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M A R
02      Supersize It!

  Everybody has heard of the term ‘Big is beautiful’, now the real question is — ‘Is big truly beautiful?’

According to a recent survey conducted by SizeUSA, it shows that Americans have grown taller and heavier. However, Americans are growing heavier more rapidly than being taller.

With the amount of sources that exist from coast to coast, it is no wonder Americans are living larger. For a start, there are tons of fast-food restaurants throughout the nation. On top of it all, they are easily accessible and economical.

While in the US, we have been spoiled by the existences of McDonald’s, Burger King (or Hungry Jack’s in Australia), Wendy’s, Popeye’s, White Castle, In-N-Out, Arby’s, Jack in the Box, to name a few. On top of your everyday fast-food joints, we also have Pizza, Chinese food, Kebabs, gyros, etcetra.

When you are at a counter of a fast-food joint, the size question holds quite an important role. It is no longer your typical “Small, Medium or Large?”. Most likely than not, you will be asked with a more familiar one which is “Regular, Large or Supersize?”. A “Regular” used to be a “Large” a few years ago. The difference between the sizes from now and then lies solely on the sizes of fries and soft drinks.

All of us might be well aware of the main ingredients of fries and soft drinks are. Fries are nonetheless deep-fried-cut-out potatoes with salt on top. The thinner the fries are, the more fat they consist of. The crispier they are, the longer deep-fried time they take. Meanwhile, soft drinks consists of sugar and caffeine (this of course applies to non-diet sodas).

Chances are, we are aware of the nutritional facts and all. But when we are faced by the question of “Supersize it?”, sometimes we cannot get away from it. Fast-food restaurants offer supersize deals ranged from 39 cents to 50 cents for each upgrade. For most of us, they sound like steals, but little that we know we are actually putting on more weight. Supersize portions at stores and fast-food joints may seem like bargains, but they cost us billions of dollars in obesity-related illnesses.

Fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s and Wendy’s often offer kid’s meals that come with fun toys. For children, a visit to fast-food restaurant is a treat. Not only they get to eat their favorite meals — burger and fries with soda — they are also given toys to play with.

Why the children? Because healthy diet starts from young age. If they start their everyday diet with fast-food, they will be accustomed to that particular diet hence the obesity. It does not necessarily mean that obesity is related to fast-food. But because, most fast-food restaurants offer greasy food and high-in-sugar sodas therefore fast-food can easily be pointed out as the culprit of obesity.

In other words, next time you decide on the next 50 cents to supersize it, remember the extra 50 pounds that possibly accummulate within time. Otherwise, start exercising.


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