Obesity Is Too Much On Fast Food - 1235 Words

In the United States, there are increasing numbers of people suffering from obesity. In Michael Pollan’s book â€Å"Omnivore’s Dilemma,† he says that three of every five Americans are overweight and one of every five is obese (76). Obesity becomes a major health problem in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the estimate medical cost of obesity in the United States was $147 billion a year. Why Americans are obese? The answer for obesity is that Americans are relying too much on fast food. Many factors that contribute to obesity epidemic; particularly, fast food is the chief causes of obesity. Fast lifestyle drives people to take fast food, thus exposing them to the risk of being obese. Americans are†¦show more content†¦Most fast food contains too many calories. According to Pollan, single meal from fast food restaurant often contains two-thirds of calories that a person’s requirement for a day (104). Sugar and fat are energy enrich foods; therefore, our instincts tell us to eat as much as we can, in case, if we cannot find food. The ingredients of fast food are loaded with saturated fat, Trans fat, carbohydrate, hydrogenated oil, sodium, and sugar. Since fast food is cheap and easy to get calories we need, people end up eating more than they should. Obesity results when we take more calories than we use because the body stores these extra calories as fat and it adds up over time. Later, these cheap calories can lead to obesity and higher the risk of other health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is served as one of the ingredients in fast food and over-consumption of HFCS is related to the epidemic of obesity. Almost all of the menu items at fast food restaurants contain HFCS. Pollan argues, â€Å"The bun and ketchup contain HFCS. It’s in the salad dressing too, and the sauces from nuggets, not to mention Isasc’s dessert† (103). The author believes that about sixty-five menu items listed on the McDonald’s handout, forty-five contains HFCS. HFCS is developed in the lab, and it is a sweetener