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Hazards of unhealthy food essay
Hazards of unhealthy food essay
Hazards of unhealthy food essay
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Did you know you have¬¬¬ been bamboozled by the food industry? Fed Up is a movie that effectively presents a case showing how the food industry has created a fallacy, which caused Americans to become obese. Being naive and gullible, we Americans believe the lie the food industry feeds us. Fed Up informs the consumer the truth that the food industry is trying to conceal. In addition, it points out how the sugar, the food industry mixes into our food, has a detrimental effect to our health.
We were told the message from a very young age, Eat less, and exercise more is the only solution to obesity. That is the lie the food industry wants us to believe. In reality, it is quite impossible to burn every calorie we take in. The movie states, “It will take a 110-pound child 75 minutes of bike riding to burn off the calories in one 20-ounce bottle of soda”. Putting this in perspective, it will take a 110-pound child two and a
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half hours of bike riding to burn off all the calories from drinking two bottles of sodas! As you can see, exercising does not work that well. Margo Wootan states it this way, “We are not going to exercise our way out of this obesity problem” (Soechtig). Subsequently, knowing how long it takes to burn off the sugar that is in a single coke, imagine how long it would take to burn off the excess sugar in other types of food products. Eating excess sugar is the reason we are becoming overweight.
The big problem is the surplus sugar (to help the food taste better) is engineered into what we digest. The pancreas turns the excess sugar into insulin that our bodies store. The insulin that is created by the excess sugar is why Americans are becoming obese (Soechtig). According to Fed Up, the consumer exceeds the healthy sugar intake allowance of six to nine teaspoons daily, by eating on average more than forty one teaspoons. Secondly, the movie mentions that sugar is seven times more addictive then cocaine. In addition, eighty percent of the food items in a local grocery store have added sugar (Soechtig). With that said, the addict is faced with a dilemma. The addict will have to choose to eat or not to eat the substance that he or she is addicted to. In most cases, the addict will choose to eat the sugar that is constantly surrounding him or her. The truth is, exercising and not eating fatty foods play an insignificant role and sugar is what is causing us to become obese
(Soechtig). Obesity has a detrimental effect on our health. Obesity is something that should not be taken lightly, but seriously. The book, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, mentions some of the consequences of obesity, which parelles the movie. According to Michael Pollan, Three of every five Americans are overweight; one of every five is obese. The disease formerly known as adult-onset diabetes has had to be renamed Type II diabetes since it now occurs so frequently in children. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association predicts that a child born in 2000 has a one-in-three chance of developing diabetes. (An African American child's chances are two in five.) Because of diabetes and all the other health problems that accompany obesity, today's children may turn out to be the first generation of Americans whose life expectancy will actually be shorter than that of their parents. The problem is not limited to America: The United Nations reported that in 2000 the number of people suffering from over nutrition--a billion--had officially surpassed the number suffering from malnutrition--800 million. (102) With that said, the reader can conclude that obesity has many detrimental effects to one’s health. The movie informs the people the effect of sugar on obesity, that obesity is the cause of overindulgence of sugar. Consuming an abundance of sugar has many different types of health effects and should seriously be considered. In the end, the movie makes the viewer question what the food industry wants them to believe.
Fast food, while a quick alternative to cooking, has always been known to be less healthy than traditional preparations, but the extent of its health benefits or detriments was not known until a lawsuit came out which inspired documentarian Morgan Spurlock to engage in a 30 day experiment. The resultant documentary specifically targeted McDonald’s, the largest fast food chain in the world, which also happens to be a major recipient of lawsuits linking obesity and their food. Spurlock endeavored to spend a thirty day period eating nothing but food that came from the golden arches, with the rules that he would supersize only when asked, and every time he was asked, and that he would have everything from the menu at least once. In the 2004 film Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock explores the concept that McDonald’s contributes to the nation’s obesity problem through the utilization of statistics and scientific evidence as a logical appeal, comedy and repulsive qualities as an emotional appeal, and s...
The United States of America has long been considered a “big nation”, whether is has the biggest cities, houses, and on a negative note, biggest people. In 2003, Morgan Spurlock, a healthy-bodied film director, set on a quest to show America the detrimental effects of the fast food industry and raise awareness on the controversial issue. He produced the documentary “Supersize Me”, where McDonald’s meals were consumed for every meal of the day for thirty days. His film was released to movie theatres so that people could understand the devastating effects of McDonald’s on his body in a very short time span. At the end of his experiment, Morgan gained twenty-five pounds, developed a thirteen percent body mass increase, cholesterol skyrocketed immensely, and fat accumulation in his liver rose to. He became depressed and he only felt happy and in no pain when he was eating the fast food. By using ethos, logos, and pathos, “Supersize Me” became one of the most watched documentaries in the United States. Without these appeals, this documentary would not have developed the effect that it did.
Kingsolver asserts that this lack of a food culture is the cause of America’s obesity epidemic, supporting her assertion with statistics that state that we produce twice as many calories as we need. Kingsolver also describes the process by which almost all of the produce, such as corn and soy, are turned into oils or fed to livestock in factory farms. Those high calorie oils make their way into all of our foods, especially into junk foods. Junk food ads specifically target children, and yet when the children become obese, it is portrayed as a “failure of personal resolve”, leaving the companies producing the
While the film Super Size Me by Morgan Spurlock replicates the eating habits of what he believes are “average” americans, Fat Head by Tom Naughton on the other hand dives in deeper into the physiology behind the ingestion of food and replicates a more believable eating habit of an average American. Both films try to teach people about nutrition and change issues about either the government or companies such as McDonald’s, however one film proves to be more accurate and honest out of the both films. Fat Head not only disproves Morgan Spurlock’s film, but also shows how the government has been lying to all the American consumers the whole time by showing what professionals know about nutrition and showing facts to support his claims.
