Fast Foods: Yay or Nay - Essay Sample

Introduction

It is with no doubt that most of the essays on fast food question whether there is any sense in eating fast foods or not. In this argumentative essay, we will explore the junk food consumption, showing both positive and negative effects. In this paper, an argument offering support on fast food consumption and denying support for fast food consumption is argued out. There are discussions on some of the health issues related to fast food consumption. This paper is, therefore, a fast food essay.

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Their hunger has overtaken public sensitization of the type of foods that they should consume and the regulations that the government and health departments should set for the food industry on politics (Andreyeva, Tatiana, Inas & Jennifer, 2011). Responsibilities have been taken away from people's lives, and authors are more interested in writing books in quest of filling their pockets instead of sensitizing the public on matters that affect their health following the food they consume.

People should take personal responsibilities on learning on how to make a healthy meal without having to rely on the government and authors of magazines and books what to eat and what not to eat (Andreyeva, Tatiana, Inas, & Jennifer, 2011). People wonder why some fast foods are expensive, yet they do not consider what makes others cheap. They do not take in to account the expense incurred to label the dangers and effects of consuming that particular fast food. Take for instance, in a coffee shop, where tags are warning the consumer that the drink is hot. People should take personal responsibility to choose from the variety of foods given by the sellers for people to consume.

In the modern world, fast foods are found in almost every street in any town. More fast food shops are created every single day worldwide. Fast foods have taken the place of the traditional culture of dieting, where people had to spent hours in their kitchens preparing a diet worthwhile. Nowadays, the culture of dining has adversely changed, with people having very little or no time to spend in their kitchens and make a dish that is worthy of a whole meal to eat (Davis, Brennan, & Christopher, 2009).

This has been so because fast foods are easy to access than any other meal, simple to eat, as one can eat from anywhere, be it in office, or the public transport system, on the streets walking or even waiting on a public waiting bay, probably waiting to receive services it has, therefore, become of the easiest way to get a meal.

Most of the business people, especially with little time to spend at home often make orders for all the meals, usually from the fast food restaurants drive-ins. The companies that manufacture fast foods say like sausages, or the burgers and sodas do not state clearly which ingredients they have included in the manufacturing. Some of them are chemicals for preservations or tenderizing hard main parts, say like meat, which are entirely not healthy for the health of human beings, especially in consumed consecutively (Elbel, Brian, et al., 2009).

This has adversely contributed to a large population suffering from the so-called western diseases such as obesity and other related disorders (Currie, Janet, et al., 2010). Despite the public knowledge of these effects and ignorance, why is it that there are no regulations set across to monitor these manufacturing companies and restaurants to include these ingredients and side effects on their packaging to sensitize the public?

The fact is that these junk foods and fast foods are not healthy at all for the daily consumption of humans since the healthy foods do not cause the effects that fast foods do on the health of human beings, and do not contain the harmful chemicals contained in the fast foods. The healthy foods contain natural ingredients, with no preservatives or hormones for growth stimulation. Most of the people are often ignorant to read what comprises of any food that they are taking, even if not all the information, at least a slight hint can help one make a choice of what to consume and what not to, therefore they do not get to understand the health harms associated with the foods (Elbel, Brian, et al., 2009).

Moreover, fast foods should come with detailed information that shows the consumer the side effects of the food. What we eat is what our bodies are made up of. Supposing fast foods came with a warning on the packaging; would many people buy? Many people suffer due to lack of knowledge and information (Elbel, Brian, et al., 2009). Therefore, whatever one consumes should not be kept a secret by the company or the restaurant.

In the food documentaries such as the McDonald's documentaries, it is evident that there are some long term effects associated with fast foods, on the health of human beings. However, fast foods are not harmful when consumed occasionally, but most of the people are so much addicted and dependent on the fast foods, for the excuse that they do not have time to make a decent full meal that is healthy and take their time to enjoy (Garber, Andrea, & Robert, 2011). This has adverse effects on the human health, some of which are permanent and cause deaths, such as cancer, due to the foreign chemicals introduced to one's body, of which some are cancerous and having to submit them to your body every time you consume them to become even worse.

Just as people read the packaging on every label, they see on medicine packages and products for applying during therapy on their skin or even beauty products. Some people also learn the restriction on alcohol labels such as the content of the alcohol in the drink. But food is so crucial to their growth and being the main body supportive factor; people are not often aware of the contents. Everyone is entitled to know the effects a product will have on their health.

