blog post #1
October 27, 2009 by egambino
Fast Food has always been a large percentage of the food that i ate. I have always been someone who has eaten at McDonalds, Wendy’s, Burger King or my favorite Taco Bell! These companies have always distributed food at low prices and close locations.
The convenience and affordability became unbearable to avoid and became an everyday routine every summer. Regardless of season I always found myself there at least once a week all year round. I always knew eating such amounts of fast food was not well for my health. After reading the calorie counts when they were revealed in New York City about a year or two ago I was astonished. But, the true realization came when I watched the movie “King Corn” and read the novel “Silent Spring”. King Corn showed me the real and unappealing living condition of cattle being grown for beef. They were given cheaper processed corn, not grass from an open field, which nature intended. They were kept in small confined pens which prevented them from move continuously and fattened them up. The truth was eating a burger from a fast food restaurant was much unhealthier then a home made burger. I was further educated to understand how major crops were grown in the novel “Silent Spring”. Many farms grow crops in large plantations unified to a single crop for the greatest output. These unnatural conditions induced the need for pesticides and deadly chemicals to be used on these farms for top production. They would be used to kill unwanted insect or diseases which could kill the crop.
After learning the processes in which the food we eat today is manufactured and produced, the concern for my health increased. Knowing what entered my body and effected it became a greater concern. My choice of foods has changed from cheap fast food to home cooked meals and restaurants. Because of this class’s lectures and assignments I have been able to change my eating habits as well as my health. Now I know what I’m eating and whether or not it will benefit my body positively! Thank you!
I definitely agree with you about the convenience and affordability of fast food. After all, who can deny a cheap meal? What people don’t realize is that the cheapness of what they consume comes at a cost, not only their own health but at the cost of so many cows that suffer. I think if the government did more to inform people about what they’re eating, like the calorie count on the fast food items, more people would start to care about what they eat. Of course there will always be the people that’ll treat the calorie count as a high score they should rack up, but that’s on them. Aside from everything else, I like your enthusiasm and the fact that you’ve made a genuine change in diet. Education ain’t worth squat without application, you know?
I also think a lot of people eat at fast food restaurants because it’s convenient and cheap. Those are some of the main reasons I eat there too. They are literally everywhere. Recently, they built a McDonalds a couple blocks from my house, which is also a couple blocks away from a Popeye’s and a Burger King. If you walk down certain neighborhoods, there’s actually one of these restaurants on every block. And the price is inexpensive. A couple dollars will get you a full meal in a couple of minutes. A lot of people eat at these restaurants because of convenience and affordability of the food. But they should also be aware of the health risks. Although a huge percentage of people already know the health risks, they still continue to eat there. Well, what can you do?
While working for the Bloomberg Campaign over the summer i was almost forced to eat fast food for the reasons evan described in the beggining of his post. It is cheap, satisfying, and well relativly good especiall when you get the crave for it. The job ended in november, right after we stopped reading these articles and i was very, very relieved to go back to homemade food. Not only is it free at home but much better tasting and better for you, you dont get a guilty concience after eating it or a weird feeling in your stomach that youd get after chinese food. Home food is clean, good and overall just better for your body. Occasionally i still get craves for mcdonalds or a grilled honey mustard snack wrap with fries but its only once in a while so it does little harm to my body.