DO YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT? AN EXPLORATION OF SERVING SIZE, SOCIAL WELFARE, AND OUR WAISTLINES

Thomas D Jeitschko, Rowena A Pecchenino. Economic Inquiry. Huntington Beach: Jul 2006. Vol. 44, Iss. 3; pg. 442, 9 pgs

Fast food is the cheap and convenient way to fill your self up. This article is about how the American fast food industry has had a really huge effect on American’s waistlines. Every form of media has informed people about the increasing amount of people being diagnosed for diabetes and for overall obesity. Many fast food companies have been sued for having food that has increased diseases and obesity in the population. Many big food companies have recognized this huge problem and have tried to help by becoming more health- conscious such as Kraft, reducing it’s serving sizes for packaged foods, and places such as McDonalds and Wendy’s offering salads and fruits on the menu. Even schools have started to change the way the dining services work. Instead of bad carbs, there are more fruits and vegetables available and instead of soda machines, there is milk, water and juice. In the fast food industry, the portion sizes have increased since 1970’s. Eating outside in fast food restaurants is obviously worse then eating a home cooked meal with less trans/saturated fats and actually knowing the ingredients, the portion sizes are bigger also. People over eat many times and with so many choices, people have the option to not order the supersized items or anything that is unhealthy in that case. The one big question left to ask is, “Should government restrict fast food companies from making such unhealthy foods because they are unhealthy or should government stay out of it and let Americans have what they want?”