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“Big, Fatty, Fast Food Portions Driving Obesity Epidemic.” Wochit News, YouTube,

Wochit, 27 Feb. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wprly9gIO3k.

In this youtube video put out by Wochit News they speak very quickly on how fast food

restaurants are adding more and more unhealthy food options to their menu. Since 1986 the

amount of dessert and side items has increased by 226% and the CDC has come out saying the

average body weight for male and females have increased since 1999 to 2016 when this video

came out. Wochit News is a video content creator that allows people to make videos using their

services. However that does not discount the creator because they listed their source for their

information in the caption from a published website. The author of the website is Tauren Dyson

who is a renowned writer and has had her work published in outlets such as the New York Daily

News, and the CNET online journals. This video was published in 2016 so the information is

relatively new, but at the pace we are traveling at these numbers are sure to have changed. This is

a reliable source to use in my paper because even though the numbers may be old they are

backed by other news publications and prove the relationship between restaurants and obesity.

Chandler, Adam. “Perspective | Five Myths about Fast Food.” The Washington Post, WP

Company, 14 June 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-

about-fast-food/2019/06/14/188cd7d0-8d53-11e9-b08e-cfd89bd36d4e_story.html.

In the article “Perspective | Five Myths about Fast Food.” Adam Chandler speaks on the five

most popular fast food myths people hear today. The one that is useful to the paper as my

counter argument is that there is no correlation to obesity and fast food restaurants, but that there

is a correlation to overeating and obesity. Adam Chandler is a Brooklyn based writer who used

to write for the Atlantic and has had his works published in The New York Times, The

Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. This article was published by the Washington
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post who has been around since 1877 proving they are a source to be trusted since they have

been around for so long.This was a recent publication being released in 2019, and there may be

some bias in his paper towards the left wing of the spectrum; however, when it comes to food

that can be pretty unbiased. I think this would be a great source to use as my counterargument in

my paper.

Currie, Janet, et al. Do Fast Food Restaurants Contribute to Obesity?,

www.nber.org/aginghealth/2009no1/w14721.html.

In the Article “Do Fast Food Restaurants Contribute to Obesity?” Janet Currie and others speak

on how living in close proximity to a fast food restaurant increases the chances of obesity. The

article also mentions how through research the main restaurants that feed the obesity crisis are

fast food restaurants and not just restaurants in general. Janet Currie is a professor at Princeton

University and has published many articles relating to food and health. The article was published

by the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Bureau has been around since 1920 and

is a nonprofit researcher showing that there is no reason for bias in their publications. This article

was published in 2016 so it is fairly recent with some possible changes in statistics; however, it is

still relevant enough to use as a reliable source. There are multiple researchers with their names

included in the title but on the NBER website there are not outside sources that I can see. The

fact that there are no other sources seen makes it a questionable source to use in the paper.

Kraak, Vivica Ingrid,PhD., R.D.N. (2018). Comprehensive restaurant-sector changes are

essential to reduce obesity risk for all americans. American Journal of Public Health,
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108(2), 158-159.

doi:http://dx.doi.org.argo.library.okstate.edu/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304217

In this article “Comprehensive restaurant-sector changes are essential to reduce obesity risk for

all Americans” Vivica Kraak speaks on the fact that restaurants are already causing a problem

with our obesity epidemic and our children so he is calling for a change. Kraak talks about how it

is time for us to make a change to help reduce and hopefully end the obesity risk that is

spreading to all Americans. Vivica Kraak is part of the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods,

and Exercise at Virginia Tech University and has published numerous articles. It was published

by the APHA which is the American Public Health Association, a well known organization that

has published thousands of articles over food safety and health. At the conclusion of the article

there is a list of sources that were included in the paper to prove its validity. This is a great

potential source to use because it was published and backed with the APHA and had numerous

other sources to support it.

Mohammadbeigi, A, et al. “Fast Food Consumption and Overweight/Obesity Prevalence

in Students and Its Association with General and Abdominal Obesity.” Journal of

Preventive Medicine and Hygiene, Pacini Editore Srl, 28 Sept. 2018,

In the article “Fast food consumption and overweight/obesity prevalence in students and its

association with general and abdominal obesity” A. Mohammadbeigi the main author begins by

announcing how they are studying the fast food effects of obesity in Iran measuring a person

WHR, and BMI. A person WHR is their hip to waist ratio and someone's BMI is their body mass

index. The research showed that there is a correlation between fast food consumption and a

persons WHR. Mohammadbeigi is at the Research Center of Gastroenterology and Hepatology,

Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran . The NCBI or National Center of
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Biotechnology Information is a government published media source that publishes thousands of

articles every year. This article was published in 2018 therefore making it a fairly recent

publication, but what makes it stand out is its numerous sources included inside of the article

written by Mohammadbigi. This source can benefit my paper because its research shows that

there is some correlation to the fast food industry (restaurants) and the obesity epidemic in the

world.

