Obesity is one of the most serious health problems, and it has been increasing significantly. The film “Fed Up” attempts to provide an answer to why people become obese: food itself. However, “real food” as solution offered in the film begs the question of feasibility. The film assumes that people in general have time to buy, prepare, and cool “real food” and thus commits the fallacy of contradicting its own theory by suggesting that it’s the people’s fault for not being diligent enough in taking care of their health. The film starts with what the government and many food companies say: that people become obese because do not exercise as much as they eat, and that obesity is caused by lack of effort. As the film suggest, exercise can moderate …show more content…
However, the outcome was different from his desired result due to strong protest from the dairy and livestock industry, so the Congress instead urged people to buy lean meat and less fat food so the dairy and livestock industry do not go out of business. This created the fat-free boom in the market in the 1980s. However, food companies began to put more sugar in their products because the taste was bad when they reduced fat in the food. Now, the sugar intake of Americans has doubled compared with before. In the American market, there are approximately 600,000 different food products, and 80% of those include sugar. Although sugar is written in various forms and names, one suggests that it’s bad in any form, especially if taken too much. Sugar consumed naturally through fiber-rich fruit or vegetable should be fine, but the added sweeteners stimulate the hormones that increase insulin. High insulin prevents people from thinking they are full, and thus crave more food. This causes many diseases. Of course one meal high in sugar will not kill them, but the problem is that people generally exceed daily sugar intake in one meal alone when consuming process food. We eat more processed and convenient food instead of fruits, vegetables, and …show more content…
The consequences of obesity are clear: various metabolic problems, high cholesterol, insulin resistance and high blood pressure. Risk of heart diseases more as we gain more fat. Sleep apnea can also result, as well as joint problems. Obesity is not only a result of lack of exercise, but of the kind of food people consume. The film “Fed Up” does not address whether “real food” as solution to this endemic is feasible, assumes that people have the time, money and energy to control their health by buying, preparing and cooking real food, and leaves the audience wondering whether their laziness that prevents them from investing time, energy and money to cook and consume slow food at home. However, health is not just a personal battle left to individuals; the food industry and the government should take more part in conscienscious research and education to provide truly healthy choices at reasonable
American health, specifically our obesity epidemic, has grown into a trending media topic. A quick Google search will bring up thousands of results containing a multitude of opinions and suggested solutions to our nation’s weight gain, authored by anyone ranging from expert food scientists to common, concerned citizens. Amongst the sea of public opinion on obesity, you can find two articles: Escape from the Western Diet by Michael Pollan and The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food by Michael Moss. Each article presents a different view on where the blame lies in this public health crisis and what we should do to amend the issue. Pollan’s attempt to provide an explanation pales in comparison to Moss’s reasonable discussion and viable
This documentary shows great examples on how obesity is a rapidly growing epidemic as important as terrorism according to Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona. He stated, “Obesity is a terror within. It destroys our society from within….” If we don’t take responsibility and change our horrible eating patter we are going to be doomed. One of the main reasons for obesity other than the lack of a healthy diet is the modernization of our world. In the years when our parents...
Fed Up (2014), directed by Stephanie Soechtig and narrated by Katie Couric, attempts to tackle to feat of exposing the big secret about why America is so overweight. The film opens with disturbing images and clips of obese people and unhealthy habits in action. The film really focuses on advertisement as a main culprit for childhood and adult obesity. Fed Up attempts to appeal to adults and young adults in order to educate them on the obesity epidemic. More specifically, it attempts to reveal the improbable cause for our weight problem. Sugar.
Throughout the past years and more here recently obesity has become a fast growing problem in the United States and around the world. Since this has become such a problem certain authors are starting to take a stand in how they think the solution should be fixed. The solutions are discussed in the following articles: How Junk Food Can End Obesity by David H. Freedman and What You Eat Is Your Business by Radley Balko. Both articles have clear and distinct arguments, but the argument by Balko entices his readers and has a clear purpose and tone that allowed his article to be more effective.
In “ how obesity became an epidemic disease” J. Eric Oliver discusses the negative impact the perception of obesity as a disease can have on the American people. Oliver begins by explaining the advent of the description of obesity as a disease and explains the fallacies in the argument that supports this description. The author argues that the data was misleadingly presented in a biased way to suggest that obesity is a spreading epidemic rather than a consequence from personal lifestyle choices. Oliver then delves into the ever-changing role of the CDC, explaining that many aspects of the human condition have slowly been medicalized and deemed diseases in need of a cure. According to the author, it appears that the inflation of the severity of obesity is often due to the commodification of the health care system promoted by the weight-loss industry and the need for passing the CDC budget through congress. The author argues that there is no clinical evidence linking some of the most abundant diseases in America to obesity.The author then makes the
In the end, fast food companies and individual faults should not be targeted as the main epidemic of obesity in the United State is increasing tremendously. Our lifestyles and poor 'convenient ' diets we can all say is an appropriate blame for the increase in obesity. Heaney acknowledges Oliver’s admonition “to stop worrying so much about our weight” is premature, although his advice to start caring more about diet and exercise is sensible. Eating well, eating less, and exercising regularly is what we must do to if we want to increase our life span and feel better about ourselves
Millions of Americans and people worldwide are overweight or obese. Obesity develops when “calories consumed exceeds calories expended” (“Obesity and Genetics”). “Obesity rates have more than doubled in adults and children since the 1970’s,” and in the present day it is estimated that “two – thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese” (Ogden). Being overweight or obese highly increases the risk of deadly health problems, therefore this statistic states that the majority of the United States population is at risk of obtaining life–threatening diseases. Around forty years ago obesity would not effect this abundant number of people; however today’s society consumes more fast food in addition to spending most of their hours doing sedentary activities (Green). There are now many causes of obesity such as environment, genetics, bad habits, culture and economic level. Obesity has many negative impacts on the human body. It can very likely cause diabetes, joint pain, sleeping problems, depression, and many hazardous diseases (“Explore Overweight”). In contrast to this, there are some possible solutions to obesity such as physical activity, dieting, and surgery. Obesity is a widespread epidemic that unfavorably affects the body, but with exercise fused with dieting the disease could be kept to a minimum.
