Argument Essay : Fast Food Essay

Directions: Turn off the Track Changes feature. Copy your edited draft (from above). Paste it below and highlight it. Then in the Review tab, find the Changes group and select Accept All Changes from the Accept drop-down menu (if you are using Microsoft 2003, on the Reviewing toolbar click Accept Change). Sign the honor statement below. Then, open your Argument Essay Rubric and copy and paste it after the honor statement . Save the changes to this document. Use the link provided in Blackboard to submit this document to your instructor. The instructor should then be able to see the entire process you took to create your final draft. â€Å"Over the last three decades, fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society,† writes Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation. In the beginning, the fast food restaurant started with a cafeteria-style restaurant known as the â€Å"Automat† in New York on July 7, 1912. Then, in 1921, White Castle restaurants were started in Wichita, Kansas, selling hamburgers for five cents. By 1948, McDonalds was opened by two brothers from Nashua, New Hampshire, who developed the concept of selling hamburgers, French fries, shakes, coffee, and coca cola in disposable wrappings. So from its humble beginnings, the fast food industry has become an undeniable factor in our society. Certainly, with our ever increasing and busy society, eating at fast food restaurants has become the norm. Families that have busy schedules, such as taking their kids to various activities, attending church functions, and late meetings rely heavily on fast food as a meal choice. For example, about one-quarter of adults and a third of children eat at fast food restaurants on any given day. According to the American Journal of Public Health, consumers have spent $16. 1 billion in 1975 to $153. 1 billion in 2004 on fast food. Consequently, the nutritional value of fast food has been limited due to the usage of pre-processed foods. Commonly, pre-processed foods are delivered to restaurants frozen, canned, dehydrated, or freeze-dried. Unfortunately, the higher calorie, fat, and sugar content these pre-processed foods contain, could potentially lead to a high levels of obesity in adults and children. However, in comparing one fast food meal with 1,680 calories to one home cooked meal with 546 calories, which choice would be better? Most of all, each individual must understand that making the appropriate nutritional choice, is his or her responsibility. Particularly, parents need to monitor portion sizes that are given to their children, and in the same manner, adults also need to monitor their portion sizes. Monitoring portion sizes can help eliminate the onset of obesity in children and adults. Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation states, â€Å"the typical American now consumes approximately three hamburgers and four orders of French fries every week. † Clearly, it is evident that the fast food industry has been an undeniable factor in our society since its humble beginnings. Principally, it is up to us, individually, to eliminate unhealthy habits that will affect us and our families in an adverse manner. Most important, the Bible gives us a foundational key to follow to be healthy. That foundational key is â€Å"My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; for length of days and long life; it will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones†. (Proverbs 3:1-2, 8 (NKJV)) Works Cited Austin, Bryn. â€Å"Clustering of Fast-Food Restaurants Around Schools: A Novel Application of Spatial Statistics to the Study of Food Environments† American Journal of Public Health Volume 95, number 9. September (2005): 1575 – 1581 â€Å"Fast Food Restaurant†. Wikipedia. 11 March 2011, 19 March 2011http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Fast_food_restaurant Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. Massachusetts. Houghton Mifflin, 2001.