Imagine a young adult, barely starting an independent life, suffer a sudden death due to a heart attack. In a short span of about forty years, society has increased in obesity and unhealthy foods are promoted. Obesity is known to be when a person suffers from an abundant amount of body fat. Obesity began to rise as more fast food companies emerged. The advertisement and consumption of unhealthy foods have led Americans to suffer from health problems, reducing their lifespan. Since the 1970s, food industries have been enlarging foods, causing people to gain extra weight. However, food industries do not force people to buy larger portion sizes. The ultimate decision of eating more for less money is the consumers. For this reason, educating young …show more content…
During the 1970s, women’s rights were beginning to be advocated and women started working outside of homes. These women did not have enough time to make dinner or lunch, which then resulted in fast food eating in America to increase. In an article in The New York Times, Don’t Blame the Eater, by David Zinczenko, the author gives an anecdote of how children were affected by confessing “Lunch and dinner, for me, was a daily choice between McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, or Pizza Hut” (3). Due to this action, more fast food restaurants evolved and then people lacked interest in cooking at home. In an article in the Sacramento Bee, It’s Portion Distortion that Makes America Fat, by Shannon Brownlee, a marketing whiz named Elliot Bloom, confirms the fact that, by conducting a survey, most people who eat at fast foods lack the interest in cooking at home and lack interest in knowing what they consume (8). Eating outside of home would be okay if people exercised, however, as years passed on, people began to diminish the intensity of activities and some even lacked physical activities or sports. This eventually lead to the amount of obese people in America to drastically increase, whereas in the 1970s, obesity was rare. Although by having women work outside of homes benefits financially struggling …show more content…
Some people are unable to read the confusing nutrition labels on the back of food products. For this reason, nutrition labels should revise the format of labels which would then result in people clearly knowing the outcomes expected of intaking certain foods and condiments. In some cases, nutrition information is absent on packages and cause confusion as to what people are eating. This is demonstrated as Zinczenko claims “Complicating the lack of alternatives is the lack of information about what, exactly, we’re consuming. There are no calorie information charts on fast-food packaging the way there are on grocery items” (7). Although modifying nutrition labels can help consumers know what they consume, food process should also be changed. Although food irradiation helps get rid of insects, it exposes foods to radiation and destroys the vitamins in food. Foods should be processed to be healthy and safe, by not adding chemicals, so consumers could live healthy lives. Shouldn’t future generations have the possibility to live long lives as well? By simply improvising nutrition labels and not enhancing foods with chemicals, obesity can be