I remember last
year for my anatomy class, the class was assigned a food log and questions to
answer and one of the questions was concerning fast food. I can’t remember the
exact words of the question, but I remember that it questioned whether fast
food was to blame for people’s food habits?
My opinion is
that fast food shouldn’t be blamed for people’s food habits. Fast food and junk
food are always targeted when it comes to the rising obesity rates in our
country, but it is not the companies’ fault. I believe that the one is fault is
the consumer. Yes, the food companies present us with mouthwatering
advertisement of the food they are selling, but I think that it is not the
problem. I have been reading a couple of articles and even posts on the blog
saying that people get fast food because it is the easiest way to get food and
fulfill our hunger or cravings, which I believe should be the blame for
people’s food habits. We, the consumers, have the ability to chose not to buy and
eat fast food. We can decide to not to be the cliché of the food industry
always buying fast food because it is so accessible. If people start finding
time during the day to cook their own food, there might be a decrease in people
buying fast food. Plus with cooking your own food, you have the choice of
adding whatever ingredients and flavors your preference desires.
What do you guys
think? Should the fast food chains be to blame or should the consumers be
blamed?
Yeah I'm currently taking Anatomy and we actually just finished that food log project you were referring too. The question was "Do you think fast food restaurants should be held responsible for the obesity issues in the United States?" My opinion was quite equivalent to yours. I do believe that consumers are the culprits to the obesity issues in America because consumers are the ones making the decisions in their food choices.Yes fast food restaurants persuade millions of consumers to prefer their food, however we're the ones who choose to be fooled by their faulty advertisements "in which food wears as much makeup as the actors." It's this obliviousness to the food that people are putting in their mouths that's leading to the increase of obesity in the United States. People have to be more conscientious on their diets and watch what they're consuming on a daily basis. So yes, consumers are to blame for obesity issues. On the other hand, some of us don't have much choice. As Mark Bittman stated in his article, "Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables," poor people suffer disproportionately from the cost of high-quality, fresh foods. There are many impoverished families out there who can't afford to buy vegetables or fresh ingredients so they resort to fast food/junk food. Why? Because it's cheap and accessible and fast food/junk food is subsidized. The federal government is at fault here too in not taking action in making a national fix. And also the food industry doesn't market healthier foods and therefore could be at fault in obesity in America as well. So I do believe consumers are partially to blame, but I don't believe they're all to blame.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the consumers are the ones to blame. All the time people talk about how bad fast food is for us, but we all continue to eat it and we know how bad it is for us. Most people's excuse is that they don't have enough time to go to the grocery store or cook food themselves, but I still don't think that is a good enough excuse. People just use fast food as an excuse because they aren't taking accountability for their actions. We all know how much fast food is bad for us so therefore we need to stop eating it and make time for healthy eating
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly what my research paper is on; Fast food defiantly should not be blamed. Its the peoples fault for buying the food and not exercising. You have the choice to do whatever you want with you're money, no one is forcing you to buy McDonald's or Chipotle.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you can just go exercise all of it off and more. It really is not hard to find a little time to exercise everyday or refuse a soda. If you can't do this you are lazy and or have no self control.
This argument is quite intriguing, and I believe that there is blame to be put on both sides.
ReplyDeleteSubliminal messaging for unhealthy foods surrounding us in everything we do, combined with our uncontrollable human desire for salt and sugar, creates impulsive and spontaneous trips to our beloved Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, In N Out and several other fast food chains. Big corporations know exactly what triggers our taste buds to go crazy and crave all this food. They instill it in our minds without us even noticing it. Of course once we get there, they also know exactly what we want and we savor every bite.
But I am not defending our decision-making, of course. It is definitely a personal choice to let the temptation of all these fatty foods overcome you and refuse to exercise. Some people are amazing at finding the balance between eating and shedding off the weight. It is not completely fast food's fault that they have such a large consumer base, because as long as people choose to eat fast food, fast food will be around.