Expand on what kind of eating the government should promote.

You should:
● express your attitude towards the given problem
● speculate on the problem and justify your statement, providing at least 2 supporting arguments
● summarise your ideas
You should speak for no less than 2 minutes and no longer than 4 minutes.


A
lt is astonishing to contemplate how popular junk
food has become, given that the first fast food
restaurant in the US only opened its doors a mere
century ago. Since then, high-calorie processed meals
have taken over the world, with multinational
restaurant chains aggressively chasing levels of growth
that show no signs of slowing down. Much of this
expansion is currently taking place in less developed
parts of the world, where potential for customer loyalty
is seen as easier to develop, but it is not just in these
areas where such growth is visible. Indeed, a recent
study from the University of Cambridge found that the
number of takeaways in the United Kingdom rose by
45 per cent between 1997 and 2015. This explosion in
the takeaway trade is not an inevitable outcome of
what we call ‘progress’. On the contrary, it comes in the
face of an increasing body of evidence that we are
heading for dietary disaster.

B
Yet, despite nutrition experts’ best efforts to educate people
about the dangers of a diet filled with processed food, it
appears that the world doesn’t want to listen. Medical specialists
point out that, although eating too much unhealthy food is likely to
be as dangerous in the long-term as smoking, regular consumption
of high-calorie food has somehow become more socially
acceptable than ever. While local authorities in some towns and
cities have taken measures to combat the rise in this trend by
limiting the riumber of fast food outlets permitted to be open
simultaneously, critics argue that people have every right to make
their own decisions about what they eat and how they choose to
live. However, the way in which we have come to binge on
takeaways isn’t only a personal issue of weight gain, or of buying
larger clothes. The consequences of mass overconsumption
should strike fear into the hearts of everyone.

C 
Research suggests that there is an evolutionary reason
as to why people compulsively overeat -it is simply part
of our innate behaviour. When humans evolved, we did not
have the abundant supply of food that we enjoy today, and
so eating was more about survival than pleasure. We
became more likely to opt for high-calorie foods, with high
fat content, that could sustain us through cold winters when
the supply of nourishment became sparse. This explains
why a 600-calorie burger seems so attractive: it awakens
our primal side, makes us feel well fed, inspires
contentment. Processed food stimulates the reward
response in our brains, so we feel compelled to overeat, and
not necessarily in a healthy way. Junk food acts as a trigger
for chemicals such as the ‘feel-good’ dopamine to flood
through the brain and induce a sensation of happiness.
Meanwhile, high amounts of sugar and sodium (one of the
chemicals in salt and other ingredients of fast food) cause a
huge surge in blood sugar, pushing it to unnatural levels.

E
A number of studies have shown how young people
can become even more addicted to junk food than
adults. When a child eats a burger, the same neurological
processes occur as in their parents: their brain’s reward
system is awoken, dopamine is released, a spontaneous
feeling of excitement results, their blood sugar rockets,
and so on. An adult can apply their maturity to understand
that this thrill is not entirely without drawbacks, and that
they need to control their urge to eat more. However, a
child cannot necessarily see any negative consequences
to this urge and the potential effects of their lack of
self-control, so they find it far more difficult to exercise
restraint and moderate their food consumption.

D
This occurs within the first few moments of eating a
high-calorie meal. From there, routinely processing such high
levels of sodium is impossible, and the body’s organs are pushed
beyond their natural working capacity in trying to do so. The
kidneys cannot remove all the excess salt from the blood, and thus
an overdose of sodium causes the heart to pump faster while
transporting blood through the veins. There are multiple dangers of
high blood pressure, especially for the elderly and in the long-term.
Sodium taken on in such quantities can lead to dehydration, a
condition whose symptoms are extremely similar to hunger, and
this leads to a painful truth: as soon you have finished your junk
food meal, you immediately start to crave another. Thereafter, the
body starts to digest the food. Usually, this takes between four and
12 hours, but with fast food, where the fat content is so much
higher, the same process lasts at least three days.

F
It is common to read or to hear criticism of the junk
food industry that does so much to promote the
overconsumption of its products. But it does not appear
that any of this criticism is changing widespread dietary
habits in any substantial way. What is more, the humble
burger has been elevated to such a point that many
people no longer see it as simple, on-the-go food. It has
arguably become a stylish and aspirational part of one’s
daily diet. Consider, for example, how some television
companies recently made several series of programmes
encouraging unnecessary overeating, in which the host
devours dish after dish ofunhealthy, fatty meals until they
are full - and then far, far beyond. While such
glamorisation exists, it is difficult to see how our collective
march towards a global obesity crisis can ever be halted .