110,000,000,000 dollars. 5 new restaurants open each day. 200,000 ads. 76,000,000 sickened. Welcome to America. Fast food restaurants have begun to promote and sell obesity to people around the world because they gain profit by taking people of any economic level down.

Fast food restaurants use mystery ingredients; they have beckoned children, adults, and teens for centuries, and finally too many people’s surprise there is no such thing as a “healthy option”. Many people grieving to support their families are thrust into fast food franchises daily because the dollar menu is still too expensive for a family of 6 living the cheapest one room apartment available. Conveniently everywhere. Conveniently the cheapest thing around. This is the Fast Food Nation.


McDonald’s and many other franchises keep ingredients hidden. Which means you click on the website to reveal a beautiful hamburger spinning under lights... title? Delicious starts right here. I don't know about you but that makes me hungry. Many people will see the webpage looking for an ingredient list and think oh that looks good... suddenly their life could become a whirl wind of cravings and satisfactions- all from one misconception... it's just a hamburger. The chicken finger link? Juicy, Tender, Irresistible. When you click on the nutrition information unfortunately it only tells calories, and fat, so people assume... well than no nutrition? It must be good for me. In an article written by Michael Pollan, a nutritionist extraordinaire who wrote the famous book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" it states that a McDonald's chicken nugget is 56% corn. With that you can bite into a delicious mouthful of mystery ingredients from a petroleum refinery or even a chemical plant. But perhaps the most alarming ingredient? Tertiary butyl hydroquinone or TBHQ an antioxidant derived from petroleum and is sprayed directly on the nugget. A single gram of TBHQ can cause vomiting, nausea, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse. Five grams of this deadly no good ingredient can kill. Most people who are addicted to McDonald's are too hooked to even care.

Also vegetarians aren’t very happy because McDonald’s released a very alarming statement.

“Yes. Our fries are made with beef extract,” Says Walt Riker Company Spokesman, from an article by Eli Sanders from the Boston Globe. They essentially are cooked twice. They are cut, peeled, and par fried soon after frozen and sent to McDonald’s franchises all around the world. Apparently a miniscule amount of beef extract is added during the entail frying. How is that right? McDonald's uses lies and cheats to get customers, some of the people are vegetarians because of a religious aspect and they could have sinned very badly by eating something that was thought to be potatoes and vegetable oil.

Also an outrage from KFC grilled chicken… what they really use in their crunchy on the outside soft on the inside chicken? I don’t think you want to know. An article from Natural Bias website states that KFC has more than 30 ingredients, most of those un-pronounceable. Let’s take the first ingredient Maltdextrin… do you know what that is? Sugar. Second…. Salt. Both of those ingredients being overused is not a good sign already. Third ingredient is bleached wheat flour, many people have been told that KFC’s grilled chicken is Gluten Free… with that have gotten ill and possibly ended up in the hospital. In reality that could possibly be illegal. Just the first three ingredients pose problems for people, their health and the ongoing problem of obesity.


Fast food restaurants have beckoned children, teenagers, and adults for a long time. Every time a new movie comes out... bam McDonald's is on it. Every time there is a new tablet or ipad... new applications. There is an area on the website all about the toys and fun things at McDonald’s. This webpage is embellished with color, and smiling kids holding that forever promising red box. Do happy meals even come in that red box? I remember them coming in a bag. And now the new McWorld which kids activate with the toys that come in their meal, and can play online, something this generation really is defined by. You can also play games online, make Ronald grams, and send them to the happy clown directly; and you can place yourself in a picture with Ronald McDonald. Why do you think their mascot is a clown? They are targeting kids. Just like every other company in America, who know kids have the least knowledge, not many 2nd graders read the NY times every day. Children will see 3 million dollars of advertisement for fast food every year... everywhere. McDonald’s is playing their cards right, going from the forever endearing play sets to online games and databases that I am sure kids will adore.
As cars got more popular? They set McDonald’s sky rocketing with the Drive Through. Answer this question. If you are on a road trip and need to get somewhere quick would you go into a restaurant and wait on a line? Or bark back at rude sales people and stay in the car. It makes the food much more available. And now places like Dunkin Donuts and Dairy Queen have picked up on the “drive through” aspect as well. The food is easily attainable now with a quick five minute stop. Hungry on your way home from work... need a “pick me up” as the franchise calls it. Well just drive through and your food will be with you in minutes.
Adults drink as many as 10 coffees a day. They can either purchase a 5 dollar bistro coffee or a delicious sugary McCafe beverage. At only 2 dollars it’s a delicious deal. Most of these beverages are 230 calories and over, packed with fat and sugar... yet taste just as good if not better than that bistro coffee.
Teenagers who have jobs at supermarkets, coffee shops, and clothing stores don’t have enough money to pick up a delicious 5 star dinner. Instead they grab a 2 dollar dinner at McDonald’s resulting in the un-known consummation of 600 easy calories, and ingredients from chemical refineries. 30% of High Schools offer fast food in their cafeterias; it is just what they learn to eat… what they adjust to as well. One in four teens have the same idea immersing them selves in indulgent fatty meals every day.
1 in 4 Americans visit a fast food restaurant daily says an article from Viva Veggie. As well as this the article states French Fries are the most common eaten vegetable in America. Before most children can eat they recognize McDonald’s in a happy bright way. 1 in 3 of those children will develop diabetes before they are 13; half of them with retain that weight and not lost it.

