In the 21st century, obesity has become a big problem. In fact, 35.7% of adults, 16.9% of children, and 30.4% of preschoolers are obese in the United States! These numbers continue to rise and many people blame fast food restaurants. Fast foods are not responsible for obesity; People are. One of the reasons people eat so much fast food is because our bodies crave sugar, fat and salt. Food companies use sugar, fat and salt to entice people to buy their products. Regular consumption of these unhealthy products can lead to an unhealthy diet (Kessler 27). People become obese by being trapped in a cycle of overeating due to an unhealthy diet (Kessler 122). The overeating cycle begins with food cues. Food cues are places, smells, advertisements, memories and emotions. Food cues trigger the reward center in the brain. The person then begins to want to eat or drink from the reward center. They may try to resist but will eventually give in. The reward is when the person eats. The cycle is triggered again the next time the person is exposed to food cues. Each time, the brain's response is reinforced. The cycle is a deeply ingrained habit a few cycles later. The habit then becomes automatic. During this habit, real biological changes occur in the person's body. They find themselves trapped in a cycle of overeating. A senior food industry executive said: “Higher sugar, fat and salt makes you want to eat more. The food industry tries to reach the “three cardinal points” (Kessler 26). Our food is designed to make us endless eaters. It's also designed with chemical flavorings so it's hard to resist. These chemicals are present in almost all processed foods (Kessler 91). For example, one frozen chocolate drink......middle of paper......this per week. It's bad to eat fast food every day with little exercise. People may also eat junk food and many other unhealthy foods which can lead them to become obese. There are many different causes of obesity other than eating fast food. It all depends on what the person eats, how much they eat, and their activity level. This is why people are to blame for obesity and fast food restaurants are not. Works CitedDeNoon, Daniel J. "10 causes of obesity other than overeating and inactivity." Fox News. FOXNews Network, June 28, 2006. Web. December 10, 2013. Fanning, Karen. “Quick, easy and harmful.” School choices January 2002: 18. Print. Hitti, Miranda. “The Top 11 Reasons for the Popularity of Fast Food.” WebMD. Np, and Web. December 4, 2013. Kessler, David. Your food is fooling you. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2013. Print.