Annaleigh Newall
March 30, 2012
Writ. 101 PAA Rough Draft 1
What are the effects
of fast food on American obesity?
Living in the United States, we see it all around us. Obesity
is everywhere we look. It’s near impossible to go a day without seeing somebody
who is obese. Even the people, who don’t
look to be obese, are. Even me, at age 18 and dancing 20 hours a week and going
to the gym regularly am considered to be obese. So what makes our country to
the point that we are able to become obese so easily? When I first was choosing
a topic, I had absolutely no idea what to write on. I wanted to be sure I would
be able to find research on my topic, but still keep my reader engaged and have
it pertain to everyone somehow. Obesity isn’t something that just pertains to
one person, but to every single person in the United States. We have all seen
the obese people and tell ourselves that we don’t want to end up that way. But
what can be done to fix the problem? Why should you care? Honestly, look around
you. Obesity is a serious problem and we need to do something about it.
When I was in high school, I took 3 years of sports medicine
and exercise science classes, determined to somehow work that form of work into
what I was going to do with my life. Once a year in the spring came the time
every single person in the entire class dreaded; measuring BMI, taking skin
folds, and finding out if we were or were not obese. Every year when we tested
for obesity, the results were always surprising. Our football quarterback was
obese, the track star was obese, even I, a dancer dancing 27 hours a week, was
considered obese. The hardest part of this part of class was the self-esteem
factors that came along with finding out that the majority of our class as
obese. It was always hard to find out that we were in fact, not as healthy as
we thought we were. Our teacher always had to give everyone the classis
pep-talk about how it’s not what the scale says, but how we feel about
ourselves and that we are eating a balanced diet with fruits and vegetables and
feeling good about ourselves was what mattered most.
