GT Writing Task 2 / Essay Sample # 334
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Many people like eating unhealthy food even though they know it is bad for their health.
Why is this? What can be done to improve people’s eating habits?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Model Answer:
Many people, these days, tend to live on unhealthy diets despite the fact that it has detrimental effects on their health. This essay will first discuss how the fast-paced lifestyle and social condition are the primary causes of this problem and then outline how tax and regulation of advertising can improve individuals’ dietary habits.
One significant reason for many people’s poor eating habits is the hectic lifestyle they have. People, nowadays, are overburdened with work at the expense of time for cooking meals at home. Put simply, these days, most people have a busy schedule; they desperately want everything to be fast. Since they are accustomed to a hectic pace of life, their time for preparing healthy meals at home significantly declines, thereby relying more on convenience foods that have deleterious effects on health. Moreover, social settings are too seductive. Media play a paramount role in influencing individuals with their choices in life. According to a recent study about raising children, unhealthy eating behaviours are emulated by viewers, especially children, of television programmes in which eating outdoors is often shown. Commercial advertisements of fast-food chains, food seasonings and fatty dishes have been ubiquitous all throughout the media.
This negative trend, I believe, could be curbed by imposing high taxes on fast food and government regulation of excessive advertising campaigns. In other words, if governments introduce a heavy tax on unhealthy foods like fast food, the tax burden could force many people to lower their consumption of poor diets. In many countries, for example, higher taxes on unhealthy food could increase costs and eventually downsize the market for such unwholesome food. In addition, governments should cap the amount of advertising allowed in the media so that people are not tempted to eat unhealthful foods.
To conclude, the busy lifestyle and excessive advertising have led to many people making unhealthy food choices, but this can be avoided if authorities introduce heavy taxes on unhealthy foods and regulate advertising.