As the pressure of Hollywood to be thin has crossed over onto the general population, and the issue of obesity becoming a major concern, diets are no longer fads or temporary solutions to people’s weight concern, it has become as one with our lifestyles. Left and right we see low-fat, fat-free, zero trans fat plastered all over the foods and products that we consume — why eat the real thing when you can have it for half the calories and fat? Yet, in this extreme obsession to be calorie-conscious and remain under a certain number of pounds, how is it that the fast food companies of the nation not only still exist but are doing so well? We constantly blame big fast food conglomerates such as McDonalds and claim that their existence is the reason for our obesity. So why in this time of weight obsession are Americans and people all over the world still reaching for those McNuggets — the little pieces of evil that we are holding accountable for making us fat?
The obvious magnetism is that fast food is exactly that — fast. It is easy, convenient, filling, and delicious. For those days you don’t want to cook, or when you just want a burger that you know will satisfy your cravings, fast food joints are your solutions. Another observation would be with our deadbeat economy, the ridiculously low-priced meals are life-savers. On top of the need for belt-tightening, the emotional times of being in an era of a failing financial system, an ongoing war that no end can be seen, people being dropped from their jobs, the emotional binge-eating of America is unavoidable.
In my opinion, however, the appeal has more to do with the human psyche and the big corporations that exploit our human characteristics for their benefit. Nowadays, our brains seem to have become programmed to reflect the same four words: indolence, reliability, availability, and addiction. We live in a civilization where greed has overridden morality. We want everything to be bigger, better, shinier; we want to supersize our meal instead of just opting for the reasonable regular meal. But with this greed, we have been awarded with new technological advances that has provided us with groundbreaking inventions to make things easier and painless. Alas, greed is one of the seven deadly sins, which maybe is why it didn’t only provide us with positive benefits; it has also made us become increasingly lazy. Ranging from such small things as clip-on ties (so men don’t have to go through the hassle of actually tying one), to bigger things such as vibration exercise machines that supposedly tones muscles, strengthens bones, and helps us lose weight, (so we don’t have to actually have break a sweat to work out). It links back to the fast food craze, because as we get more lazy and more reliant on objects instead of our own selves, we don’t want to cook, we don’t want to wait, we want our food the way we expect it to be and when we want it. It doesn’t help that these fast food places have capitalized on our lazy nature by giving us the option of delivery and drive-thrus. We can easily just be in our pajamas, hop in our cars and get a huge meal for the whole family. Or rather yet, just wait in the comfortability of our own homes, and wait for Domino’s to arrive in exactly 30 minutes.
