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American diet then and now essay
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Change of Food in America
The American diet has changed drastically in the last seventy years in America. From how much Americans consume to how it is produced food has become something totally different than it was seventy years ago. “American are consuming more food and several hundred more calories per person per day than their counterparts in the late 1950s” (USDA). This is a shocking statement because you would think that Americans are becoming healthier than their counterparts in the late 50s. So how has the American diet changed so much over the past seven decades?
The 1950s were known as the fabulous fifties. Post war brought along liveliness, hope, money, and a whole new diet. The women seemed to become lazier after the war because they were out of the house and there were shortages. This is when the famous TV dinners decided to make their appearance. They were easy to whip up since there was really no cooking or dishes involved all you had to do was pop them into the oven for a short amount of time and boom! Dinner is done. Then building of the national highway system brought food processors like Oscar Mayer to a rise (Leite). Once the highways started popping up so did fast food chains like McDonalds and Burger King. This was also a quick fix for dinner because if mom didn’t feel like cooking she could just take the family to the closet fast food restaurant for a quick and easy meal.
The sixties brought along hippie food, artificial sweeteners, and French cuisine. Hippie food is considered unprocessed made from scratch foods. Since the rise of TV dinners and fast food restaurants, hippie food was hard to come by. People wanted to start being healthier again so there was a demand for that at home cooking and vegetabl...
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...the tips of our fingers. We could search just about any recipe we wanted and that contributed to the simplicity of cooking.
Works Cited
• Draper, Dr. Mark. How Diet has Changed of 70 Years. 1 June 2001. 21 April 2014 .
• Filipovic, Jill. The Way America Eats is Killing Us. 26 09 2013. 26 04 2014 .
• Jacyln Maurer Abbot, Carol Byrd-Bredbenner. "The Sate of the American Diet." Enhancing Nurtrition in Consumption in the American Diet (2007): 32.
• Leite, David. Dining Through the Decades. 16 12 1999. 28 04 2014 .
• Moisse, Kate. The American Diet: Then and Now. 28 06 2011. 28 04 2014 .
• Trulson, Martha F. "The American Diet Past-Present." NA (1959): 7.
• USDA. Profiling Food Consumption in America. DC, 1 January 2000.
In Escape from the Western Diet, Pollan discusses how Americans have become obese due to their diet of mainly processed foods. He makes the case that for Americans to once again become healthy, we must return to eating “whole foods”. Pollan brings up the fact that Americans don’t spend as much time nor as much money on
The population in the United States as of 2009 was 307,006,550 the younger population is projected to slightly increase and eventually plateau though the older population has been steadily increasing and projected to continue on an upward trend (Vincent & Velkoff, 2010). The lack of a healthier diet is something that has been highlighted in the media for the past decade and more often than not we are seeing the effects of overindulging and the consumption of highl...
The 1950s seemed to have brought families of all different kinds together and spend quality time with each other. Fathers were the head of the home out working all day to supply money for his family while the children were at school and his wife was at home. The children were gone all day just like their father but they were learning and obtaining a good education from school. The mother was a stay at home housewife doing all different chores, maintenances around the house, and preparing food for the
World, Sea. "Diet and Eating Habits." . Sea World, 17 Aug. 2012. Web. 8 May 2014.
Food is an essential part of everyday life without it one could not survive. Every day we make choices on what we put in to our bodies. There are countless varieties of food to choose from to meet the diverse tastes of the increasing population. Almost all food requires a label explaining the ingredients and the nutritional value allowing consumers to make informed decisions on what they are consuming. However, many may not be considering where that food is coming from or how it has been produced. Unfortunately, there is more to food than meets the eye. Since 1992, “ the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled, based on woefully limited data, that genetically modified foods were ‘substantially equivalent’ to their non-GM counterparts” (Why to Support Labeling). GM food advocates have promised to create more nutritious food that will be able to grow in harsh climate conditions and eventually put an end to world hunger in anticipation of the growing population. There is very little evidence to support these claims and study after study has proven just the opposite. GM crops are not only unsafe to consume, but their growing practices are harmful to the environment, and multinational corporations are putting farmers out of business.
