You Are What You Eat
McDonald’s slogan is “I’m loving it”, but if there was truth in advertising, McDonald’s slogan would be “I’m loving my obesity”. Regularly eating fast food puts a person at risk for obesity, possible harm from chemicals, diabetes and heart disease (from the fat and salt). Fast food has a way of tangling you into an unhealthy world. It starts with advertisements: TV, billboards, radios, movie theaters, subways, magazines, newspapers, sponsorships, are all ways of pulling you in. Advertisements can be very clever and deceiving, especially ones for fast food.
You see these advertisements daily, but you might not notice them all the time. McDonald’s sponsors many things. This ultimately helps their business. According to the official McDonald’s website, having sponsorships help sales, enhances customer attitudes, differentiates themselves from competitors, and many other things. They choose their sponsorships wisely.
For example, the board game “Monopoly” is a fun family game lots of people like, especially kids. Having McDonald’s sponsor Monopoly then lures kids to eat at McDonald’s. McDonald’s also sponsors popular movies, such as Garfield, Alvin and the chipmunks, and more. The McDonald’s “Happy Meals” come with a little toy, such as a character from a movie or another trinket. The themed toys get young kids interested in the food. From what I have observed, a typical fast food commercial would show happy, healthy people smiling and eating what appears to be a good meal.
But In reality, this food has hidden problems. Popular fast food restaurants (all around the world) include Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, but especially, McDonald’s. These are 3 common meals a person would order from McDonald’s: Breakfast: A bagel with bacon, egg, and cheese, OJ Lunch: Big Mac, soda, and fries. Dinner: Chicken McNuggets, Premium Caesar with grilled chicken. Together, that is a total of 2,598 calories! An average teenager should be consuming about 2,000 calories in a day.
As you can see, that does not match up with these McDonald’s meals. Here is an example of what a healthy average teenager should be eating: Breakfast: Bagel and cream cheese, OJ, and strawberries. Lunch: PB ; J, Skim milk. Dinner: Pasta with marinara sauce, skim milk. These meals total to be 1,432 calories.
With snacks included throughout the day, it would likely get up to around 2,000 calories. The “unhealthy world” I talked about, is described as the world of obesity, chemical filled foods, and the cause of health problems such as high blood pressure, clogged arteries, and diabetes. Childhood and teenage obesity has recently been increasing at a startling rate. According to the CDC, childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. We can infer that this is a result of high calorie diets, combined with lack of activity. If fast food is eaten regularly, it is likely that a person will become obese.
? of Americans are obese. That is about 104 million people! And that’s just America. Fast food from the kinds of restaurants I listed earlier, are filled with chemicals. The chemicals are added to allow the “meat” to be shipped around the world without rotting. This kind of process is convenient, however some of these chemicals may harm our bodies for reasons we do not yet understand. The salt, fat, and cholesterol in fast food can easily cause high blood pressure and clogged arteries.
High blood pressure is often referred to as the “silent killer”,(according to livestrong.com). That is because it is common to not realize that you have it, and how much damage it is doing to your body. If you do notice it, you can see that it can be manageable. But, if you don’t notice the damage in time, it can lead to heart disease, heart attack, stroke, kidney problems, and more health issues. Clogged arteries are also caused by salt, fat, and especially cholesterol in the same way as high blood pressure affects us.
Diabetes is a lifelong disease that is where there is high levels of sugar in the blood. There is type 1, and type 2 diabetes. Fast food can cause diabetes from obesity. Obesity puts a person at high risk of type 2 diabetes. Fast food has become a way of seeking a fast, inexpensive alternative to cooking at home.
As my Wellness teacher says, “Buy what is more healthy, not more cheap.” If a little more effort is what you need to buy or cook something healthy, use that effort to do so. Putting that little more effort in, will make a difference, and will lead to you to a healthy, happy life.
