DOMINO THEORY:

DIET, LIFE STYLES AND THE FAST FOOD INDUSRTY

Prepared for
Mr. Jeffery Jameson

English 214-01
Academic & Professional Communication

By
Abdulrahman Musaed Al-Bassam
247384
Chemical Engineering Department

6 January 2007
INTRODCTION:

The rate at which the fast food industry is growing proves that the problem
goes beyond a few extra pounds that some of us carries and into a new chapter that
concerns our most valuable asset, the one that keeps us going our health. Back in 1954
when Ray Kroc pitched the idea of starting a restaurants chain that fallow the
California based hamburger stand he didn’t realize that he started up the foundation of
what turned out to be the biggest fast food outlet chain in this planet "McDonald's",
During the last 52 years a lot changed and things drifted a bit of what Ray fantasized
with his 366.12$ first day's revenue which forms .0001% of what McDonald's attain
from every hour of business now a days.
The fast food industry turned out to be one of the biggest and the most efficient
industries business wise estimated to be worth 100 billion dollars; however the impact
that it adds to the lifestyles of most of the living human beings in this planet is
intolerable which resulted in a major changes in previously existed nutritional system.
Those changes were blamed for the major decline in the health of the fast food
consumers whom are stereotyped as obese members of society suffering from
unhealthy lifestyles. Obesity centric diseases appeared to the surface in the last couple
of decades due to the changing life styles that try to keep up with the enormously
growing world.
The term racism towered obesity might be a bit harsh when someone's hear it for the
first time but this is the case that we are visualizing which implies that obesity is a
disease and led to an unending argument which goes beyond the scope of this report.
The issues presented in this report deals with the new unhealthy life styles that some
of us go through this life with. These life styles are the direct result of the sudden
changes that occurred in our world and affected our nutritional values and the way we
address our dietary needs.
Although this report will not deal with the matter of obesity directly but It will touch a
ground and go beyond to find the roots of the problem and the most logically efficient
solutions. Variety of topics related to human diet such as nutrition, metabolism and
the effect of the fast food industry will be discussed as this report start unfolding its
content.

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I. UNDERSTANDING OBESITY:

It's a major cause of heart attacks, a direct cause of stress and major cause of headache
for nutritionists all over the world. Obesity emerges when the human intake of energy
overcomes its rate of disposal over a long period of time and it becomes visible as
extra bounds fats stored in the human body. Throughout the last few years obesity was
a hot topic for a majority of our societies from consumers to producers and through
nutritionists since it has been involved and related to a lot of disease that encounters
the human body.

A. What causes obesity?:

The previously mentioned lack of energy consumptions come as one of many causes
behind obesity. However, alternative or co-existing factors such as the lack of activity
appearing in the form of lack of exercise or very lazy life style also help in lowering
down the rate of metabolism which will eventually increase fat storage in the body.
Fat storage is easier than the storage of carbohydrate or protein since it gives twice as
much of energy which enables the body to consume it during the time of need.
(Encarta, 2004) However its still not clear to the scientific society what is it that
causes the ambiguously statistical data from the thin guy who eats a lot to the obese
who spend his day working out without losing weight due to his low metabolism rate.

B. Who is obese?:

We can't just specify a certain weight and say that whoever passes this weight is obese
rather a lot of numerical methods have been used in this field such as the body mass
index or BMI.

Weight
BMI = 2
Height

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The fallowing Table shows the ranges used to describe obesity in terms of the Body
Mass index ration (BMI):

BMI Range Description

Less than 20 Underweight
20 to 25 Healthy weight
25 to 30 Overweight
Above 30 Obese
Above 35 Very Obese
Table 1: BMI ranges (Encarta, 2004)

Employment agencies define the physical creditability by certain guidelines through

the BMI ratio. On an interview Mr.Atig Al-Motear the head of training department in
the biggest oil company in the world, Saudi Aramco, stated that the BMI ratio needed
for employment vary from one job to another however the company policy states that
the employee BMI ratio should be somewhere between 20 and 32. He adds that
although the BMI ratio of 32 is accepted for some jobs within Saudi Aramco, that this
is not the case in certain jobs that needs extra physical abilities such as working in the
company's fire protection department where the BMI Ratio should not exceed 28.
(Interview,2006)

Figure 1: Are you at a healthy weight? (BMI,2006)

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II. NUTRITION:

For ages nutrients have been trying to communicate a simple message regarding food
consumption around the world the message states" Eat well and live longer".
Although the message consist of five simple words however the contents was beyond
being an important message it was one that concerns a nation's way of living and a
field at which major industry players operate with stakes that could reach tens of
billions.

