We all know that fast food in general is bad for our well being. I mean, foods proccessed with tons of cooking oil can't be healthy. However we still always have that as Plan B when it comes to our lack of nutrition. Some say its inexpensive, while others say it's just a place where over-cooked and over-priced food meet. In this book Eric Schlosser explains the gruesome ways behind the scenes of the fast food industry. Some just all too hard to take in, especially considering I'm really craving a burger right now.…
Great post, Clayton. The dichotomy of American eating habits is a very interesting example of conflicting social forces at work. Social forces, which are part of the PEST model that analyzes the influences that impact an industry, refer to trends, values, and traditions related to culture, religion, or society (Parnell, 2014, p. 53). On one hand, Americans from As Americans suffer the effects of decades of consuming fast and convenient products, there is a movement to educate people about the food decisions they make and the consequences of those choices. Michelle Obama’s initiative to fight childhood obesity, Let’s Move, is part of that movement. Let’s Move’s website (n.d.) declares that the rate of obesity in children has tripled in the last 30 years, which now states that one in three children are obese…
According to his article, “The Battle Against Fast Food Begins In The Home”, the author, columnist and blogger Daniel Weintraub, argues parents, not fast-food companies or the government are responsible for their child's health and well being. Weintraub supports this claim by providing data from the Center For Public Health Advocacy on the subject of overweight schoolchildren, State law recommendations outlining nutritional standards, and his own experience with the problem. Weintraub intends to convince or persuade the parents or parent to accept the blame for their overweight child. From my standpoint, however, it is clear the parents or parent should not be the only ones to blame for the increasing weight problems children were dealing with, and are still currently dealing with today.…
In today’s America we as citizens are faced with the ongoing crutch known as obesity. Obesity is defined as a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent of major health issues. I view obesity as a “crutch” because it is disease that will slow the American populous down. The topic on obesity has been debated over many years as to who would take the blame of America’s overweight problem and what that individual or group would do to prevent it. Many different state legislatures and school board committees have started to ban vending machines in school grounds. “Congress has considered a menu-labeling legislation that would force chain restaurants to list fat, sodium, and calories for each item” (Balko, 2004, p.522). Many individuals like me believe that this is definitely the most improper approach to preventing the obesity epidemic that has plagued the United States over the last twenty years. It is not the United State government’s place to tell American citizens what they can or cannot consume. Obesity has become more and more of a problem because American citizens are executing poor dietary techniques. The next influential factor to obesity is the influence of our biological need and genetics. These factors play a large part in the obesity epidemic but the key factor to obesity is the fact that Americans are drastically decreasing their urges for physical fitness and health. Data has…
"The beauty is we don't need to be 100% of the way there. If we get 20% of the way there, we will change the health status of our kids for a generation.” These were Michelle Obama’s words assuring Americans that with government involvement, change is possible. According to the National Institute of Health, obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Currently, nearly two-thirds of Americans are overweight and 34% of those are obese. Furthermore, a recent article published by the Institute of Medicine has shown that our eating habits are greatly affected by our environment, and in order to reverse this crisis, all levels of society will need to make a change- especially our government. By origin, a government’s innate duty is to ensure the wellbeing of its people, which in this case certainly includes our health through our diets. Moreover, they have incredibly influential access (or even complete control) over critical aspects of our diet. The government’s power over our diets already feeds into schools, food subsidies, and infrastructure, so their influence must begin to feed us in a way that is beneficial.…
Obesity in America is an ever-growing problem. Despite years of trying to eradicate obesity, it continues to grow. From governmental intervention to simple magazine articles, every step of action has been taken. Amidst the plethora of passages about this touchy subject there are two that stick out. The first is, “Don’t Blame the Eater,” an article written by David Zinczenko. The picture that Zinczenko paints is one that puts the fault of obesity on the fast food industry. Because he was once an overweight child, he sympathizes with the eater. In the second writing on this subject, “What You Eat is Your Business,” Radley Balko, takes a different standpoint on the matter. Balko believes that it is nobody’s business but your own when it comes to what you eat. He absolutely focuses on the problem of obesity, but he puts the blame on the government and the eater. Zinczenko and Balko both acknowledge the growing problem of obesity as a whole. Although they both have very valid points, Balko has a more serious, truthful tone to his writing.…
America’s obesity can be an argument that has many sides to it. The one that is the most straightforward and logical is that us as americans are bringing this upon ourselves. We know the kinds of foods that are good and healthy along with the foods that are bad, fattening, and unhealthy. We try to blame fast food restaurants and grocery stores for serving us foods that are unhealthy. In reality, we know. We try to blame those companies because we don’t want to blame ourselves. As much as we are told what is good and bad for our bodies, we tend to ignore that and keep eating those unhealthy products. America is blaming the fast food industry for obesity, when in reality, it comes down…