O'connor, Anahad. “Can Home Cooking Reverse the Obesity Epidemic?” The New York Times,

The New York Times, 12 June 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/well/eat/can-home-

cooking-reverse-the-obesity-epidemic.html.

In the article “Can Home Cooking Reverse the Obesity Epidemic” the author Anahad O’ Connor

begins speaking on how food insecurity is making people eat less healthy food because they eat

whatever they can get their hands on. Also the lack of time is causing parents to spend less time

cooking healthy meals and feeding the kids so they can help them with their homework instead

of cooking them more nutritional meals. Anahad O’ Connor has been a writer for The New York

Times since 2003 and has written numerous articles on health, nutrition, and fitness. This article

was published in June of 2019 by The New York Times who has been around since 1851 and

published thousands of articles. O’Connor included many sources inside of his article suggesting

that this is a trustworthy publication. This article could benefit my paper in the way that it talks

about how home cooking could help the obesity crisis and how that suggests possible blame on

the restaurants.

Patel, O., Shahulhameed, S., Shivashankar, R., Tayyab, M., Rahman, A., Prabhakaran,

D., . . . Jaacks, L. M. (2017). Association between full service and fast food restaurant
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density, dietary intake and overweight/obesity among adults in delhi, india. BMC Public

Health, 18, 1. doi:http://dx.doi.org.argo.library.okstate.edu/10.1186/s12889-017-4598-8

In the article about the Association between full service and fast food restaurant density they

found in Delhi, India that there is some correlation to the obesity in the indian diet as opposed to

the western diet. This showed researchers that there is more likely to be a correlation to the type

of food being eaten at fast food chains instead of just eating at fast food chains. The author Opal,

Patel is a writer and graduate assistant at UNC Gillings. The article was published by BMC

Public Health in London which is a major news and health publisher across seas. At the

conclusion of the article there is a source sheet showing where Patel got all of his information.

This source may not be the best to use in my paper because it is more about healthy eating in

general and less about how the restaurants are contributing to the obesity epidemic.

Wbur. “Restaurant Portion Sizes Contribute To Obesity Epidemic.” WBUR, WBUR, 5 Apr.

2017, www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2017/03/29/portion-sizes.

In the article “Restaurant Portion Sizes Contribute To Obesity Epidemic” WBUR speaks on how

it is just plain human nature to eat what is put in front of them on a plate. Therefore if restaurants

continue to serve portion sizes that are way too large they will continue to fuel the obesity

epidemic. The author is Dr. Deborah Cohan and she has written many medical journals and

works at the School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania. It was published by WBUR, one

of the biggest NPR news stations in Boston. This was published in 2017 so it was a recent

publication, and the article included hyperlinks to other sources inside of the article to create

credibility for the article. This is a source that could benefit my paper because now it is bringing

the fight to more than just fast food restaurants but to all of them.
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 Stebens 7

Isaac Stebens

T. Davis

Comp II

25 Feb 2020

Restaurants Vs. Obesity

Intro

Hook: Talk about how people are finding less and less time to cook at home and going to

restaurants more and more.

Introduce Topic: Talk about how this is causing more and more people to overeat and are

eating less nutritious food leading to an obesity epidemic.

Thesis: The families of America are allowing restaurants to dictate how they eat, what

their body looks like, and their lack of time impedes their nutritional choices causing an

increase in the amount of time eating out. With this trend of the American population

restaurants must begin to accept responsibility for the food they are putting in front of the

people.

Body 1

Main Idea: People are allowing restaurants to dictate what and how much they eat.

Sub Point #1 Restaurants are overserving

Evidence- In the article titled “Restaurant Portion Sizes Contribute To Obesity Epidemic”

by Deborah Cohen she speaks on how it is human nature to over eat if we are served

more than needed, and restaurants are serving 2 to 3 times more than the appropriate size.

Follow Up- Talk about how restaurants are serving too much food to try and make a

profit, and how their portion sizes are leading to obesity in America
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Sub Point #2 Fast food restaurants are adding more unhealthy menu items.

Evidence- According to research done by Wochit News from 1986 to 2016 fast food

restaurants have added 226% more dessert and side items to their menus and that number

continues to increase (“Big”).

