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Changes in the american diet
The effects of an unhealthy lifestyle
Changes in the american diet
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Healthy diet, according to “CDC-Dietary guidelines for Americans 2010, diet which emphasizes eating foods rich in fiber, potassium, vitamin-D, calcium such as beans, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts and low fat milk and milk products, and also Low in saturated fats, cholesterol, trans-fat, salt and added sugars, within a day calorie need”. But if you were taking more dairy, little servings of vegetables, fruits, and proteins, and then piling up as many fats, grains and superfluous oils, you are accurately near to the depiction of modern American diet. Yes unhealthy diet is a major contributor to poor health and health disparities. Features of American diet contributing to disease: • Increased intake of foods rich in cholesterol such as hamburgers, …show more content…
The study also assessed greater availability of healthy foods in those supermarkets influenced healthy diet, by using GIS (Geographic information system) method of survey MESA also found that increased proximity of fast food centers increased unhealthy diet. • Many of the low-income neighborhoods have more availability of fast food centers such as mc-Donald and Wendy’s than in wealthier areas influencing individuals to have unhealthy diets, like seen in East Harlem in New York City. • People living in low-income neighborhood try to have more calorized food in each dollar they spend and availability of such cheap foods by these fast food centers make it convenient for them to have more unhealthy energy dense, low nutritious food. • Poor neighborhood decrease the choice of food available, low socioeconomic people cannot effort healthier foods with limited selection of foods at high priced local stores. “Food dessert”, as said by Freudenberg “having low accessibility to affordable and healthy foods”. Most of these low–income neighborhoods are considered as food
Fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society. Everywhere you turn you can see a fast food restaurant. An industry that modestly began with very few hot dog and hamburger vendors now has become a multi-international industry selling its products to paying customers. Fast food can be found anywhere imaginable. Fast food is now served at restaurants and drive-through, at stadiums, airports, schools all over the nation. Surprisingly fast food can even be found at hospital cafeterias. In the past, people in the United States used to eat healthier and prepared food with their families. Today, many young people prefer to eat fast food such as high fat hamburgers, French-fries, fried chicken, or pizza in fast
Food deserts are places where healthy foods are not produced nor sold. Unfortunately, Chicago is filled with food deserts. Approximately 600,000 people reside in areas that consist of food deserts (Gallagher, 2006). Nearly 200,000 of those people are children. These children do not have the opportunity for healthier options, which shows an increase in obesity rates (News One Staff, 2011). There are 77 Chicago communities and out of that 77, 23 are food deserts (Gallagher, 2006). Chicagoans-particularly the black communities- are forced to live off the accessible food that is near them. The food deserts are in Austin, North Lawndale, Armour Square, Near South Side, Fuller Park, Grand Boulevard, Washington Park, Woodlawn, West Lawn, Chicago Lawn, Englewood, Ashburn, Auburn Gresham, Beverly, Washington Heights, Morgan Park, Roseland, Pullman, South Deering, Riverdale, South Chicago, and West Pullman (Grossinger, 2007). The communities are usually served by junk food- filled corner stores, which do not offer an abundance of healthy foods. The communities are in desperate need of change.
Research proves that low-income families will shop wherever the food prices are lower, and generally cannot afford to pay for healthful foods. In comparison to the residents of higher income communities, low-income households normally have diets that are higher in meat and processed foods and often have low intakes of fruits and vegetables. Research suggests that people with low socioeconomic status spend up to 37% more on food. This is because of smaller weekly food budgets in addition to poorly stocked stores. Those with lower income are more likely to spend money on inexpensive fats and sugars versus fresh fruits and vegetables that are more costly on a per calorie basis. Healthy foods like whole grain products are more expensive than high calorie junk foods.
Almost everyone has eaten fast food at some point in their lives, but not everyone realizes the negative effects some fast food can have on our nutrition. My family especially is guilty of eating unhealthy fast food meals at least once a week because of our budget and very busy schedules. In Andrea Freeman’s article entitled, “Fast Food: Oppression through Poor Nutrition,” She argues that fast food has established itself as a main source of nutrition for families that live in average neighborhoods and have low-incomes. Freeman begins the article by explaining how the number of fast food outlets is beginning to grow in poor communities because of the cheap prices and quick service these restaurants are famous for. The overabundance of fast
However, when creating fast food restaurants, the industries were not thinking about the negative effects such as obesity. Other than obesity, other harmful effects exist as well. Fast food restaurants serve unhealthy products such as greasy foods and artificial meat that lead to dietary health issues in many adults and children. A recent study showed that “Young children who are fed processed, nutrient-poor foods are likely to become unhealthy teenagers, and eventually unhealthy adults. Now twenty-three percent of teens in the U.S. are pre-diabetic or diabetic, 22% have high or borderline high LDL cholesterol levels, and 14% have hypertension or prehypertension”
...., Story, M., & Nelson, M. (2009). Neighborhood environments: Disparities in access to healthy foods in the U.S. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 36(1), Pages 74-81.e10.
