How Fast Food has Made America Fat

It's no secret that Americans are known to be fat.  Most foreigners look at us as....fat.  This is a true statement, but not all of us are, but a high enough number of us are, for people in other countries to stereotype all Americans to be fat.

{photo courtesy of Peace Hut}

Is it because Americans have become lazy and have quit visiting the gym as often?  Has food become less healthy?  Have more unhealthy foods hit the store shelves and left the fresh fruits and veggies out to rot?  Has fast food become so easy and cheap to just grab on the go that we are indulging in it too much, too many times a week?

I believe that fast food restaurants have played a major role in American becoming the obese country that it is today.  It's not the only reason, but it is a big reason.  According to What's Cooking America, one in five Americans are obese and the rate of obese children has doubled over the past 20 years.

First off, I believe fast food restaurant's portions are oversized, which is just one reason for Americans being so obese.  Not only is the food unhealthy, but also the amount of food that we are taking in is extremely unhealthy.  If we could consume things from fast food restaurants in moderation, obesity probably wouldn't be as big of a problem as it is.

{photo courtesy of Italian Ok}

Another thing, fast food chains don't alert their customers of the high amount of calories and fat content  in their products, according to What's Cooking America.  This also creates a problem, because we just go  in there and order what sounds and looks good, not being aware of how bad some of the things are for us that we will be putting in our bodies!  Maybe if we knew the amount of calories or grams of fat that were in some of these products, they wouldn't be so appealing to us any more, therefore making us not wanting to purchase them any more!

{photo courtesy of Impact Lab}

As you can see from the image above, the south is considered to be the "fattest" among the United States.  It has been this way for many, many years & continues to be this way.  We are known to eat fatty foods more so than the other parts of the country including everything fried!  We love us some good'ole fried food...from okra, pickles, chicken, potatoes, to oreos and twinkies!  You name it, someone in the south has tried it!  This isn't an excuse for the south being the fattest part of the country, but I do believe our fried food habit contributes to it greatly.  

We all these factors added up from corporations not doing & doing certain things, to Americans being lazy...they have all contributed to America being the fat country we are known for today.