Every packaged fast food should come with a warning with how the ingredients of the food will affect the person consuming it. They should not have any marked difference from all the other products since they are all meant to go in the same body. Because a certain small percentage of the consumers are not interested in knowing what their foods contain does not say every other consumer is not affected, and that the food should not have a caution sticker.

Many people have the assumption that fast foods will only affect their calorie intake in their bodies, but this is not true at all since these chemicals could be having direct effects on either their brains, or their nervous system, or even their heart functioning. Some people relate the impact of these fast food with high iodine or calorie amounts. Different people have different views and opinions on fast foods. Some people have clung on fast foods, being unable to make main meals in their houses.

The health problems related to fast foods render them harmful and of no importance to the consumers, since the cause high rates of mortality. Because of the high contents of calories and the toxic components, the consumers have risks of having lifestyle diseases associated with western foods, such as diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol in the body and heart diseases.

Given that most people make mistakes on the choices of the foods to eat, sometimes it is not their fault but the manufacturers, who do not label the contents of every packaged meal accordingly. Moreover, the fats that are contained in fast foods are highly saturated, although, in most of the packaging, there is misleading information about the contents of saturated fats, which end up affecting the consumer. Saturated fats cause clogging in the arteries, hence increasing chances of suffering from heart diseases and obesity.

In most of the time, fast foods always have very high demand, and the restaurants are often congested. It is therefore hard for the attendants to ensure hygiene is observed (Ababio, Patricia, and Doreen, 2012). In some of the fast food processing companies, the meat to be processed is stored in close and enclosed places which do not assure hygiene and the method used to slaughter them is usually a quick one for consumption (Ababio, Patricia, and Doreen, 2012). In such cases, it is easy to transmit food-borne diseases, leading to illnesses and a burden to the family members and the nation as a whole in the treatment of such conditions.

It is always easy for people to take their families to eat out in places such as McDonald for pizzas, hotdogs, hamburgers, and chicken than to buy natural ingredients and efficiently cook at home. It is, therefore, the people who have brought themselves these lifestyle diseases, and the government should not take any blame on the failure of these fast food restaurants in putting the right labels (Sharma, Stephen, and Kelly, 2010). One can spend so much less when cooking the same type of meal which would be healthier and less expensive. However, people have become too lazy to cook and opt to eat out. Why should the government and health organizations therefore put across these restrictions to the businesses and pass rules on how much junk an individual should eat? It should be one's decision to make since it is a purely personal issue (Sharma, Stephen, and Kelly, 2010).

The government and the medicine processing companies are making fortunes from these lifestyle diseases. As the rate of fast food consumption increase, an advantage is being taken against peoples' ignorance. The government has taken it as an opportunity to create jobs and increase the insurance health rates. People who care advocate for the labelling of these foods, and dictating the small scale producers to follow the same criteria, not forgetting the risk of closing down the business due to unmanageable budgets.

Obesity is a global health issues, and many types of research have asserted that junk food is a major contributing factor to obesity and thus the government should come in to heavily tax the fast foods (Currie, Janet, et al., 2010). They should be banned in some countries that are highly related to lifestyle disease or even have higher tax rates imposed on them.

The fats that are used in preparing these meals have no nutritional value and have the highest content of calories. Despite the high-fat content, the foods do not contain any nutritional value, and they lack fibre, which makes one feel hungry after taking, adding up more calories upon eating. The fast-food businesses sell cheap foods making enormous sums of money by the end of the day since they purchase very low-quality ingredients and products. These are filled with so many chemicals and additives to cover up the main product's quality.

Nowadays, meat products are filled with hormones that stimulate the growth and maturity of the animals and have high saturated fats. Most of the grilled fast foods have margarine added while cooking to improve on their taste and make their appearance appealing on the eyes of the consumers, what many people think it is safe health wise.

Due to many customers who are attracted to the fast food stores each day, there are large masses of new customers served by workers who are lowly paid and given a lot of pressure. Most of the cooking and preparing equipment are left uncleaned, while the left outs on the table and floor are left messy without no one getting time to clean. There are bacteria filled up on the equipment that can cause severe food poisoning to people (Ababio, Patricia, & Doreen, 2012). Moreover, some of the additives are addictive that one gets addicted to a particular fast food and cannot skip a day without (Garber, Andrea, & Robert, 2011).

Blames may be posed to the consumers for not making the right choices for their diets, while for some, poverty is to be blamed since fast foods are found to be very cheap and affordable, remaining to be the only choice they have...