In the documentary “Supersize Me” by Morgan Spurlock, America’s obesity issue was exposed and pinpointed at one of the giant contributor and fast food marketer “McDonald's”. Throughout the documentary, many rhetorical devices were utilized to provide reasons as to how America’s obesity issue is dangerous and how Mcdonald's and major food companies contribute to this disaster in the American society. Drastic continuance of unhealthy eating habits on top of an increasingly growing population calls for an alarm to everyone. He then stresses the dangers of obesity and addresses the issue’s cause. Morgan creates a strong visual and effective argument that eating fast food is the key reason to America’s obesity issue.
The film Fed Up uses its platform to emphasize the issues in the American diet and reason for the change in health. Lobbying efforts seem to be solely to blame, because it is the advertisement that links the new change in poor diet. Soechtig utilizes a number of rhetorical appeals to drive her argument; a few include factual data and statistics, informed opinions, and comparisons. The exigence for the film is the increased amount of issues and expected issues to come for American’s if our normal diet continues. The director is attempting to persuade a healthy change in food consumption by explaining the issues with advertisement, health programs, and the food industry
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.
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
McDonald’s is killing Americans, at least that is what Morgan Spurlock believes. In his documentary Super Size Me he embarks on a quest to not only describe and use himself as an example of the growing obesity trend, but to offer the viewers with base-line nutritional knowledge that will allow them to draw their own informed conclusions. Spurlock's primary intention is to prove through self-experimentation that eating solely McDonald's food is dangerous. His secondary intention is to denounce the rising obesity rate in American by using statistics, his own research, and the opinions of experts. His broader message is for a general audience while he tailors select chapters towards more specific demographics such as parents or McDonald's themselves.
Health has always been one of the priorities of the American people. It is a broad topic that encompass the physical, spiritual, and mental health. This research covers the physical health that includes food and exercise. Numerous films provide and inform Americans to look and be healthy, although many have tried, some succeeded and others do not. One such film that provide and inform the American public of health is a documentary titled, Fed Up by Stephanie Soechtig. The controversy in this film centers around the validity of the facts presented, and the claim that added sugar is the leading contributor to obesity. The documentary presented an examination of the rise in American obesity epidemic, the role of the food industry and their
As obesity and medical problems due to diet become a larger issue within society, it is imperative to educate humans on the importance of maintaining a healthy diet. This is exactly what Hungry for Change does. One of the key points made in the documentary is that humans no longer eat a natural diet like their ancestors did; when humans first began to inhabit the Earth they lived off a diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, and meats. During these periods famine and disease was rampant, so humans adapted to store nutrition more productively. Now that humans live in a more developed society, they have a (practically) unlimited supply of food. However, much of this food is processed and manipulated to have a better flavour and a longer shelf life, and though this sounds like a positive situation, it has become a huge problem. According to best-selling women’s health author Dr. Christine Northrup, “We’ve lived on Earth for a millennium where there was a food shortage. You’re programmed to put on fat whenever there is food available. Now there’s a lot of food available, but it’s the wrong kind.” (Northrup, as cited in Colquhoun et al., 2012). This is a logical and widely accepted theory as to why humans continue to overindulge on foods despi...
"Fed Up (Soechtig, 2014)." narrated by Katie Couric, focuses on the growing link between sugar consumption and the obesity epidemic. The film aggressively attacks the food industry, advertising, and the government who, it claims, all contribute to the U.S. sugar-dependent, obesity problem. The film sets out to prove the government, and food industry is knowingly causing an increase in the amount of obese children. It reserves its most critical comments for government advisory panels who make and enforce food and health policy, and its failure to properly regulate the food industry. They claim lobbyists for the sugar board have been instrumental in the removal of negative statistics from research papers worldwide. Instead
“Sugar addiction is a rapidly growing epidemic (Teitelbaum, 2010).” According to researchers, on average an individual consumes one-hundred pounds of sugar each year. Americans spend billions of dollars a year on gym memberships, healthy foods and beverages, and exercise equipment. Despite the economic strain, Americans continue to make room in their budgets for weight loss products.
In the first film we watched “Fed Up” I did not really enjoy watching it. The film focuses on the causes of obesity in the U.S. It presents evidence showing that the large quantities of sugar in processed foods are an overlooked root of the problem of America. “Big Sugar” is looking at attempts to enact effective policies to address the issue. In choosing your food do you really want to consume all of this sugar.
When a person gains weight, they think the main cause is the fat that is included in the food they eat. They are terribly mistaken. According to the video Hungry for Change, they say, “ In the 1900’s, an average person only consumed about 15g of sugar a day. But in the present, modern adults consumes 70-80g of sugar a day, and teens consumes about 120-150g”. Sugar is not only a unhealthy diet and obesity, but it is the main cause of overweight. Sugar does not contain fat, but when people eat more calories than they burn, the remaining calories stays as fat. By being overweight, it can impact a person’s entire quality of life. In the physical health, the right kind of food gives you the strength and energy to make it through in your everyday lifestyle. In other words, by eating the wrong kind of foods, you won't get the energy you need in your life. In the mental/emotional health, a little stress is good for your body because it gives ...