Another factor of obesity can also be linked to parental responsibility. Parents may seem too busy at times to cook healthy meals for their kids; instead they choose the easy way out and go through the drive through for their unhealthy dinner. There are better options besides fast
The food children will eat is not what you will find in an average cookbook. Behind the tasteful burgers and fries are food technologists and food engineers producing artificial “flavorful food”. Many kids at a young age are still forming their eating habits, if children continue eating fast food this will lead to adult obesity. Not only are people that are consuming the food in danger, the workers manufacturing are also in great danger as
He continues by saying that people also may say that fast food is cheaper when measured by the calorie but when half of the people in this country consume too many calories rather than too few, measuring food’s cost by the calorie makes no sense. Bittman clearly states that the cost of fast foods aren’t as cheap as we have all tricked ourselves into thinking and that the obvious choice should be home cooked meals. As well as using hard evidence, Bittman also manages to convince his readers of his credibility because of his background and knowledge of food. Appearing on NBC’s The Today Show, NPR’s All Things Considered and the author of three books relating to food, Bittman is multifaceted (Beyond Print 1). Bittman makes it clear a few times during the article that he likes to make home cooked meals and
The manipulation doesn’t stop there. When you are old enough to go to school, the cafeteria of your safe and trustworthy environment will give you unhealthy treats and lunches that contain no nutritional value, yet feed it to you and simultaneously encourage you to do your best and make good choices. They also feed it to you without giving you a proper introduction of what it is you are actually consuming. This is where the lack of education of a healthy diet
Greg Crister writes in “Too Much of a Good Thing,” that many baby boomer parents believe that children are able to distinguish when they are full and have the right to make bad decisions about what they eat. “That may be true” according to Crister but he argues that in a world that billions of dollars are spent to attract kids and their families to enjoy a greasy fast food, its not always the best choice to let children decide. In most cases, since parents are the main role models of their children, they should be the ones to teach their young to eat
I can see the concern, but I have also had lunch at school with my kids and seen the reality. One of the main reasons behind these changes to school food regulations is to promote healthy eating habits in school age children. The reality is that children do not eat their food, and they throw it away. Parents, who visit their children during lunch, take in fast food for them to eat. At the end of the day, the child is hungry, and most parents stop by the favorite fast food to get dinner as part of their busy lives.
The increase in “eating out” dining may be a contributor to the overweight problem in children and adolescents. Fact: foods from restaurants and fast food eateries tend to be higher in fat and saturated fat than foods prepared at home (Newby). Fast food restaurants are one of the most convenient methods of "eating out" dining, but do not provide proper nutrients to children’s diets. Is lack of time and a busy lifestyle a factor to blame for the rise in childhood obesity or should the finger be pointed in another
Weintraub proves a lot of why parents are blame for America’s obesity but I also blame the fast food companies. With so much advertising more children are easy to fall upon it. For example, “’The programs have become advertising for the food, and the food has become advertising for the programs,’” says Professor Linn of Harvard. (39). More and more vulnerable kids are intrigued by the media.
Going through a drive-through is much more effective than sitting down at a restaurant or preparing meals at home. For the average working class family living life on the go, it can save a lot of time and money. Also, the industry itself creates and perpetuates millions of jobs for the economy (often with low wages and poor benefits). The most common reason people continue to eat fast food, despite their knowledge of the negative effects, is the simple fact that it tastes good. The addictive and yet fattening qualities associated with fast food leave people constantly craving one more bite.
People don’t realize what they are doing for our future generations. Because of how fast food companies are targeting younger children, they are setting up their minds to automatically want fast food. In some minds this is repulsive in others its just another way to make a lump of money. Our world is changing very quickly and fast food restaurants are popping up faster than the flowers in spring. Americans are becoming comfortable with fast food and unhealthy choices.