So what's the real root of our increasing obesity and health crisis in this country? Some officials in Los Angeles believe that a large part of the blame rests on the shoulders of fast food restaurants, who offer cheap, easy, unhealthy food to patrons who are neglecting to watch their nutrition. Studies have shown that southern Los Angeles has the highest concentration of fast food restaurants of any area of that city. Furthermore, check out these statistics... 30% of adults in that that part of the city are obese, whereas the rest of the county has adult obesity levels of 20.9%. Childhood obesity levels follow similar trends. This has made some officials propose a two-year ban on new fast food restaurants in Southern LA, which the City Council will evaluate this fall.
Many people are having strong reactions to this idea. WATCH VIDEO. Is the fast food in
dustry itself to blame for what's going on with our health, or are we to blame? After all, more and more fast food restaurants are offering salads and other low-fat options, so you aren't exactly forced to order the double-bacon-cheeseburger with extra fries. But if it's right in front of your face, is the person offering it to you partly at fault? So I'll go out on a limb and say that the Los Angeles City Council should support this moratorium on fast food restaurants in the southern part of the city. Why not? Give it a couple of years and see what happens. Maybe we'll find out that absolutely nothing has changed. People will keep finding unhealthy food in existing restaurants, regardless of whether new ones are popping up under their noses. Or maybe, just maybe, we'll see a slight slide in obesity rates. Wouldn't that be encouraging, to find a partial cause of a trend that is hampering the health and well-being of our country? We'll never know until we try. So who can it hurt to keep new fast food out for a bit?