Whether you are rich or poor, fast food is bad for you (Alter and Eny 2005). The quantity of fast food one consumes is of course important, but the super-sized nature of these foods and relative ease at which one can buy a lot of fast food does not help the consumer (Stender 2007). But it is part of Americana. Fast food organizations plan where their franchises are built. McDonald’s explicitly stated that they wanted a McDonald’s “within a 3- to 4-minute trip for the average American” (Lubow 1998). An American Journal of Public Health study found fast-food restaurants to be fairly evenly dispersed across predominantly white and African-American neighborhoods (Morland 2002). There are many things wrong this anyone who makes arguments about fast-food based on this study. One, the United States is literally more than black and white. Two, that same study explicitly says “Our findings underscore the importance of including characteristics of individuals’ local food environments into future studies to gain a better understanding of barriers to healthy eating” (Moreland 2002). Indeed, even if one over simplifies the United States’ population to black and white, one cannot ignore other factors that might make these black citizens more susceptible to the increased fast food consumptions. These factors where laid out by Naa Oyo A. Kwate in 2006 – “money, power, prestige, and social connections” (Kwate 2006). He explains why these factors have
Again, for many, this is all they have access to. There is a correlation between income, access to healthy foods, and food deserts. A study conducted in 2009 (Truehaft & Karpin, 2010) by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) found 23.5 million U.S. citizens did not live in an area where there was a food store within one mile of their home, that there were 418 rural food deserts, and that these residents had no access to food, let alone healthy food, within 10 miles of their home. Non-rural areas that were also low-income, had more liquor stores, convenient stores, and fast-food restaurants in their area than their higher-income counterparts did, but were still categorized as food deserts because of the lack of healthy food items. The trend for access to healthy foods also includes education as to what foods are best for one’s
The atmosphere of the neighborhood and household is a justification on how parents are the influence to their kids bodies. If a neighborhood is close to fast food restaurants it could lead to bad eating habits like going there everyday and buying a burger off the dollar menu. In addition, if say a family does not bring in a high-income that could cause bad eating habits also. If parents do not bring a big income and have to have a budget, fast food is the way to go. Easy, fast, and cheap. Also if a parent makes little income they might have to work overtime or have more than one job. When people work to much they tend to get tired faster and do not have the time and energy to prepare healthy meals or even an meals at all. To explain more on this issue I found an article that connected to my points citing, “Children who rely on fast food may tend to have parents who do not have the means desire or time to purchase or prepare healthy foods at home. This is what really is driving children’s obesity and what needs to be addressed in any solution” (Klausner 1). The author, Klausner drew attention that because parents are so busy and tied up with work , there is no possible way that children can stay healthy. The parents have a huge contribution to why fast food makes children obese. Today many Americans suffer in poverty. Poverty is a huge
Healthier foods also tend to be perishable which drives lower income families away from them as they run the risk of wasting food. Fast food options are also more common in low income areas which serve low cost high energy meals, contributing to more poor food choices. In addition to lack of quality food choices, low income families tend to develop bad eating habits. Inconsistent meals are common among poorer families developing problems with metabolism. However, it is made worse as they form cycles of not eating for long times followed by overeating.
With healthy food becoming increasingly expensive it has become harder and harder for low-income families to make healthy choices (Ward et al., 2013). Low-income families face a financial struggle when it comes to making better food choices. Things such as housing, utilities, and health care are every day expenses that have fixed costs (Ward et al., 2013). When it comes to food, food pricing is flexible as it presents an opportunity to cut costs (Ward et al., 2013). Families stretch limited dollars by purchasing the cheapest and easiest foods that can be found, even if it means not picking the healthiest options (Vergin, 2012). The key to giving low socioeconomic families access to affordable healthy food is not just to lower down prices, but creating healthy food and eating environments (Story, Kaphingst, Robinson-O 'Brien, & Glanz 2008). Low socioeconomic communities need to be designed to help make healthier choices with having more stores and restaurants selling healthier options to items families already purchase and offering more local fresh foods (Vergin, 2012).
Therefore, people tend to go to McDonalds to have a Big Mac rather than getting healthier food. According to Fryar and Ervin (2013), “in the youngest age group, 20–39, the percentage of calories consumed from fast food significantly decreased with increasing income level.” In this case, people that have lower income tend to have more unhealthy food because they cannot afford healthy food.
Healthy and affordable food choices on the go or even just in the store is a huge and worldwide ongoing problem that of course cannot be fixed overnight. To help start and put one foot forward to improvements in the availability of healthy food options and choices in lower income neighborhoods, we as a community and as a whole should do the following. Many different methods could be tried to help solve the problem. This is simply because one method may not work as well as the other. As Denis Waitley says “Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker”.
Eating healthy changes you for the best. Healthy eating is good for the soul, mind, and body it helps with stress, depression, and clearing acne. We as a society need healthy foods to stay productive in life, and healthy eating is a choice why not make the best one.
Eating healthy should be done every day, or on a regular basis, it is also good for dieting. It is an important part of the body’s wellbeing. Balancing the amount of food intake with high calories can lower obesity of such. Healthy eating is an important thing in today’s society, but the main thing that is hindering a person from doing so is the fact that the stores are pack with food that have very high calories. In fact, eating healthy is not just following a strict set of dieting tricks, it is about what is being put in the body, and it is also about how much is being put into the body. It doesn’t matter how healthy the food is, sometime to most of the time the healthiest food contain some of the most fattening ingredients. People should think about what they are eating. Even though people show