The Days of Fast Fattening Meals

The Days Of Fast Fattening Meals

McDonalds, Jack in the box, Taco Bell, Panda Express, Wendys these are all places you can get food fully prepared within 10 minutes without ever leaving your car, at a cheap rate. Why in recent years have we seen such an upsurge in restaurants like this? Why has it become almost daily routine for a lot of people, especially in America? Why have we seen an increase in child obesity and are they connected? I am going to take a look at all the causes that lead into this trend to see where exactly it started, what is at present day and where it can potentially lead us in the future.

In this day and age where we have so much technology to help us in our busy life styles, the days of mothers and fathers working long hours, there are many upon many inventions or places to go to make our lives a little bit easier and quicker. The biggest of all, I think is the up rise of fast food restaurants. After a long busy day at work, picking up the kids, getting them ready for the next day, many people feel they don’t have time to make a home cooked meal and clean up after it. So they turn to fast food, a meal for the family fully prepared with little clean up all done in a matter of ten minutes and under twenty dollars. What has changed in more recent years that has caused there to be a fast food restaurant on every street corner? Well, we all know that times are vastly different but what causes can be attributed to the last 50 years of changes when it comes to meals?



Without consumption of the product, fast food chains would not be there. Millions upon millions of Americans pay their money to get a fast meal. If we suddenly demanded healthier foods and stopped buying into the fast food industry. We would probably see a rapid decline in fast food chains and my guess is the obesity rate would go down as well. However disturbing the rapid climb of fast food chains has become, we have to sit back and analyze why are we allowing this to happen? Why are we allowing family meals to now be limited to a pre- cooked bucket of chicken or a wrapped greasy cheese burger. Why are we not only feeding our children this but ourselves as well? Why has it become more money to buy a head of lettuce than it is to buy a cholesterol and fat ridden burger off of a dollar menu?

Many things can influence the trends of today. However, this isn’t a trend this is now becoming a way of life, instead of it being a once in a while treat. The biggest reason that I can see is that we are the busiest most efficient human beings that there has ever been. With the help of technology we can get more done now, than ever before. So why are we busier? Why do most families not have time to make dinner? A lot can be said about the increasing amount of single parents, which have to work, as well as the fact that it now takes a two income house hold to keep the bills paid. Which in turn is causing a lot of what was stay at home mothers, who had the time to devote to making sure the house was clean and kids well fed, now having to work a nine to five.

Back when fast food was really put on the scene in the mid 1900’s, most families were very old fashioned. The father worked and brought home the money. While the mother stayed at home, took care of the chores, kids and meals. This in turn led to healthier meals and the fast food chain not being as big as it is today. The mothers had the time to devote to making home cooked meals from scratch. However, now that there are many more families now a days, that rarely have a stay at home mom, there is less time to spend with the family and even lesser amount of time to devote to cooking for them.



I have fallen victim to it plenty of times as pretty much most American can say they have. They worked a long shift at work, were rushing to get home, tired from the day, hungry, and didn’t want to cook or clean. Why not stop on one of the fifteen fast food places that you see on your way home from work? Not to mention that, they now have a variety of different types of food. From Mexican, chinese, American and even down south cooking. What has led to both mothers and fathers having to work? What has lead to the increase in single families? At what point, did we turn wrong?

We have come from a place where fast food was new, exciting and a treat. To now being a daily ritual for many families. Which in turn I believe is a huge attribute to the obesity problem in the United States, as well as many health issues. I would love to see the future make a bright turn and the need for fast food is always going to be here, we are never going to take it away. However, what we do need is a solution. How can we make it a positive effect on a negative but necessary situation?

The saddest part about this whole thing for me is the fact it is out of our hands at this point. I don’t know about you but I remember when Oprah got sued for saying she will never eat another burger. There are laws passed that make it legal for them to sue when you state your opinion about them. What happened to freedom of speech? It seems lately that has been taken away from us.

However, we can always fight it. There is power in numbers and as we become a more knowledgable society about what we are putting into our bodies. More and more people or “numbers” will start demanding and forcing change upon those that think they are the powerful ones. In the future, what can be an effect of all of this, both negative and positive? I think we will get to a point that we will learn just how unhealthy fast foods restaurants are and there will be no denying it or battling it any longer.

We can already see the change happening now with places like Wendy’s who offer apples instead of fries or milk instead of soda. I think this was a necessary evil for us to wake up as a society and go back to eating healthy foods. There is a food chart for a reason, which most have forgotten about. I think as we continue on seeing the obesity rates sky rocket and more and more people having heart attacks and numerous other health issues due to the fact of what they put their in body. We will, no actually, we ARE starting to wake up from the blindness of convenience and make this fast food idea work for us. It can be fast foods, but it can also be HEALTHY fast foods.

In conclusion, we have seen the sales of McDoubles, fries and sodas sky rocket from fast food. We have seen the changes in our obesity rate in recent years and they are not coincidence. All of this is caused by the economy to where it now takes two incomes. Also, caused by the fact of how busy we are now more than ever. As well as more single parents than ever before, tackling paying bills and raising children on their own. Just remember, none of this can happen without consumption of these products. We always have the power to demand healthier foods that can be fast and affordable. No longer should we, eat something that doesn’t have the ingredient or nutrient information on its package. Fighting for healthy foods is a way to solve a lot of our health issues and obesity rate issues. It is in the future and that’s the light at the end of my tunnel.