Fast Food Nation Research Paper

The rise is processed foods is greatly effecting our Nation. Processed foods cheap convenience and the rise in the Nations fast food culture is a big part of the obesity epidemic in the United States. Americans live in a “toxic food environment.” Roadways have strips of fast-food restaurants, stores have rows of candies and junk food lined up next to all registers, serving sizes keep increasing and there has been a substantial growth in advertising in everyday life. Advertisements for prepackaged and fast foods have saturated newspapers, magazines, airways and all billboards along highways. Colorful packages and advertising makes processed foods appealing to the eye. In addition, that fast food outlets are able to provide more food for less

One in every three people who earn less than $15,000 annually are obese. Compared to less than one in every four people who earn more than $50,000 annually are overweight. (Public Health Video) The amount of money a person makes annually can have a strong effect in whether a person will become over weigh and even obese. But, a persons weight can also compromise the amount of pay a person will receive. Studies have shown that obese people earn 5% less than their counterparts at a normal weight. (Investopedia, 3) Due to the fact the obese people are typically minorities in the work place they don't stand up for what the want of believe. Being a minority in the work force has its effects on woman too. More men than woman are overweight. Yet more woman than men are obese. (Ross, 776) Gender inequalities are a huge social issue still today. Woman earn $0.75 for every dollar a man earns. If we had equal incomes we would have less people in the minority. More people would make more than 15k a year and this Nation would have less people who are overweight and obese. People would have more money to spend on healthy nutritious foods instead of their alternative and buying processed foods for its cheap convenience. A 2,000 calorie diet that consists of energy dense junk food costs roughly around $3.52 a day. Where as a 2,000

Obesity rates have been proven to wide between children who come from a low income families. If a child's Body Mass Index (BMI) is at or above the 95th percentile that child is considered to be obese. Low income and high income children have roughly the same BMI in kindergarten but by 8th grade a significantly higher portion or low income family children are obese. (USDA, 8) Multiple factors contribute to that data. Low income children are often more exposed to unhealthy food environments, lack physical activity and do not have access to healthy fresh foods. Parental influence can play a vital role in childhood obesity too. Alost 80% of adults don't meet governments national physical activity recommendations. (Johnson Foundation, 1) A child looks up to their parent and if a child sees a parent who does little physical activity daily most likely that child will have little physical activity too. Instead, children now spend a large portion of their time in the house playing video games, watching tv or looking at their phones. Studies have shown that an average kid spends 7.5 hours a day in front of a screen. (Public Health Video) In 2015, only 3.5% of children were underweight. When at the same time 16% of children were over weight and 13.9% were obese. (Johnson Foundation, 1) Child health concerns have shifted from children being malnourished to children being overweight. Over 925