It's here to stay or is it?

Fast food does not only affect us now, but can and often does have serious affects on our bodies and health ten, twenty-five, or fifty years down the road. Over the past twenty-five years the number of obese children has doubled and as of 2010, no state had less than twenty percent of its population as obese (CDC, http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html). The United States has now become the fattest nation in the world with sixty percent of Americans being either overweight or obese (Obesity Graphs). Obesity is the second preventable death in the United States, second only to smoking (Super Size Me). It has become a national epidemic, and Americans are doing nothing to prevent younger generations from succumbing to this lifestyle. Obesity can cause Hypertension, Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke, Gallbladder Disease, Osteo-arthritis, Sleep Apnea, Repertory problems, Endometrial Cancer, Breast Cancer, Prostrate Cancer, Colon Cancer, Insulin Resistance, Asthma, Reproductive Hormone Abnormalities, Cystic Ovarian Syndrome, Impaired Fertility, and adult onset Diabetes (Super Size Me).
(see this for more effects: Obesity) That is not the “American Dream,” and some of these diseases or conditions never disappear. People can take medicine to control their diabetes, high blood pressure, or asthma but they will never be the same.  

During Super Size Me, they called one hundred nutritionists and forty-five of those nutritionists said people should never eat fast food. Yet, the average American family eats out four to five times a week, and generally it is fast food because it is more economical. Fifty years ago the average American family ate out once or twice a month and everything else was homemade. The original McDonald’s French Fries, which are now the kid's size had just 200 calories and significantly less sodium, and today the large fry has 600 calories and 350 mg. of sodium. The 12 oz. drink that used to be the regular sized drink is now the kid’s cup, and the large is generally a 32 oz. cup. Once you start eating fast food on regular basis it can become addicting. Throughout Super Size Me, Spurlock talked about how down, depressed, and lethargic he felt every day, especially before and not long after his meals. His moods were all over the place because the dyes, sugar, and other chemicals had an addictive affect on his brain. The food has so much sugar that it gives the consumer a high for an hour or so, but then they are down again once the sugar wears off (Super Size Me). This is how fast food affects are bodies when we eat it to often, but there is good news. We have a choice. We can break away from our culture’s fast food obsession and take time to take care of our bodies and live a long, healthy life.