more and more people are still buying the junk because they are still selling it. According to Melanie Warner. “McDonald's has attracted considerable attention in the last few years for introducing to its menu healthy food items like salads and fruit. Yet its turnaround has come not from greater sales of healthy foods but from selling more fast-food basics, like double cheeseburgers and fried chicken sandwiches, from the Dollar Menu.” Warner, Melanie "Salads or No, Cheap Burgers Revive McDonald’s." The New York Times 19 April, 2006. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. University of Nevada, Reno Libraries. 5 February 2008.
What Mc Donald’s need to do is to completely change up their menu to sell healthier foods, instead of the high fat, high cholesterol foods they sell so fast to the public?
Too much fast food can have a devastating effect on our bodies. In the case of film maker Morgan Spurlock, who went on a Mc Donald binge for thirty days, all he ate was the super size meals on the menu. During the course of his experiment, Morgan explains, “I have experienced massive headaches if I did not eat Mc Donald’s I would also get mood swings, felt depressed and exhausted, I was at double risk for heart failure, double risk for heart disease, considering all blood work and vital signs were normal before the experiment. My liver turned to fat, my cholesterol went up to 230, I gained 24 pounds, and my sex life was worthless.” Super Size Me. Dir. Scott Ambrosy. Perf. Morgan Spurlock. 2004. Morgan used himself as a specimen in this experiment to show Americans what fast food would do to a humans if they eat Mc Donald’s junk food for thirty days.
BIBLIOBRAPHY
ABC-Clio. "Food." 2004. An enclycopedia of Contemporary culture and history. 22 february 2009
Abington:Helicon. "british foods: Two Diverging Paths." The hutchinson unabridged Encyclopedia with atlas and Weather guide (2008).
Elsevier. "Encyclopedia of applied psychology." 2004. Psychology Of Eating. 02 february 2009
Foundation, The Hormone. "The Obesity Crisis, What's it All About?" 2008. Obesity In America.
Helicon, Abington:. "British foods: Two Diverging Paths." 2008. The Hutchinson Unabridged Enclycopedia With Atlas and Weather Guide. 22 February 2009
Mifflin, Houghton. "Food and Cuisine." 1996. Enclycopedia of North American Indians . 22 February 2009
Press, Cambridge University. "Cambridge World History of Food." 2000. Control of Food Additive. 22 February 2009
Press, Cambridge University. "Food and Identity." 2000. Cambridge world hISTORY OF FOOD. 22 February 2009.
Routledge. "Processed andFfast Food." 2005. Enclycopedia of 20th CenturyTechnology. 22 February 2009
Super Size Me. Dir. Scott Ambrosy. Perf. Morgan Spurlock. 2004.
Warner, Melanie. "The New York Times Academic Search Premier." 2006. Salads or No. Cheap Burgers Revive Mc Donald's. 5 February 2008
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