Follow Up- Discuss how adding these menu items is leading to obesity, and how

restaurants could better pose the health risks to their customers.

Sub Point #3 Fast food restaurants are serving too many calories.

Evidence - According to Wochit News and their team of researchers the average amount

of calories for a fast food meal is 767 calories which is approximately 40% of a person's

suggested calorie intake (“Big”).

Body 2

Main Idea: Eating out as opposed to home cooked meals are taking a toll on our body.

Sub Point #1 The food restaurants serve are proving to affect our body

Evidence- In research done by the NCBI they found that eating fast food has a direct

correlation to increasing someone's WHR (Waist to Hip Ratio).

Follow up- Talk more specifically about what WHR and how it is correlated based on

this research.

Sub Point #2 COUNTER Fast food restaurants are not responsible for the obesity crisis in

America.

Evidence- Adam Chandler suggests in “Perspective | Five Myths about Fast Food.” that

there is not enough information to directly correlate fast food restaurants to obesity, but

more of causation because he suggests if they are constantly eating out they are probably

doing other unhealthy habits.

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Follow Up- Talk more about how it may just be other life decisions leading to obesity not

just what they eat.

Sub Point #3 Talk about how the above counter argument is flawed

Evidence- In an article called “Can Home Cooking Reverse the Obesity Epidemic?” The

author Anahad O’Connor speaks on how if the American people could just put away the

ultra processed food and get in the kitchen they would be healthier.

Follow Up- Talk about how many families that is not a realistic thing with the time they

spend and put some responsibility on the restaurants who constantly serve the ultra

processed food to save time and money.

Body 3

Main Pont: Talk about the lack of time for people to make the right nutritional choices.

Sub Point #1 Talk about how the reality of all the other things people do.

Evidence- According to Anahad O'Connor the author of “Can Home Cooking Reverse

the Obesity Epidemic?” He says that in interviews conducted he found that parents are

choosing to spend less time preparing food and spending more time with their family.

Follow Up- The American families should not have to forgo their health to spend more

time with their families.

Sub Point #2 Restaurants could serve better food for those families that want a quick

option.

Evidence- According to Deborah Cohen a long time author and professor at Virginia

Tech she says that food restaurants have all sorts of regulations to prevent food poisoning
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and other things so she poses the question why can’t we just take a scale or measuring

cup in the kitchen.

Follow Up- Talk about other possible solutions to fixing the unhealthy quick dining out.

Sub Point #3 Fast food restaurants need healthier options even if it may take five mins

longer to make.

Evidence- Also in Deborah Cohen's article she talks about how fast food restaurants are

required to post their calorie count, but many do not dictate how they eat based on that.

Therefore, if those chains offered healthier sounding and looking options it would be

more effective than just looking for the lowest calorie count.

Follow up- People are going to do what is quick and easy to spend time with their kids

and it is time they stop punishing their bodies and their families bodies because

restaurants cannot serve them healthy food.

Conclusion

Restate Thesis: The restaurants of America are to be held responsible for the obesity

epidemic around us. Restaurants are dictating what we eat and how much we eat, what

our bodies look like, and the lack of time we share the restaurants do not serve nutritious

enough meals.

Sum Body Paragraphs: Talk about how we are being over served, how its affecting our

bodies, and how with the time we spend at home there should be healthier options at

restaurants.

Urge Readers: If we can begin to understand the correlation that restaurants have with our

obesity epidemic we can make a change. We are living in a society of uneducated people
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on the health risks they have by eating out like they do. It is time to get educated, and to

get after the food industry that is fueling this epidemic.

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Work Cited

“Big, Fatty, Fast Food Portions Driving Obesity Epidemic.” Wochit News, YouTube,

Wochit, 27 Feb. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wprly9gIO3k.

Chandler, Adam. “Perspective | Five Myths about Fast Food.” The Washington Post, WP

Company, 14 June 2019, www.washingtonpost.com

Mohammadbeigi, A, et al. “Fast Food Consumption and Overweight/Obesity Prevalence

in Students and Its Association with General and Abdominal Obesity.” Journal of

Preventive Medicine and Hygiene, Pacini Editore Srl, 28 Sept. 2018,

O'connor, Anahad. “Can Home Cooking Reverse the Obesity Epidemic?” The New York

Times, The New York Times, 12 June 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/well/eat/can-

home-cooking-reverse-the-obesity-epidemic.html.

Wbur. “Restaurant Portion Sizes Contribute To Obesity Epidemic.” WBUR, WBUR, 5

Apr. 2017, www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2017/03/29/portion-sizes.