Entry #3: Is Eating Fast Food Really Worth It?

In my English class on Thursday, we watched the film Food, Inc., a documentary about where our food really comes from and what dangerous chemicals and toxins are in the food we eat. From watching that documentary, it made me think about fast-food-chain restaurants operated here in America. The fast food franchises run on a business scale that is apparently convenient for families and the fast food industry financially. But with all these health scares that appear in the news, is it really worth eating the food at these fast food restaurants?

The problem with the fast food industry is that the fast-food-chains are really devoted to making a profit from their restaurants nationally (or internationally) than the health of their customers. They know that families nowadays don't have the time to sit down and enjoy a home-cooked meal with each other, nor do many families like to go out to a formal, sit-down restaurant due to finances. Purposely, the food at a fast-food restaurant is cheaper. Plus, they know that children want to eat food at fast food restaurants, so they try to make the kids' menu "healthier" in order to convince parents that their children are eating something that is considered nutritious. As long as people are patronizing the businesses, these fast-food-chains don't care about quality and nutritious food ingredients.

According to a study conducted back in 2007-2008 by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 17% of American children and adolescents were reported to be affected by obesity, and this rate was triple what the rate was only one generation ago.

Even though these fast food giants believe their restaurants can throw in random ingredients and pass it off as food to the general public, it could potentially backfire on them. For example, if people were able to discern that their meat was made of something other than regular meat, such as pink slime or horse meat, a majority of people would be outraged and they would never want food from fast-food-chain restaurants again.

I can understand eating fast food once in a while; on the other hand, eating fast-food daily as a regular habit has consequences, especially with kids. It's not just obesity that's becoming a problem; there are other health risks too such as a person lowering their energy levels, lacking proper nutrition, and damaging their own heart and liver. The health of the entire nation as a whole is at risk, but unfortunately, not every person will want to change their ways of eating if they feel forced to.

There are other films dedicated to unhealthy eating of fast food such as the documentary film Super Size Me, where director Morgan Spurlock ate McDonald's food, super sized, for 30 days. In this clip, Spurlock is eating (and throwing up) super sized burgers and fries from McDonald's. This was made in 2004, back when McDonald's had a "super sized" option for their food.

It is really up to an individual whether he or she chooses to maintain a healthy lifestyle or not. As for me, I already look after my own nutrition, go out exercising, and choose carefully what I eat. Besides, I'm probably not going to look at food the same way again.