The fast food industry is not the only cause for obesity. One can buy this unhealthy food in abundance at pretty much any store that sells groceries. Even the public school systems provide this food to kids. Spurlock says that “[m]any lower-income kids depend on the federally funded National School Lunch Program for their primary hot meal of the day – and get basically the same high-fat, low-nutrition food dumped on them there as they’d get at a fast food joint” (26). Even though this problem is still prevalent, over the past few years the government has…
American fast-food franchises has been a large benefactor to an epidemic of obesity and disease in our country. To fight these negative over powering entities, an emerging movement for food justice has been created to seek transformation in our food system from planting a seed and following all the way to the table. A food justice structure ensures that the benefits and risks of how food is grown, processed, distributed, and consumed are all equal. There are current efforts in place to change the system. This includes all efforts from community gardens, to farmer training, to youth empowerment, but what roll does or government play in the food justice system and what more can they do to lower the negative impact to our communities, health system, and workforce productivity? Because In “a 2012 study, 52% of Americans (that were polled) believed doing their taxes was easier than figuring out how to eat healthy.”(11…
For families like the Lacks’ who live in impoverished communities, lack of income leads to food deserts, a setting with the continual purchase of high, energy-dense fast foods in light of the inaccessibility to proper nutrition, and while often disregarding symptoms of diabetes and heart disease that result from this high-caloric diet, they are “less likely to visit a doctor and get routine screenings” and “less likely to be referred to specialists.” Consequently, African Americans are twenty times more likely than whites to be diagnosed with heart failure (New England Journal of Medicine), and 69% of black men and 82% of black women are considered obese in America (State of Obesity), nearly 1.5 times that of white men and women. Along with the lack of proper nutrition comes twice as much fast-food advertising in black children compared to white children and…
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser explains the historical growth of fast food chain and how they succeeded in dominating the industry for decades nows. Schlosser talk about many netriouse techniques use to lure children and other simple minded american to be addicted to fast food, like a drug. He uses success stories of how near world war two there are many misgiving of food shortages and how fast food industry started to boom in that decade due to their convenience. Furthermore, the author elaborate more on how many people drop their educational career and became successful through these endeavors. One main controversial question that come up in this novel is how fast food is the solution to many economic issues. The point raised make…
It has become impossible for low-income families to provide healthy meals for their families. Government, Farm policies and the food industry itself are main reasons as to why the cost of healthy foods has become harder for American families, especially low-income families, to provide the healthy foods needed to fight the obesity epidemic. With low- income families being the main focus point on the problem of obesity in the eyes of society, because many believe that they waste there assistants on junk foods, which is far from fact, the cost of healthy foods has become far too expensive for many Americans to purchase especially low-income families. The fact is low-income families are in need of more and better help in the fight against obesity.…
Do you want to be surrounded with a society filled with obese children? Obesity has become a big problem in America. Parents are not being careful with the amount of junk food they’re allowing their kids to take in. According to Daniel Wientraub’s article “The Battle Against Fast Food Begins in the Home”, he claims that parents are in the position to fight the epidemic of overweight children, not the government or fast food companies. I agree with Daniel Wientraub because parents should be held accountable for the obesity of their children.…
Americans are heavier than ever before and, according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight, 60 million adults are obese, and 9 million adults are morbidly obese. Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems. Obesity increases the likelihood of various diseases, particularly heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breathing difficulties during sleep, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis. It can be caused by many reasons. One obvious reason is the rise in fast food consumption that companies are so adamant on pushing the public to buy, especially children. With fast food chains creating more and more ways to entice the American public to eat their food, it is becoming harder and harder to stay in shape these days. The fast life of America is quickly taking its toll on the public with the silent enemy called obesity creeping up at an alarming rate. In fact, the rate of it overtaking our lives is so fast; the Surgeon General has called it an "epidemic". Now, the real question is- are fast food restaurants really the culprits at work here? In this essay I intend to compare two very different takes on fast food companies and their ways of making people fat as well as my stand on the matter.…
Obesity is a trending topic in America affecting every state, every city and every community across our beautiful country. Obesity is a defeat to our nation becoming the fastest growing cause of disease and death in America. This new wave of obesity is hitting us where it hurts and spreading its grip on our homeland. Obesity is becoming a modern day murderer and the fact that this phenomena is completely preventable is mind boggling. American citizens are becoming blind to false impressions on labels, in the media and in advertising tricks that glorifies fast food in a positive light. We as American’s need to combat obesity by dieting, exercising and even taking legal action is…