by Scott Hayden

Created on: January 04, 2009   Last Updated: April 29, 2012

Laziness is not entirely to blame for the obesity epidemic that is plaguing the United States. In fact, it is only a small part of the problem. The biggest culprits are the fast food corporations, which have always sold their products at low prices. With their high fat, high sodium and high fructose corn syrup laced burgers, fries and sodas, Americans are eating themselves to death.

The food industry is a huge business in the U.S., and this industry employs lots of expensive lobbyists in Washington who make sure that no unfavourable legislation is passed against fast food corporations. McDonald's, KFC, Wendy's and all of the other bigwigs in the junk food business have got billions of dollars at their disposal to advertise their products. So, you can also point the finger at the television ads you see every day. Most U.S. kids see on average about 10,000 fast food ads every year, and they are directed specifically at kids less than ten years of age. Most of them can recognize Ronald McDonald before they can indentify the President.

There are other marketing ploys which McDonald's can use to lure new and regular customers back to their restaurants again. The company gives out toys when somebody buys one of those happy meals, which kids love to have. Parents would agree that it's difficult to ignore their children's cries for a meal at McDonald's, because the company portrays itself as a happy, fairground kind of environment where kids can get burgers and fries at any hour of the day or late at night. More health conscious consumers who would normally stay away from fast food might be tempted by one of the salads on the menu. They are just as fattening as all of the burgers! Don't be fooled by claims that they are healthier.

Fast food is highly addictive, and those who eat it more than two or three times a week will experience the same kind of high as a smoker does when he/she lights up a cigarette. Sugar is a vital ingredient in all of the sodas you can buy at a fast food restaurant and is nothing but empty calories. When somebody wants their drink to be supersized, they are consuming far more sugar than their body needs. The liver converts the excess sugar into fatty acids which are then returned to the bloodstream, and those acids are stored as fat. Most of the fat ends up in the stomach, buttocks, hips and the upper torso.

Excess insulin is another problem. This enzyme is produced in high quantities anytime somebody ingests simple carbohydrates, which includes sugar. When the insulin level is spiked, the body's fat burning process is shut down temporarily, and the sugar gets sent into the muscles to be used as energy. When those storage centres are full, the excess sugar is converted into fat.

In this age of convenience and the availability of junk food twenty-four hours a day, many Americans have stopped making the right dietary choices. The education system needs to do more to encourage students to eat healthy foods. The alternative is to continue to subsist on a diet of junk food, and see a catastrophic rise in health care costs and preventable deaths.

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