America: The Beautiful and Fat Epidemic alert: adolescent obesity and obesity related diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure are taking the nation by storm. Some may blame the government, some may blame the fast food restaurant, and some may even say the consumers themselves are culpable for the constant increase in severely obese millennials. Obesity is the condition of being grossly overweight. This disease generally comes from the overconsumption of calories and fats compared to the amount of those being burned off. Before modern times, America was never labeled as the “fat country”. In the 1970’s, America was in its prime. Only two percent of the population was overweight and almost all families ate home cooked meals. However, as time has gone on, the population has gotten more and more lazy, and the divorce …show more content…
As popularity of quick and easy meals grew, so did the amount of processed foods being produced. Behold- obesogenic foods such as minute rice, macaroni and cheese, and rice-a-roni. Meals such as hamburger helper and frozen dinners became a common replacement for once home cooked meals. Processed foods were becoming the new staple foods. Producers began putting corn syrup in almost everything making it become ubiquitous mainly because it decreases natural flavors thus enticing consumers to drink and eat bigger portions. Because of the increase in portion size, plate and cup producers even began to increase the size of each product so that people could fit more on their plate and in their cup. People were totally losing sight of the whole idea of portioning. Nowadays, when walking through the aisles of a grocery store, one will notice that it is laden with processed foods leaving Americans no other option but to purchase that food. Generally, if more food is being purchased, more food will be consumed per