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Effects of unhealthy diet essay
Negative effects of eating healthy foods
Obesity is growing around the world
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Food. It is what everything depends on. Plants depend on it, animals depend on it, and humans depend on it. However, humans deal with food an entirely different way than any other species on the planet. As humans we are able to put a price in regards to food. High authorities are able to decide basically which class of humans can receive what types of food. They are able to do so without consideration of the issues they are causing. The wealthier communities receive the benefits of healthy foods while the poor community gets the complete opposite. Because of fact that, there has been a mass increase in obesity rates, as well as unhealthier lifestyles. Some say that the poor community has the resources in order to get healthy, others say it …show more content…
Coming from someone who has tried multiple times in order to eat healthier, it was a difficult task to complete due to the higher prices of fruits and vegetables. I did not feel like making my parents spend more money they needed to. According to Warwick Sabin in his piece, “The Rich Get Thinner, the Poor Get Fatter”, people who cannot afford the high prices of whole foods, settle for the purpose those which fit their needs but not their good health. This corresponds to how good health becomes less important as prices rise. The walthier community is able to afford whatever type of food they want. They are capable of buying thinning foods while the poor must rely on the much fattier foods. I even struggle at putting together the money for a fresh salad. If it becomes too much of a difficult task, I then find myself buying the cheap yet filling burger. Nonetheless, these price changes have resulted in retaliations. Solomon H. Katz asserts that in Mexico, there has been mass amounts of violence that has taken place, and there has been protests in multiple countries against the rise of food prices. People are speaking out, standing for what they believe is right, and what is right is for them; to have better food opportunities. To have the chance to survive by being able to afford actual whole foods instead of settling for unhealthy foods. And even starving themselves to avoid eating …show more content…
These business pray on the poor, whispering to them to spend the little money they have on the worst foods they could ever provide for themselves. It is hard to pass up. Eating until your stomach is full for cheap. However, these businesses are still taking advantage of them. They could be very much provided with grocery stores with fresh foods. That is what the need. Not another McDonalds down the block, but a store that could provide healthier food
Walsh, Bryan. “America’s Food Crisis.” NEXUS. Eds. Kim and Michael Flachmann. Boston: Pearson, 2012. 166 – 173. Print.
In her essay, “Food’s Class Warfare,” author Tracie McMillan promotes the inclusion of both “individual changes and structural ones” (217), particularly “class consciousness” (217), in the fight for quality diets in America. She reveals the most common sides of the healthy food debate as the inherent “just-buy-better stuff logic” (215) and the opposing “structural challenges of eating well” (215). The main strategies for defeating the American “obesity epidemic” (216) have been reaching out to the individual, as well as changing the structure of the American food system itself. The favorite concept for structuralists is “food deserts - neighborhoods with insufficient grocery stores and thus insufficient supplies of healthy food” (216). She deems the concept insufficient in practice, as it ignores smaller markets and equates large stores with a healthy food source. While the individual viewpoint and structuralists argue with each other, they share common ideals. According to
Maria Andrea Gonzalez, the mother, says that she feels guilty giving her children poor meals, but living on a dollar a day is the reason why they can’t afford food at a grocery store (Kenner). Pollan’s view on income being a factor in the obesity and other adverse health effects seems to be completely valid. Freedman argues that while spending nine dollars on a healthy smoothie seems to be totally unnecessary and basically should not be a thing due to the high cost. Freedman does have a point there saying how high the prices are for healthy products, but having fresh products is going to have a cost to them. Stores like Whole Foods are made to attract more an audience with higher incomes who can afford organic products which may defer people with lower incomes due to the high prices.
This is because of smaller weekly food budgets, in addition to poorly stocked stores. Those with lower incomes 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. Economic forces have driven grocery stores out of many cities in the past few years, leaving only a few, and in some cases none. Many of these people living in these rural urban areas do not own cars and because the grocery stores that are still around are so far away, a person’s shopping trip may require them to take several buses or trains....
Brook speaks about a woman named Kelly Bower and her suggestions for solving this problem in low-income neighborhoods. One of Bower’s suggestions is having local policymakers find ways to convince supermarkets and grocery stores to locate in “food desert” areas. According to Sanger-Katz’s article, policymakers have relocated the supermarkets to improve the health of poor neighborhoods but people are still choosing the same foods. People still choose the same unhealthy food because they prefer to eat that kind of food. Obesity is becoming a big problem in America and Finley says that “drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys” because there are more fast food restaurants than there are grocery stores. In the article “Giving the Poor Easy Access,” Sanger-Katz talks about a man named Brian Elbel, who did a study with grocery stores, and he states “improving access, alone, will not solve the problem” of food
It covers 70% of our planet, makes up 75% of our body, it is necessary for survival and it is declining at a rapid rate (http://www.sscwd.org). It is water. Unfortunately, clean water is rare, almost 1 billion people in developing countries do not have access to water everyday. “Yet, we take it for granted, we waste it, and we even pay too much to drink it from little plastic bottles” (The Water Project). Use of earth’s natural resources should be seen as prosperity, although it is taken for granted, every aspect of daily life revolves around the environment, forcing water conservation to be necessary for future on this planet. Many people grab a water bottle to go as they head to life as normal, others in developing countries spend their lives searching for water that is rarely found. Even if they do obtain water, it is seldom clean and usually comes with the risk of disease. As more developed countries pay a dollar or so for a bottle of water, others in less fortunate places worship water as if it is gold.
