Instinct vs. Willpower

Recently I've began reading "The end of overeating" by David A. Kessler. The book took an approach at explaining the phenomenon of human obesity that suggests that we are not rationally in control of what we eat in some instances. It turns out that an area of the brain known as the "reward system" has receptors that are stimulated specifically by three main tastes: Salt, Sweet, and Fat. The brain is essentially addicted to these flavors and it has been proven that the severity with which we crave them is almost as bad as that of a person with a cocaine addiction. Based on this logic, it becomes increasingly less of your choice every time you decide that you want to pick up some McDonalds because you're simply enforcing an addiction that chances are you aren't even aware of.

The significance of Morality.

Upon completion of the muckraking literary piece "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser, I noticed that several of the ideas explored while reading can all be tied to one recurring theme, that theme is morality. The book exposes the fast food and farming corporations lack of compassion and respect for the lives and rights of their clients and workers placing profit above all else. From the actual fast food kitchens, to chicken "growing fields", to processing plants and worst of all the meatpacking plants for heavier bovine animals such as pork and beef which in my opinion has some of the most horrifying testimonies in the book, It is evident that the industry's sole motive is profit at any cost. Most of the corporations that farmers and ranchers look to to purchase their crops and animals have been consolidated so that the farmers and ranchers only have two or three options on who to sell to. To make matters worse, these companies cooperate to set prices for cattle, potatoes, and the like. This is  a great inconvenience to the farmers who end up having to undersell their product, eventually forcing them to take out loans to maintain their land and ultimately they have the options of either delcaring bankruptcy and giving up everything they own, working for the corporations and following their rules in order to keep their property, or commiting suicide. Although the last option may seem a bit drastic, it happens much more often than one would like to believe. The corporations are completely aware of this and could care less as long as whatever is happening right now continues generating profit. It seems that the food industry has completely los it's sense of morality.