Greasy pizza. Fried chicken. High sugar drinks. These all aspects of the American diet. American citizens and the American government are well known for a certain disregard for healthy eating. Severe health problems such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other weight related medical issues are steadily increasing. “Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?” by The New York Times, “Attacking the Obesity Epidemic by first Figuring Out Its Cause” by The New York Times, “Give (Frozen) Peas a Chance-and Carrots Too” by TIME, and “Edible Schoolyard” by Alice Waters are four articles that discuss the complications Americans face when it comes to the fast food epidemic. Farming, government policy, and schools as well as homes should be making bigger strides …show more content…
Policies implemented by the government have the potential to greatly impact the issues faced by Americans because of their food. One of the most serious epidemics to face Americans is obesity; a direct result of a lack of access to healthy, whole produce. The government has several options in solving this problem including food taxes, public education programs, and mandatory physical education in schools. A food tax on items high in process ingredients and low in nutrients should have a higher tax than whole foods. Much like the Cigarette Tax, a Processed Food Tax will persuade consumers to shy away from these nutrient-void foods and incorporate more healthy foods into their diet. Another solution to combating obesity is a series of public educational programs. By educating the public and even kids in school on the difference between processed and whole foods, individuals will be better able to distinguish between beneficial and non-beneficial foods. And finally, the most attention grabbing policy the United States government should be enacting is mandatory physical education. Including, but not limited to Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, the government should require mandatory physical education classes in schools because they found increased PE time raised the amount of time students were exercising or "engaged in strength-building activities" but lowered the amount of time spent in …show more content…
According to CNN article, “Schools Struggle to Feed Kids Healthy Foods” by Jen Christensen, “A 2009 study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that 94 percent of school lunches failed to meet the U.S. Agriculture Department 's regulatory standards.” This staggering statistic proves that the majority of American students are not provided nutrient rich food ti fuel their minds at school. The public school system argues that food low in nutrients is cheaper, however this does not have to be the case. According to Dwight Eschliman’s article “Give (Frozen) Peas a Chance-and Carrots Too,” frozen food, picked and preserved at the height of ripeness, are abundantly nutritious and affordable. If schools invested in frozen produce rather than high sodium, high fat lunches, their students would be consuming a more nutritious lunch, therefore receiving more fuel for their brains. Families also have a responsibility to provide the best food for their children. Along with problems in the American diet, children today are far less active than generations before them. Much like schools, families will profit from frozen produce; a cheap way to purchase fruits and vegetables and easy ingredients to cook with. TV watching has become a nightly ritual taking away from children’s time to run around outside. This sedentary lifestyle promotes a dependency
Everyday Americans die from the diseases they carry from obesity. Many Americans over eat because their social problems or because they are hereditary. Many plans have been discussed but finding the solution is the problem. Junk foods and unhealthy beverages have corrupted children’s minds all over the nation and putting a stop on it could lead to other benefits. Unhealthy foods and drinks should be taxed and healthy foods should be advertised more to help prevent American obesity.
Section 1: Typically, we need a well-balanced meal to give us the energy to do day-to-day tasks and sometimes we aren’t able to get home cooked meals that are healthy and nutritious on a daily basis, due to the reasons of perhaps low income or your mom not being able to have the time to cook. People rely on fast food, because it’s quicker and always very convenient for full-time workers or anyone in general who just want a quick meal. Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation argues that Americans should change their nutritional behaviors. In his book, Schlosser inspects the social and economic penalties of the processes of one specific section of the American food system: the fast food industry. Schlosser details the stages of the fast food production process, like the farms, the slaughterhouse and processing plant, and the fast food franchise itself. Schlosser uses his skill as a journalist to bring together appropriate historical developments and trends, illustrative statistics, and telling stories about the lives of industry participants. Schlosser is troubled by our nation’s fast-food habit and the reasons Schlosser sees fast food as a national plague have more to do with the pure presence of the stuff — the way it has penetrated almost every feature of our culture, altering “not only the American food, but also our landscape, economy, staff, and popular culture. This book is about fast food, the values it represents, and the world it has made," writes Eric Schlosser in the introduction of his book. His argument against fast food is based on the evidence that "the real price never appears on the menu." The "real price," according to Schlosser, varieties from destroying small business, scattering pathogenic germs, abusing wor...
Obesity has become an epidemic in today’s society. Today around 50% of America is now considered to be over weight. Fast-food consumption has been a major contributor to the debate of the twenty-first century. Chapter thirteen, titled “Is Fast-Food the New Tobacco,” in the They Say I Say book, consists of authors discussing the debate of fast-food’s link to obesity. Authors debate the government’s effects on the fast-food industry, along with whether or not the fast-food industry is to blame for the rise in obesity throughout America. While some people blame the fast food industry for the rise in obesity, others believe it is a matter of personal responsibility to watch what someone eats and make sure they get the proper exercise.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years,” meaning that America’s children need to start eating healthier, including healthier school lunches. The National School Lunch Act is a fairly recent addition to American society. For, as the world waged war a second time, the United States began to worry about the strength and health of the country’s soldiers. However, in the beginning, selling excess agricultural goods was more important than building a healthy, well-balanced meal for students. Unfortunately, many children coming from poorer families could not afford well-balanced school lunches, so in order to compensate, the School Lunch Program changed its focus to help these students. This program, however, decreased schools’ lunch budgets, and schools had a hard time keeping up with the amount of free meals they had to provide, so they came up with some extra ways to increase revenue. However, in a small town in Massachusetts, one chef makes a difference in the health of the school lunch students eat each day, and proves that hiring a trained chef to cook real, healthy meals can increase profit. Unfortunately, that is not the case in most schools across the nation. The quality of health of the food being served in school lunches is extremely poor and was allowed to decline even more with a new set of rule changes. However, there are some improvements currently being made to increase the quality of health of the food being served to students, including teaching them all about food and its nutritional information, both good and bad. In order for students to eat healthier lunches at school, the USDA needs to implement healthier ...