Too many people’s dismay there is no such thing as a “healthy option”. McDonald’s promotes a Fruit and Yogurt parfait? This is still 160 calories with 2 grams of fat and 85 mg of sodium. They also promote a Fruit and Walnuts cup that has 210 calories, 8 grams of fat and 60 mg of sugar. Fruit and Maple Oatmeal? 290 calories and 5 grams of fat. You can open the Burger King menu to a sizzle of grease on a skillet. The sound most Americans enjoy... but they still say that their menu is getting healthier. An article from Eat this, Not that says that their top swap goes from a 640 calorie meal to a 300 calorie meal which still has 12 grams of fat and 500 mg of sodium. Their healthiest meal is that bad? You shouldn't be going there. And unfortunately that hamburger no matter how “healthy” they try to make it sound could have a deadly bacteria called E.coli. One mouthful and you could be dead in one of the franchises around the world.
Wendy's says that they are going healthy with “freshly prepared salads”. That sounds healthy to me. If I wanted to eat something- anything at a fast food franchise I would go for a salad. But listen to this: just one salad has 730 calories and 47 grams of fat. I'm sure they don’t want you clicking on the small red button that says “nutrition”. A new study at Yale University says that out of 3,000 possible happy meal options at a dozen different fast food restaurant only 15 of those meals made their criteria for a healthy lunch for older children. They sent 250 researches to fast food franchises around the country and after asking for kids meals only 6-8% of the people offered healthy sides like apples. McDonald's now attempts to support a new campaign called “Wholesome” where they show meals for breakfast under 300 calories. What they don't know is that people on diets will gravitate towards that when they can have a 100 calorie bowl of grits with maple syrup at home. The eggmcmuffin which they promote at 300 calories suddenly sounds healthy. Look into it, you will find it has 8 grams of sugar and 820 mg of sodium. You think a chicken nugget is healthy right? Just chicken.... wrong. How could a chicken nugget be healthy? It's a nugget... is a chicken every in nugget form? So how exactly did it get like that. Grabbing a salad at burger king? Your better off with a hamburger if anything. The salad which is thought to be the healthy option... has one hundred more calories, half a gram more of saturated fat, and 30 more grams of cholesterol! So re-think the “wholesome” menu next time you are out... you might find that just sticking to a hamburger.... or saving your hunger and getting out of there would be a better option.

It is true that many people are under the poverty level. When the economy crashed a lot of people lost their jobs in America. Many people had their kids working, as well as them. And had to work at CVS and The Acme making minimal wage. A lot of people also cannot afford a dinner for 6 at the food store, those same people also don't want to go out of their way to a value food store to buy cheaper food. So people do fall back on Fast Food and it is a real shame. But it is the cheapest and most available thing around. For 18 dollars everyone in your family can have a small coke, a small fries, and a double cheeseburger. That saves left over cash to buy toiletries and your rent that month. So it's understandable that 1 out of 4 people will be at McDonald's every day and the 110 billion dollars spent every year is understandable as well. Most american's purchase 3 hamburgers a week. “It is a really unhealthy option for families that need affordable food,” says anchor Kiran Cherty on CNN's Good Morning America. Fast food franchises surely have enough money to change their ways but they are number 1 lazy, and number 2 with better quality food will have to raise their prices and lose business What sometimes isn’t understandable is the people that go there even though they don’t have to. There are people everywhere that promote the fact that American's are obese and lazy. American's go there to grab a 300 calorie snack or a 400 calorie coffee, than they go back to their job of sitting at a desk and typing, not excersizing at all because why do they have to? What is health to any of us.... seriously. More than half of us are obese and more than half of us are shaping our country.


In conclusion, why chose McDonald's or Burger King? Fast food franchises have promoted obesity to American's because they are strong enough and they gain profit by taking innocent people down. Fast food franchises sell mystery ingredients, have lured in costumers for decades, and there really are no healthy options. And although I understand that poor family who is going through a rough time having no other option but that isn’t the problem. Fast food is an easy affordable quick way to consume more than your daily intake of calories. For children who don’t have a better idea, teenagers who really don’t care, and adults who don’t pay any attention anyway fast food isn't the right option. Next time you have the choice weather to go all out and consume your body weight in super sized grease fat or to pack yourself a peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat bread and a bottle of water I think you might know the right answer.
Next time you take a bite of fried golden slivers with mystery chemicals... you can hear my voice in your head singing “liar, liar beef fries in the fryer... twice.”