Fast Food = Obvious Killer

FAST FOOD 

Cruelty to animals and very unhealthy/dangerous eating habits

= 

people/companies benefiting from clueless consumers!

Vegan Food in Fast Food Places?!

This topic means a lot to me because I started to see reality a couple years ago and it has impacted me ever since. I do not want to force anybody into believing what I do believe in, nor into making drastic changes in their lives when it comes to what food they eat, but I ask to think twice about what you eat, think about where it came from and how it got on your plate, how much it cost and how high the collateral damage was.

It sounds drastic, and going from eating McDonald´s every other day to become vegetarian is not easy, but it is NOT IMPOSSIBLE. Personally, I have been through that change, well, I am still working on not eating meat, but slowly I´m getting there. I used to eat McDonald´s happy meals all the time, Burger King was where I would hang out after classes to do "my homework", and KFC was the place I would meet up with my best friends to "hang out" but really, in all those places, for a whole year, I was just getting the most unhealthy but cheap food.

After gaining 25 lbs. in 2 to 3 months I decided that it was time to draw a line and think about what happened to my eating habits, how did I get so addicted to this fast food? 

I always used to have very healthy and filling meals at home with my parents, but when I moved out across the ocean, I guess I forgot about the healthy food and preferred the fast and cheap alternative that the U.S. had to offer (not even two streets away from my apartment complex there where all three of the earlier mentioned fast food chains).

I found a report from the Worldwatch Institute called Overfed and Underfed: "The Global Epidemic of Malnutrition documented the real costs of obesity related to poor diet--and this does NOT include the other effects of poor diet such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, autoimmune diseases, and osteoporosis." 

Some of the conclusions of that report:

• Obesity accounts for 7 percent of lost productivity due to sick leave and disability.

• Obese people visit their physicians 40 percent more than normal weight people.

• Obese people are 2.5 times more likely to require drugs prescribed for cardiovascular and circulation disorders.

• Liposuction is the number-one form of cosmetic surgery in the US, with 400,000 operations a year.

• Over 100,000 people a year have gastric bypass surgery.

(Mark Hyman, M.D. in Huffpost Healthy Living)

Americans eat over 200lb of meat per person per year

(Food Inc.)

Thanks to this project, which I will be presenting as an article, I´m understanding more and more this topic, how I became a #1 fast food costumer without noticing my health changes, even thought the changes in my appearance were obvious, but also not digging into the origin of all that food, all the plants and animals that were and are being produced so that I was able to "enjoy" an unhealthy meal for little money, and (way too) many others can too.

ADDICTING?? Just like DRUGS?!

Studies show junk foods change brain chemistry and are addictive like cocaine

"just like with illicit drugs, those addicted to junk food require ever-increasing amounts of it to get the same ´high´."

(Ethan A. Huff, staff writer)

Consumerism is based on people wanting and expecting more products, which forces the companies, in this case, food chains, to produce more and more without thinking twice about the living beings that are being used and killed for a tasteful satisfaction.

Workers, Animals, and our Environment are being taken advantage of and damaged because we are trapped in a vicious circle where an unhealthy meal fills you up more, costs less and has the ability to kill you faster, but because some can´t afford healthy vegetables and fruits or meat from a farmer´s market, those Workers, Animals and, of course, our Environment will keep suffering.

THERE IS HOPE

BECAUSE IF YOU CARE, CHANGE WILL HAPPEN

Know what you buy!

Buy food in season and that is labeled!

"YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD WITH EVERY BITE."

(Food Inc.)

How to go vegan? According to PETA

Burger Song! 

"Watch Fifth Graders from Elysian Charter School in Hoboken, New Jersey, sing, dance, and rock out (with costumes) to their original song."