An important issue for Today is how can we make people pick the best nutritional option because giving the poor easy access to healthy food doesn’t mean they’ll buy It. For example, “In 2010, the Morrisania section of the Bronx
This concedes that now America is creating health issues from consuming unhealthy foods. According to, “The battle against fast food beings in the home”, by Daniel Weintraub, “Kids eat unhealthy food and sit in front of the television or computer for hours at a time”. The article states that now obesity has affected many kids in America. Due to obesity affecting many kids in America the argument here is that, parents are not thinking about their child’s health and how it affects their body. Their main worry if the food is cheap and that it’s reasonable to buy for their family; which is understandable. Thus, many kids health are in danger from the lack of a nutritious diet. At the same time, fast food companies believe that it’s not their fault. According to Daniels Weintraub’s article, it states that “ It’s the parents, not the government, not the fast food companies who are responsible for teaching kids unhealthy habits” (Weintraub 1). The argument here is that parents need to try to feed their kids much healthier diets such as vegetables. Feeding them fast food is going to wreck their health. For this reason, fast food companies should try to sell healthier food for a reasonable price. Having produce companies sell more affordable fruits and vegetables will clear this problem. This will allow people who don’t have much money be able to provide a healthy dish
Many immigrant families bring with them the foods of their home country and are ready to share them with their children and future generations. However, some do not get the chance to do so as they are pressured to give up their foods for “healthier” and more American dishes. This stems from the ongoing problem of assimilation that has plagued America since the decimation of Native Americans. Nutritionists will make the claim that a great majority of the foods that immigrants from the Caribbean and Latin America are unhealthy and is the cause for chronic disease in immigrants . Asking them to replace their foods is not saying they should replace ingredients but simply switch to a more Americanized meal instead. Food is a gateway that Americans use to pressure immigrants into assimilation. The pressure to assimilate into American culture may be a source of spikes in immigrant health complications; not because the foods themselves are unhealthy.
America’s food source has altered drastically in the last century and so has the health of many. Americans used to thrive on natural foods for nutritional value, now Americans thrive on processed and manufactured food for just for convenience. Food companies have changed the very way we view nutrition. They have taken chemistry to a whole new level and added what they want it to what we now call food even if that harms our bodies in the long run. Food companies have also caused many hard working farmers to lose their jobs. These food companies have lost insight as to what is truly important in a food product and don’t care if that means taking someone else’s job.
This is a nation ran on fast food that is oppressing the disadvantaged and the vulnerable with their lack of healthy options. Eating at fast food restaurants is ingrained in the American culture and on average makes up about, “sixteen to seventeen percent of Americans daily caloric intake” (Kristin Wartman). The low nutritional values of the fast foods being eaten contribute to the obesity crisis in minority communities and children. There are, “thirty percent fewer restaurants in minority communities” (Kristin Wartman), this directly contributes to the limitations of dining options pushing them more towards fast food. Fast food’s nutritional value is far below the national nutritional standards, and ultimately reduces the quality of many individuals’ diets. The limitations put upon these specific socioeconomic groups can be directly linked to their poor diets that form a repetitive consumption pattern of fast food that often leads to obesity. In America, “2/3 of adults and 15 percent of children are overweight or obese,” (Kristin Wartman). These outlandish numbers are killing out people. There is no reason why these numbers should be so high. Not only are the rates higher for most of America, but the, “rate of obesity of minorities is 51% higher than white Americans.” (Kristin Wartman) These statistics have a direct relationship to the fast food consumption of each group mentioned, and they must be lowered. Since the increase of fast food restaurants in America, “Obesity rates rose from 14 to 22 percent, or to more than one in every five adults.” (Kristin Wartman) If fast food companies are this influential on whole sectors of society, then the meal options that they produce for the people should be regulated. Fast food chains should be made accountable for its influence, and their consumer’s health should be a
In America, the traditional household where one spouse- usually the wife- stays home to take care of the family needs is almost rare. America’s debt problem has increased annually and is rapidly approaching 18 trillion dollars and is still growing (Patton 1). Working long hours, school, after school activities and commuting is overwhelming as it is and trying to bring food to the table increases the stress. America’s main reason for healthy eating “expensive” is due to our definition of price and our method of defining it is comparing price to portion. Healthier foods tend to have a lower density than unhealthy foods, which is why it takes 30 cucumbers to accumulate 1,000 calories compared to one packet of 200g ginger nut biscuits (Healthy 1). There is a substantial correlation between household debt and health (Averett 201). In America, particularly among the low-income populations, there is a "limited financing to affordable
They may have grown up in a home where money was tight and all they could afford was the dollar menu at a fast food restaurant. When a family tries to eat healthy food it becomes pretty costly, for example spending thirty dollars on healthy food wouldn’t get an average family of four very much food to eat seeing as fresh or organic foods are ridiculously priced, but spending twenty dollars on fast food would feed them all as well as make them full and may even leave them with extra money to buy more food. When living on a budget is a factor in how much someone spends on food, the quality of the food goes down drastically, and the main focus is
One of the most complex issues in the world today concerns human population. The number of people living off the earth’s resources and stressing its ecosystem has doubled in just forty years. In 1960 there were 3 billion of us; today there are 6 billion. We have no idea what maximum number of people the earth will support. Therefore, the very first question that comes into people’s mind is that are there enough food for all of us in the future? There is no answer for that. Food shortage has become a serious problem among many countries around the world. There are many different reasons why people are starving all over the world. The lack of economic justice and water shortages are just merely two examples out of them all.
problems have been connected to food and nutrition. This society now relies heavily on a lot of