States could require schools to serve healthier and more affordable meals than they currently are. They could have meals that all had the recommended amounts of grains, fruits, vegetables and protein for children. They could also ensure that it would be cheap for students to eat wh...
McDonald’s is delicious and convenient, and only cost a few dollars. On days were you are extremely busy they are there to serve whatever you would like from the menu. Sometimes it seems as though you can access it quicker than a trip to the grocery store. Even though, you know you will be hungry again later, you still pull up and go through the drive thru and place the order. While placing your order do you ever think of what this kind of food is doing to your body? Alternatively, that for just a few dollars that conveniently priced meal over time could cause your health to deteriorate. Fast food restaurants are adding to the obesity epidemic. Living in the age were technology has taken the place of personal interactions,
...d,” (Bittman). Bittman uses these statistics to show how hyperprocessed foods and sugary beverages have impacts America. Since the percentage of obese individuals continuously rises, Bittman believes that the government should step in and protect the health of individuals by establishing a new tax on junk food. People sense the urgency within Bittman’s article, since he believes it is time for the government to step in. Throughout history people have always wanted to limit the control of the government and only sought their help in dire situations; therefore, if the government is becoming involved in the weight gain problem, it must be a big problem.
With this need for change in mind, citizens must no longer ignore the pressing empirical data of the detrimental state of America’s contemporary nutritional standards. Currently, most school cafeterias provide students nutritional needs by relying on processed foods (sugar, white flour, oil, artificial ingredients) and animal products whilst barely delivering any whole produce. In fact, most of the fruit-and-vegetable nutrition comes from byproducts such as juice concentrates or stocks. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends decreasing saturated fats, sugar and sodium, while increasing whole grains, ...
The essay Junking Junk Food written by Judith Warner, brings to the audiences attention the wicked problem of how there has been a decline in Americans health. Warner’s information speaks loudly about being forced into a healthy lifestyle by the Obama administration. The Obama administration tried to enforce a healthy lifestyle among the citizens by focusing on the youth and taking away sugar options for them. Warner, puts her voice into this by mentioning the system during the world war when the soldiers had to eat overseas so there was less food consumption in America, which helped stop over consumption of food. Back then food was also much healthier thought, with less hormones, chemicals and less options of fast food. Again making it easier
We make personal choices about what and where to eat. The government is not going to eliminate the unhealthy food because we think it is the cause of obesity. Ultimately, we must decide to either stay away from unhealthy food or eat them in moderation. Despite all the efforts of education, media and guidance it doesn’t prevent us from grabbing that cheeseburger with fries on the way to work. In his essay “What You Eat Is Your Business,” Radley Balko argues that society should take full responsi...
There is a small relationship between fast food and cigarettes where each one significantly causes long term problems. Similarly, eating fast food and smoking too much becomes dangerously unhealthy and both are addicting. However, the difference is fast food started off on good terms. It was intended as a helpful way to provide meals quick and ready, thus given its name (Aldridge 279). Fast food restaurants successfully expanded and became popular all over the world. Despite the worldwide success and popularity, it did gain negative views after weight problems began to rise. The food served from the fast food industry was never considered healthy and soon became the target for the blame on health problems, specifically obesity. Although fast
The government must have a say in our diets. Because the issues of obesity have already reached national scales, because the costs of obesity and related health issues have gone far beyond reasonable limits, and because fighting nutritional issues is impossible without fighting poverty and other social issues, the government should control the range and the amount of available foods. The cost of healthier foods should decrease. The access to harmful foods should be limited. In this way, the government will be able to initiate a major shift in nutritional behaviors and attitudes in society.
Food is a major part of everyone’s everyday life. It’s hard to imagine life without the chocolate cake on your fingers or a carne asada taco in your mouth. Enjoying delicious desserts and fast food seem extremely magnificent to eat and spend money buying them. Although, there have been many controversies in the United States on how it’s the largest country with the most obesity regarding children, which affects their health, many people are still going throughout their day snacking. Many people in America are having full course meals with thousands of calories in one sitting not knowing the short term or long term side effects that are going to take a huge toll on their lives. Food is delicious, but it comes with a secret behind the savoriness/sweetness.
Junk food has been proven to be unhealthy long time ago. Junk food started to grow more and more recently and spread fast all over the world. Junk food reveals any food with high calories and low nutritional value. A big problem with junk foods is that satiation value of them is low, that means people need to eat a large amount of that unhealthy foods to feel full. So it is like eating a lot of poisons for a long time, what do you think the result will be on the health condition of the humans? Another problem of junk foods tend to replace other healthy foods; people who drink a lot of soda there is no room for healthy natural fruit juice in their stomach, people who are snacking on cookies, they’re not eating fruits and healthy vegetables (WebMD
“Healthy eating” means eating a variety of foods that gives you the nutrients you need to maintain your health, feeling good with your health conditions, and having enough energy throughout the day (Nordqvist). A poor diet can cause harm a person’s daily life activities. Research from Eating Healthy Might Prove Too Expensive for Poor ABC News shows, that the price of eating healthy foods may be expensive to a family who earns a low-income. So, eating fast foods may be more convenient for them knowing that the prices are way less. However, everyone should make the effort to stop eating foods that will later on harm your health. As mentioned in the article “Healthy Eating”, “Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically