“Whoever snuck the “S” into “Fast Food” was one clever person, and a tricky one as well.” Meet Caesar Barber, a 56 year maintenance worker who weighs astonishingly 295 pounds. He can go for months by just living on McDonald’s. This, as he realized, can come to be a problem. Caesar recently got a surprise heart attack from constantly eating all greasy foods. His doctor suggests that he starts going on a diet to lose around 100 pounds. 300 pounds is very well above average for his age. Barber claims that the fast food restaurants don’t give their health information on their products that they make for their customers. He states that the restaurants, such as Burger King, KFC, Wendy’s, and all fast food chains are the reason why he had a heart…
Both the novel and the film adaptation of Ernest J. Gaines , A Lesson Before Dying illustrates the theme of coming of age ; however in the novel this theme is better discussed. Through the use of lighting , soundtrack ,and camera angles the director is able to portray the theme of coming of age. While , in the novel Ernest J. Gaines uses dialogue and characterization to express this theme. As some scene’s are better developed than others the watcher and reader are able to receive specific feedback and the portraying of different emotions.…
This article explains which foods to eat and which foods we should ‘stay away’ from or eat in moderation. This article reminds that the human body is complex and it’s important to eat a healthy diet. The author goes into great detail about the complexity of food and the effects they have on the human body. It builds a foundation of knowledge for achieving and maintaining a balanced-healthy diet.…
It showed that sugar was the problem, but it puts all the blame and responsibility of changing the American diet on food industries instead of the people. The message the film portrayed was that sugar consumption was at the heart of the obesity epidemic. The film hammered home that subliminal messages food companies advertised on T.V so they can save themselves and amass more wealth by advertising value meals that are supposedly “cheaper” than healthy alternatives. They add that supermarkets lower junk food prices at the supermarket so people are more tempted to buy them. The film did a good job at portraying how the children and their families were dealing with their individual weight problems, and how impossible it seems to lose weight when their own bodies and society betrays them by advertising junk food, and not making healthier food choices more available. It really tries to connect with the audience members by making us sympathize with the children, but it dosen’t get too dramatic with the problems and feelings of the children, which made them feel…
The video footage of slaughterhouses and processing plants made me nauseous to know I ingest food from industries such as those in the film. Aside from seeing firsthand how food is handled, I was also disappointed to realize how unhealthy all types of cheese is for you. Although I did already know cheese isn’t very healthy for your body, I did not fully grasp how much saturated fat and cholesterol is in it until after watching. Cheese is one of my favorite go-to indulgent foods, so I was upset to understand I should probably cut back on my intake. I was also set back by the description of chicken’s affect on the body as well as how it is a “cause of cancer.…
I had actually already seen this movie. It was a great companion to Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food: The Dark Side of the American Meal. The director and Sclosser wanted to turn Fast Food into a movie, and I think Food Inc covered much of the same material. With my research into obesity and reading the book nothing in the film was surprising. The film I think served to re-ignite a passion in me that I had lost. The film also put visuals to much of the book, and the visuals are disturbing.…
This essay will take an in-depth look at the history of Hollywood during the late 60s and early 70s. This period of time is considered to have been a renaissance for American cinema, and was titled the ‘New Hollywood’ by cotemporary critics of the time. In order to understand the changes that Hollywood went through the late ‘60s, you first have to examine the preceding era of Hollywood filmmaking during the 30s and 40s. This was a period that is commonly referred to as Hollywood’s Golden Age; when the dream factories were in full swing and the audiences were in regular attendance. This period of time could be defined by a number of social, political or economic contexts, but it’s the filmmaking practices that were employed at the time which…
This profession could undoubtedly be useful in American society today, says Pollan, but not in the way it is used now. The problem is this: “[A] serious weakness of nutritionist ideology is that it has trouble discerning qualitative distinctions between foods. So fish, beef and chicken . . . become mere delivery systems for varying quantities of fats and proteins” (p. 6). In an effort to consume nutrients in a controlled way, foods are altered; therefore, subtracting the natural interaction of the nutrients and the body. This concept is hand-in-hand with Berry’s claim. Consumers of the food industry are left in the dark as to what they are putting in their bodies—the nutritionist that is now necessary is one who educates consumers on how to cook meals with ingredients rather than deciphering the nutrition label on processed foods. To this, Janet Wojcicki explains food concerns more than…
Fat,Sick and nearly dead affected me as a person because it makes me think about eating habits. I feel like Joe and Phill have a huge impact on people with obesity.They changed their ways in eating this effect me by showing me how eating healthy can and will convert you into a better person internally and externally. It’s important to be healthy because it gives you a better chance to live longer ,watching your family grow,helps financially throughout someone’s life.There would be no worries in life about health issues. If Joe and Phill can do it so can anyone else out there looking for a change.…
What pieces of the film, Stress, “The portrait of a Killer,” stood out most to you?…
In the book, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, author Michael Pollan commences his tale with a few straightforward words: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants”. In his introduction, An Eater’s Manifesto, Pollan discusses how the dietetic wisdom that was passed down from older generations has been heavily tainted by “nutritional science and food industry marketing” (Pollan, 2008). The first volume of the book entitled, The Age of Nutritionism”, delves into this problem and helps uncover the cause of today’s “nutritional confusion and anxiety” (Pollan, 2008). Nowadays, it is not uncommon to have “edible foodlike substances” displayed in every aisle of the grocery store with all products promoting some kind of nutritional benefit from their consumption. These dietary facts are often modified to showcase dietary benefits that are barely present in the food product, if present at all. With such prevalent misinformation, today’s society has become so overly concerned with nutrient enriched food that people have either forgotten or are unaware of the importance of the fundamentals. Pollan further explains that humanity has become “a nation of orthorexics” meaning that people have developed “an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating” centred on the theory of nutritionism (Pollan, 2008). Chronic diseases that have the highest death rate such as obesity, coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancer, can be attributed to the “Western diet” which consists of “highly processed foods and refined grains; the use of chemicals to raise plants and animals in huge monocultures; the superabundance of cheap calories of sugar and fat produced by modern agriculture; and the narrowing of the biological diversity of the human diet to a tiny handful of staple crops, notably wheat, corn, and soy” (Pollan, 2008). In the second volume entitled “The Western Diet and the diseases of Civilization”, Pollan analyzes the…
Maxfield is a graduate student from Fontboone University who claims that the food industries, as well as prominent health journalists, are part of the growing health anxiety in our country. Her essay is a response to Michael Pollan, a well-known health journalist and is a name that Maxfield refers to a lot in her article. She suggests that Pollan is contributing to our cultural anxiety over food by using “eating algorithms” in which he backs up by his negative claims over American health. Instead of using a diet plan, or strict rules on food, Maxfield insists Americans should learn to trust their bodies, and they will meet their personal health needs, no more, no less.…
In Defense of Food was quite shocking at first. In all honesty, it made me think I was going to die within the next week due to a heart attack triggered by all the junk I eat. Considering I myself indulge in processed cookies from the aisles of Stop and Shop, and steak tips that have been marinating in salt for two days, the film hit close to home. But in all honesty, I don’t eat that bad; in comparison to the Seventh-Day Adventists I do, but I think I’m doing alright.…
In the film Consuming Kids, it really shows the dark side of marketing to kids. Marketing to kids gives them bad study habits because they will always want to play with their cool new toy that they saw on TV instead of doing their schoolwork. When I was young, I know that’s all I would want to do is play with my cool new toy. I would just keep putting off doing my work and I would tell myself that “oh I’ll get to it later” and later came and I never ended up getting to doing my work, because why do my boring schoolwork when I can play with my awesome toy. I think that from my personal experiences, that advertising to kids needs to have some kind of regulation so that kids improve their study habits which could also mean that the U.S. education system may become better because kids will be more willing to study instead of wanting to buy the new toy they saw on TV. I think the law saying the FTC can’t pass laws regulating marketing to kids should be torn up because it would make kids study more and it would also let the parents save more of their money instead of always being asked by their kids to buy that cool new toy they just saw on TV that everyone is getting. On one side though, marketing to kids could be considered good because it helps them build their imaginations and it gives them a good form of entertainment. If the toy is educational, it could help them with their studying instead of harming it. The restrictions placed on marketing to kids should be for non-educational products like action figures, video games, etc. The current form of marketing to kids needs some kind of reform.…
When it comes to the topic of nutrition, most of us agree that in order to live a long healthy life one must eat right and choose nutritious alternatives to preserved and fast food products. The incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy is a huge problem that lingers in our every day lives. In recent discussions of nutrition, a controversial issue has been whether obesity is determined by the food industry or the way we eat. Some are convinced that trusting yourself and your body will lead to better choices, others argue that eating food in moderation and more fruits and vegetables is the path to choose. In this day and age, there are many different debates on what one can do to eat healthier and make better decisions in regard to diet. Many people have proposed their own theories and advice on beginning a healthier lifestyle, such as Mary Maxfield and Michael Pollan.…