A. Food Components:

Food composes of five major components: vitamins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and
proteins. The five together in various percentiles form our daily intake of food. The
amount of each of the five components depends on the type of diet that the food
consumer is using.
B. Vitamins:

Vitamins embrace carbon chains which put them in the category of organic
compounds and the ones best known to us are A, B, C, D, E and K. Vitamin A can be
include in daily diets by consuming foods from animal origins such as eggs, milk, red
and white meats and a decline its concentration in the body causes xerophthalmia
which is an eye condition that is best known by the dryness of the cornea. Another
good example is vitamin E which is and essential nutrient which is the main
component of animals' diet however its role in human diet have not been explained
yet. (Encarta, 2004)

C. Carbohydrates:

Carbohydrates are the main responsible

provider of energy in every diet that a
human being is using since it’s available in
great quantities within the cheapest types of

Figure 2: Lack of vitamins cause damages

to the bones in our bodies. (Encarta, 2004) - 4 -
foods. Carbohydrates consist of two types the first is starches which are mostly found
in grains and tubers while the second is sugars which are found in fruit and plants
products. During the process of metabolism which provides energy to the body
carbohydrates are burned according to the fallowing reaction (Encarta, 2004):

Carbohydrates + O2 ======> CO2 + H 2 O

Figure 3: Carbohydrates are available from a variety of sources. (Encarta, 2004)

D. Fats:

Fats could be defined as a set of naturally occurring organic compounds or esters

consisting of three fatty acids molecules and one molecule of glycerol. Fats have been
associated with obesity for ages denying the fact that it’s a main component in every
diet. The human body maintains fats and restores it in a very efficient way later at
time of need. As energy source fats produce twice as much of carbohydrates since it's
easily burned during the time of need (Encarta, 2004).

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E. Minerals:

Minerals are inorganic nutrients that take a major role in the

human enzyme system, where participates in the nerve
reactions and in the contraction of muscles without ignoring
the clotting of blood. Minerals maintains its role as a major

component in the human diet in two forms, the first, Figure 4 :Fruits are used as a major
major elements such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium sourse of minerals. (Encarta, 2004)
and iron , the second, trace elements such as copper, cobalt and fluorine(Encarta,
2004).

F. Proteins:

Proteins are the group in charge when it comes to building up the tissues in the human
body. Another important aspect of proteins is its role in synthesizing the enzymes
which plays a major function in running the human body. Humans could obtain
proteins from two major sources those source are either animals or plants. Proteins
compose of 20 amino acids where the different structures of those amino acids
distinguish each protein with its own special function (Encarta, 2004).

III. METABOLISM:

Every time someone takes a bite of a burger or sip of a soft drink, the body works
immediately to process the nutrients we've eaten. After the meal the process starts and
the body begin to turn the nutrients into the basic foundations of fuel needed by the
origins. The rate at which the body consumes food that we provide it with and turn it
into calories that the rest of the origins use to build up new cells and restore old ones
is best known as metabolismic rate.
Some of us look like if their bodies tend to process food in a better and more efficient
way that enables them to avoid the struggle of walking around with the rest of the
unconsumed food stored in the body as fat. Usually the first suspect that gets accused
is the genes due to the fact that metabolism is a chemical process that the body

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performs and that we as human doesn't have the ability to control is, However this is
not the case since several scientific experiments showed us that this process can be
controlled by several methods.

A. Factors Controlling Metabolism:

Losing 30 kilograms in 30 days this ad usually comes up in our everyday life through
the media that we are either reading, seeing or listing to, Although this might seem
like the answer to all problems the our nutritional system is facing but this weight lost
got its own brutal side effect which will hunt us for the rest of our lives this being
slowing down the process of metabolism. The human body could be analogized to a
chemical plant since the organisms can't neither create nor destroy energy but
transforms it from one form to another which is an application of the first two laws of
thermodynamics. Although much remains to be revealed about the process of
metabolism, biochemists agree that the three major factors affect metabolism directly
could be truly explained by the fallowing questions (Laktos, 2004):

What Do
We
Eat?

How Often Do We Eat?

How Active Are We?