The only problem with Michael Pollan’s outlook on nutritionism is the fact that he is completely against scientific research on the subject because history in this matter has not been reliable. With any good, there is also bad that follows. This relates to scientific research on nutrients which have provided many useful things to society, yet brought some evils such as processed foods which have plagued the American Diet for many years. Amongst all the countries in the world the United States of America has a population in which two-thirds of their people are obese. When it comes to processed foods, people should take this chemically engineered food with a grain of salt, take a more traditional approach and use current knowledge to promote a healthy
The American diet is full of on-the-go amenities from an array of different meals; however, is this fuel actually causing harm to the body in the long run? What is in the American diet that sets American’s health apart from other parts of the world? The documentary Forks Over Knives states that “We spend 2.2 trillion dollars a year on health care, over five times more than the defense budget. In fact, we pay more per person for healthcare than any industrialized country in the world, yet we’re sicker than ever” (Forks Over Knives). Studies are finding that the excessive consumption of sweeteners, meats, and dairy products are many of the leading causes of American’s health failure.
The typical American diet is about 50% carbohydrate, 15% protein, and 35% fat, which is over the dietary guidelines for the amount of fat (below 30%), below the guidelines for carbohydrate (above 55%), and at the upper end of the guidelines for the amount of protein (below 15%) recommended in the diet. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_pattern_diet). Not only is the Standard American Diet completely lacking in terms of the quantity of macronutrients being consumed, but the quality of the foods that most Americans are eating is extremely poor as well. The Standard American Diet is high in animal fats, low in fiber, low in complex carbohydrates, and low in plant-based
In the United States, Food is one of the basic needs of life.We tend to spend tons of money every year to buy food. Consuming food reflects America’s culture in the United States. In America, Fast food is a way to enjoy delicious food made with sugar, fat and salt. It’s impossible to back away from eating good tasting food. Unfortunately, this is leading to major destruction. In the human life, food procurement, preparation, and consumption have devoted to an art form.Spite the terms of “America has a food problem,” it shows that our nation is unable to produce and supply safe, nutritious food in a way where it sustains our global population. Health Issues are a result of over consumption, which lead to portion sizes, and food production.
Wardlaw, G.M. and Smith. Contemporary Nutrition: Issues and Insights. 5th Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill, pp 85, 2004.
Proper nutrition is important in maintaining a long and healthy life. Most Americans are rushed due to their busy work schedules, and do not take the time to plan their diets properly. Like me, most Americans are unaware of the importance of eating a healthy diet and consume too many foods without the proper nutrients. Throughout my life I have been fortunate. I have not had any major health problems, and have been able to consume most foods without having to worry about gaining weight. These last two years, however, I started to gain weight and have become concerned with my diet. Changing my poor eating habits has been difficult for me, however, having this assignment has taught me that it is not as difficult as I previously imagined.
Ungar, Peter S., and Mark Franklyn Teaford. Human Diet: Its Origin and Evolution. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey, 2002. Print.
Most Americans do not care enough to take a look at the nutritional values of the food that he or she is consuming. That is why America has the highest percentage of obesity in the world. This is a serious problem because one in every three adults is obese, and one in every six children is obese. There are many factors that go into the regular American diet, but most of those factors are not appealing nor is it healthy. Americans put way too much processed food into their daily diet. Some would say that other countries diets superior the American diet because of nutritional values that it carries. Other countries have proven that an active lifestyle is a huge element in the average weight of the country. There are many things that Americans could change about their diets and lifestyle that would help them to become healthier.
Many people in America, from toddlers to the elderly, have shown numerous signs of bad health. People have the desire to keep on eating due to more, new things being merchandised as “new and improved items” from the producers. For example, nowadays, people are eating pure junk that they find satisfying on the grocery food shelf. As, stated by Michael Pollan, in his article, “Eat Food: Food Defined” he affirmed that “real food is the type of things that our
American culture is changing dramatically. In some areas it’s a good thing, but in other areas, like our food culture, it can have negative affects. It is almost as if our eating habits are devolving, from a moral and traditional point of view. The great America, the land of the free and brave. The land of great things and being successful, “living the good life.” These attributes highlight some irony, especially in our food culture. Is the American food culture successful? Does it coincide with “good living”? What about fast and processed foods? These industries are flourishing today, making record sales all over the globe. People keep going back for more, time after time. Why? The answer is interestingly simple. Time, or in other words, efficiency. As people are so caught up in their jobs, schooling, sports, or whatever it may be, the fast/processed food industries are rapidly taking over the American food culture, giving people the choice of hot