Obesity and overweight remain the two major social problems in the United States. Apart from the fact that obesity and overweight are dangerous by themselves, they also cause a variety of negative health consequences. Our lives our overloaded with tasks and obligations, and we often choose to eat something fast. “Fast”, however, does not necessarily imply “useful”, and more and more people face the risks of becoming obese even at young age. Because obesity has already become a national i...
We live in a lazy nation and one that suffers from many health related issues associated with obesity. “Obesity is a national health crisis…”(Freedman 1). People are not very understanding of the effects of obesity. “ Health risks of obesity… cardiovascular disease, asthma, high blood pressure, adult-onset diabetes, uterine an...
Sugar is a food substance that has managed to have large influence over our modern life, health and our history. Currently, “ Most Americans are consuming way too much — on average, nearly 66 pounds of added sugar per person, every year.” By being part of the American nation I can relate to the high consumption of sugar in my daily life. I have grown up with fast food restaurants all around me from Mcdonald's too Dairy Queen. In the 7th grade, I had my first small Oreo Cookies Blizard. I thought it was the most amazing most delicious thing I had ever eaten in the whole entire world. But little did I know I was consuming about 283 grams of sugar in one small cup. This was because I was not aware or educated of the nutrition and health conditions
Obesity is a serious condition that has generated a discussion on whether or not to be classified as a disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity is the body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, which is calculated based on the person’s height and weight. For years, our society has been facing the obesity challenge, which can be extremely costly once it leads to several diseases. Thus, because of the constant increase of percentage of people with obesity, the American Medical Association (AMA) proposed in June 18, 2013 to classify obesity as a disease. Their argument was that obesity increases the risks of countless health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension etc. Moreover, it increases morbidity and mortality. By considering obesity as a disease, their aim was to maximize researches and funding, which will focus on obesity from different medical and health approach levels. Their idea of classifying obesity as a disease was in accordance with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s declaration of 1995. The institute declared, “ Obesity is a complex multifactorial chronic disease developing from multiple interactive influences of numerous factors.” In 2012, the CDC data showed 34.9% of adults obese and 17% of obese children. These numbers are very alarming especially since the struggle to deter certain factors contributing into this condition is still a challenge. Among the struggles, there are the people’s rights versus health regulations to keep them as healthy as possible like the former mayor Bloomberg regulation on soft drinks size cut. During CNN’s show GPS of Sunday 2, 2014, the host Zacharia...
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
Many factors contribute to the rise of obesity within the population. These factors include genetics, medical problems, age, social/economic issues, and lack of physical activity. It states in the article, “Even if you have one or more of these risk factors, it doesn't mean that you're destined to become obese. You can counteract most risk factors through diet, physical activity and exercise, and behavior changes” (Mayo). The important part is that there are multiple factors that can cause obesity, but all of these can be avoided with a good diet, physical activity, and possible behavior changes. This is key because the article completely says that if you do those three, obesity can be avoided. So, will more exercise and some behavior changes, obesity can be fixed in the
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has always informed the public about the dietary guidelines they should follow in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. But all the information that they receive are completely misunderstood. “The American Heart Association and the U.S. 2010 Dietary Guidelines provide recommendations for added sugar intake, as it is theorized that added sugars in the diet, particularly sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), have contributed to the rise in obesity prevalence due to research suggesting that they contribute to excessive energy intake [23-25]” as mentioned by (Hedrick, 2012). Although, these sugars are recommended if children and adults consume massive amounts of these sugars then consumption of the massive amounts of these sugars can become harmful to the body. (Hedrick, 2012) also mentions “Additionally, the U.S. 2010 Dietary Guidelines suggest one half of grains consumed should be whole grains [29], due to associations with heart health [30,31]”. You can stroll through some city neighborhoods in America and see why the results
America’s obesity problem has grown from a sad problem to a health disease. Everyday people die from heart attacks because they do not eat or exercise right. At the beginning of year for about two weeks’ people will go to the gym and then quit after they do not see any changes in that time. Very few people have the dedication to stick to something even when they don’t see improvement. many People do not realize the importance of exercise they think people work out for vanity but exercise and eating right helps you live longer, it helps improve people’s intelligence it gives people more energy, and it helps with everyday life.