Figure 5: The three questions. (Laktos, 2004)

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B. Maximizing Metabolism:

Metabolic processes are chemically controlled ones which mean that its rates could
be controlled once an effective method has been fallowed. One of the most efficient
and applicable methods have been proposed as a set of procedures that enhances the
rate of the metabolic process. The method which is broken down into nine smaller
steps results in raising the metabolic rate (Lakatos, 2004).

Never

Skip
Divide Meals Rich
The
Protein Carbohyd
Intake rate
Diet

Eat
Exercising At The
Right
Increasing times
The
Metabolism

Physical Drink
Beverages
Activity Through
the day

Getting Low Fat

Enough
Sleep Diet

Figure 6: Increasing metabolism. (Laktos, 2004)

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IV. THE FINCANCE OF FAST FOOD:

The fast food industry is visualized as the main suspect behind the problem of obesity
due to its massive profits. Although this might sounds true when someone's hear it for
the first time nevertheless the fast food industry is not the only responsible suspect
since in it defense it offers a very practical line of food in terms of the time that the
meal take to be prepared. Fast food restaurants such as McDonalds, Burger King and
Pizza Hut takes an average of 57 seconds which is a very practical time when it's
compared to the 30 minute home meal average.

A. Who Is Gaining And Who Is Losing?:

The concept of gain in this matter varies since it could mean gaining money for the
fast food industry or it could implies the gain of the extra bounds which causes
obesity. A lot of fast food brands operate in hundreds of countries and thousands of
cities around the world.

Out of those millions of outlets the American based fast food

runs the most successful ones the list contains a lot of names
including McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Dominoes Pizza, Jack in
the box, Hardies, Taco bill and Burger King (Forte, 2006).
Most of these names generate profits that could reach 20 Figure 7 Mcdonalds
billion US $ a year and a number which exceed the amount (Mcdonalds.com)
spent to fight poverty in Africa (Blisard, 2006). Those figures made activists around
the world raise the issue against the industry major players to operate under more
strict guidelines. Such guidelines discriminate selling products with low nutritional
values and help in a numerous projects run by the UNICEF around the world
concerning the nutritional education of youth (Fast Food Nation, 2006).

The activists received the support they needed when an independent movie hit the
theaters under the name of ''Super Size Me'' it was the first production of Morgan

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 Spurlock where he put himself in a 30 day diet in which he depended on McDonald's
for food the results were discriminating. the situation appeared to be a court room
where McDonald's was being accused and about to be proven guilty, McDonald's
realized the impact the movie caused on its sales so it started fighting back by hiring a
number of nutritional experts in its defense and started making some changes on its
menus in order to satisfy the despondent activists. Harvey Anderson a Canadian
nutrition researcher defends McDonald's "the movie is too extreme to be educational
and most of the people I know thought it was a joke since McDonalds didn’t force
feed him". (Martindale, 2006)

B. Case Studies:

Disney proved to be a children friendly corporation for ages and it didn’t fail to show
this with the undergoing war. Disney started offering "healthier foods" alternatives in
all of its parks and its promotional partners products in order to sustain its image by
eliminating trans fats of its food by the end of 2008
(Garrahan,2006). Another living example appears in
Burger King an American based fast food chain that
employs 350,000 employees in 11,285 locations
around the world. The company realized the
importance of adapting with the new changes that
Figure 8:Disney (Disney.com) require major changes in the nutritional value of its
products. The company R&D department is heavily working on modifying its menus
to adapt with the new nutritional guidelines. (Forte, 2006)

Figure 9: Burger King (BurgerKing.com)

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Conclusion:

The future of human diet via the fast food industry depends on how well the industry
big names will be able to compete against the threat of the traditional retail food
suppliers. The industry already achieved a head start against other competent with the
variety and diversity of cuisines which in nature fulfill our needs which is changing
according to our lifestyles.

At this point every option is possible for the finale of this struggle where the most
logical and most worrying answer is that the domino theory will rule and the fast food
industry will be able to eliminate the traditional home made food and control us by
controlling our lifestyles. As humans since birth we are used to be feed by others.
Either a mother's breast for a young baby though the industrialized baby products and
passing by serials which most of us consume everyday to our present day where we
depends on fast food outlets and soft drinks disposing machines. By addressing this
need the fast food industry secured a very vital win in a battle that might gives an end
to the war.

In this changing world and the ongoing lifestyles having a healthy diet outsmart every
other option. The diet should address the needs and desires of the human being to last
long by avoiding being a burden on both the mind and the body.

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