Over the past century, America portion sizes and waistlines have grown exponentially. In 1975 the largest soft drink size was seven ounces, today a child’s size is 12 ounces. Also in the seventies high fructose corn syrup was invented and became a common ingredient in fast foods. Technology has contributed to our laziness and the ease of not leaving your couch to order more food. Obesity is a big problem caused by portion sizes, processed food and sugars, and technology.
We didn’t gain weight overnight, Americans have been steadily eating more in the past several decades. In the 1960s a man named David Walerstein ran a movie theater and was trying to boost sales. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get people to buy more than one box of popcorn, but he could get them to buy bigger sizes. People thought they would look like pigs with more than one box of popcorn but they didn’t look bad when they had 2 boxes worth of popcorn in one box. In 1968 Walerstein became a director of McDonalds and passed his popcorn ideas onto the corporation. Since then McDonalds has sold larger and larger fries and beverages with value meals and supersized burgers.
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Because in the sixties and seventies we did not have as much additives and high fructose corn syrup. Our bodies are better at handling real sugar and fats than fake syrups and preservatives made in factories. Since the invention of High Fructose Corn Syrup in 1970 Americans have on average consumed 523 more calories per day. This false sugar clogs our arteries and weakens every part of our bodies. This might be changing though, as we are becoming more aware companies feel pressure to change. Panera, Chipotle and Starbucks have sworn off using high fructose corn syrup and almost all preservatives. If this trend continues we might outlive our