Is Fast Food The New Tobacco?

 

  

     The main question everyone keeps asking themselves is fast food considered the new tobacco? Quite honestly, it really should be considered the new tobacco. Fast food is everywhere and is easily accessible to anyone. Being that it is so accessible everywhere to everyone, a lot of people choose to go to fast-food restaurants before they even think about cooking at home or eating from a healthier place. Healthy restaurants are honestly hard to find around in the city I live. I feel like healthy places aren’t around as much as fast-food restaurants which makes it hard for people to resist the food that they like to order. Fast food becomes an addiction after the consistent eating of it. It can be so addicting even if you try sometimes, fast food is always around and available to us. For example, the app “Uber Eats” is used by so many people for when they don’t feel like cooking or don’t have time to cook and need something quick. They do have some healthy options but not many of them look appealing to most so, of course, most would rather choose the unhealthy option. So, Uber Eats is also contributing to the fast-food addiction.

  

 

  Some people can’t help but get food from their favorite fast-food chain restaurant. For some, all they can eat is fast food due to their circumstances. There are people who can’t afford to buy a bunch of groceries to make homemade food, so instead, they might go to McDonald’s for a three-dollar meal. This is why I don’t think the obesity issue should be government regulated. Everyone has different reasons for the way they eat, and some can’t help but eat it due to whatever is going on in their life. It’s more of a personal thing for everyone so therefore it should stay a personal responsibility. From the reading “Don’t Blame the Eater”, it was stated that “Lunch and dinner, for me, was a daily choice between McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken or Pizza Hut. Then as now, these were the only available options for an American kid to get an affordable meal.”(Zinczenko) In this example, David Zinczenko stated that because his mom worked long hours during the day he had no choice but to eat from these fast-food restaurants. They’re the most accessible and affordable. It is known that healthier options are more on the expensive side for different people.

   In the reading, “What You Eat Is Your Business”, it was stated that “The best way to alleviate the obesity “public health” crisis is to remove obesity from the realm of public health.” I had to disagree with this statement. He’s trying to say that removing people from their insurance that deal with obesity is the right thing to do in order to help fight obesity. I feel like that will end up being the complete opposite. In a lot of cases, people need the insurance to go to the doctor to help them lose weight; a significant amount of people probably have been trying. There are better ways to try and fight obesity. Michelle Obama tried to incorporate healthy lunch alternatives for the children because obesity can start very early in life and can become dangerous over time. Little things do go a long way in helping with the obesity issue. I personally feel like there’s always going an obesity issue but I do feel like over time it will decrease in percentages.