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Fast Food is Food to Die For

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Imagine filling the gas tank for a luxurious Ferrari with nasty sludge found on the side of the road; putting this clutter into such a proficient system could completely ruin this car. Like the Ferrari, the human body is a fine piece of machinery that needs to be fueled with the right nutrients to run properly or else poor nutrients could run it down. Good nutrition can help prevent disease and promote health while poor nutrition can do the opposite. In many different countries today, people are putting many poor and unhealthy food choices into their bodies not knowing the consequences that could be awaiting them. By choosing a healthier lifestyle of whole foods, people could benefit greatly by weight loss and rejuvenating themselves. Even though unhealthy food can be tasty and easily accessible, people across the globe, especially children should eliminate the regular consumption of junk food because that unhealthy diet leads to preventable and fatal health issues, such as diabetes and obesity. Since 1970, fast food consumption has increased exponentially, especially in children and teens. Not only have obesity and the higher intakes of fatty food taken over America, but obesity has also disrupted Australia. The Heart Foundation located in Burnie, Australia, has demonstrated that if kids do not begin to watch their fatty and sugary food intake then they might not have an equal life span to their parents (Woods 1). Mr. Lynch, head executive of the Heart Foundation in Australia, is calling on the government to create an obesity action plan. He is suggesting that their country use food taxing, menu labeling, along with targeted marketing campaigns to help their obesity situation towards children. Mr. Lynch is even making bold enough decisions to suggest the Tasmanian government support the legislation of banning the advertisement of sugary foods to children (Woods 2). The main idea that Mr. Lynch wants to point out is that the population of Australia should be active. With this situation arising, the Heart Foundation has collected $480,000 last year in 2014 to increase the consumption of healthy food across Tasmania (Woods 3). Not only in Australia is the scare of obesity rising but also in India. Behind the United States, India is now second in having the largest number of obese people in the world. This country is likely to exceed the U.S. in the next five years. From 2006 to 2014, the number of bariatric procedures, an obesity procedure done by reducing the size of the stomach, has increased from 2,500 to over 10,000. Patients who move towards a bariatric procedure have a lack of exercise and healthy eating (“Fat” 1). Along with lack of exercise and consumption of healthy foods, alcohol addiction is one of the main causes for obesity in adult males. While males struggle with alcohol, female adults deal with indulging on high calorie food. Along with people in Australia and India, the United States has the bigger issue of obesity especially in its youth (“Fat” 2). Due to the excess fast food advertisements pointed towards kids, the risk of obesity has risen. In fact, in 2004 every day almost one third of U.S. children ate fast food, which has shown to increase the child’s weight by six pounds every year. These extra pounds are due to the extra 187 calories consumed by the youngster from fast food (Holguin 1). This obesity is mainly shown in high household income levels, also in boys that live in the South, particularly young African Americans (Holguin 2). But with this said, not every child that has the accessibility to junk food is necessarily overweight. While having average size parents to look up to, children are proven less likely to be overweight. Access to junk food has no effect on 44 percent of the children whose parents who are not overweight. Most of the obesity caused in the other children can be put on the parents of that child. For those children who come from an overweight family, they are proven to have a more likely chance to be obese (Gorman 3). As obesity rates develop in many different places and different age groups, doctors are being sought out for help. While doctors can prescribe medicine to treat obesity, that medicine comes with the downfall of side effects. Doctors prefer patients to exercise and go on a diet. Now even though studies have shown a decrease in long-term risk of death in obese individuals after weight loss surgery, there is always a certain risk to each patient. Choosing to exercise and eat healthier are the best forms of treatment compared to medication and surgery. Choosing to slowly eat healthier and working out up to ten minutes a day are very beneficial. From this point, a patient can build his or her way up, taking small steps to increase the effectiveness of his or her diet and workout routine (“Fat” 3). While many people look at obesity as an appearance issue, the real issue is the health problems it can cause. Without any concern to the

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