Know What You Consume: Label Prepared Foods

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Recommended: Health risks of obesity

We live in a time where obesity rates in America seem to just keep skyrocketing. Fast food restaurants can be found on nearly every city block across the country; and with many utilizing misleading advertisements, it can be difficult for an individual to distinguish junk food from what’s genuinely healthy. For instance, a McDonald’s restaurant doesn’t emphasize what is in their unhealthy meals; instead, they appear to focus more so on commercial advertisements showcasing happy families and attractive, physically-fit people eating burgers. Through these images, it should be to no surprise how the average person can become confused; and in some scenarios, they are strong contributing factors in dietary regime. Granted, programs advocating proper diet and exercise are taught almost everywhere nowadays, but even so, our current culture is having a hard time adapting to such lifestyles. As New York Times writer, Judith Warner shares in her essay, Junking Junk Food, “we ended up with a wealth of knowledge about best nutritional practices but no cultural change to back it up” (403). It does not seem realistic to blame the obesity crisis on merely one certain thing and consumers should be clearly aware of what they are putting into their bodies. In his 2004 essay, What You Eat Is Your Business, journalist, Radley Balko insists that the eating habits and healthcare costs associated with an unhealthy lifestyle should be the responsibility of the individual (395-98). Many would argue however, that help from outside sources are crucial given the huge increase in obesity-related diseases (i.e. diabetes and heart disease) and that the government should require labeling on all prepared foods being sold.

When an individual is subjected t...

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..." Graff, Birkenstein, and Durst 454-73.

Haygood, Wil. "Kentucky Town of Manchester Illustrates National Obesity Crisis." Graff, Birkenstein, and Durst 406-15.

Maxfield, Mary. "Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating." Graff, Birkenstein, and Durst 442-46.

Obama, Michelle. "Remarks to the NAACP National Convention." Graff, Birkenstein, and Durst 417-33.

Orbach, Susie. "Fat Is a Feminist Issue." Graff, Birkenstein, and Durst 448-52.

Pollan, Michael. "Escape from the Western Diet." Graff, Birkenstein, and Durst 434-40.

Warner, Judith. "Junking Junk Food." Graff, Birkenstein, and Durst 400-05.

Zinczenko, David. "Don't Blame the Eater." Graff, Birkenstein, and Durst 391-94.

"What Are the Health Risks of Overweight and Obesity?" National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. National Institutes of Health, 13 Jul 2012. Web. 21 Feb 2014.

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