A serious concern nowadays is how our eating habits can affect our health. In particular, it has been demonstrated that eating too much junk food can lead to health issues later in life. One sensible suggestion for dealing with this is to improve the level of health education so that we eat better and live longer.
One reason why focussing on health education is an appropriate measure is that it addresses one underlying cause of the problem. It is clear that there is a connection between what people know about nutrition and their eating habits. For example, children who have learned in school about the need to have a varied diet with plenty of vitamins tend to eat more healthily. In contrast, people who have not had this education still eat too much junk food and as a result suffer from diabetes and other diseases.
Better health education, however, is not a complete answer as it ignores the wider social factors that cause people to eat unhealthily. For instance, many people eat fast food because they have a lifestyle that means they do not have time to sit down to a proper meal. Again, other people might eat burgers and pizzas because they are seen to be cool and they want to impress their peers.
There would not appear to be any simple way to deal with these social factors. A difficulty is that it is very hard for governments to make a difference to the individual choices people make. It might help, however, to ban advertisements for unhealthy foods on television and to require companies to provide proper meal facilities for their employees.
My conclusion is that the government certainly ought to introduce measures to improve the level of health education. However, this probably would not be a perfect solution as it would also be necessary to deal with the other social factors that cause unhealthy eating.
Read more: Sample IELTS essay: health and dietDominic Cole's IELTS and Beyond http://www.dcielts.com/ielts-essays/health-and-diet/#ixzz2gHPbwhOb
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
The author is quick to gather a number of likely reasons given by professionals in regards to the “failures” of the “eating test”. Dr. Patricia Montanaro, states healthy food choices should be available from school canteens and should be an easy choice for children. In saying that, who or what is guiding students of what is the wrong and right option regarding food choices. Dr. Montanaro suggests that the lack of advertising for healthy foods may also be the blame. If healthy foods were publicized as much as the likes of Fast foods, would children know what the correct decision is? Students and parents must be educated on why it may be a good or bad choice when choosing to eat particular foods, if students are aware of the possible consequences surrounding poor food choices, they will be more motivated to choose the healthy…
- 940 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
One of the leading causes of death in America is obesity. Healthier food options and nutrition start with our youth. Changes to schools breakfast and lunch options can give the students an opportunity to improve nutrition and health. Then maybe we can prevent obesity from continuing to be the cause of death for so many American’s. We want to work within changes to the new breakfast and lunch programs to help children fight obesity. Not every food option has to be something sugary or fried. They always say an apple a day, keeps the doctor away. Obesity is an excess body fat, because of which some cannot move as quickly as others.…
- 981 Words
- 4 Pages
Better Essays -
In conclusion, I think that it should be emphasize healthy education about eating habits; It is important that children receive nutritional advices of that; also an adult can even enjoy a balanced, delicious food. In fact, be aware of our “fat food” is fundamental. This means that if an adult diet is well and balanced, he or she can teach their children to be healthy. Instead of people eat anything as fast food, it is recommended to cook at home, because this kind of food is reduced in fats and has several types of proteins and other vitamins useful for human body.…
- 266 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
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…
- 940 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
People know the fast food is not healthy. It contains a lot of sugars, fats and oils. However, people love the fast food because it is fast and actually tastes good. Also, there are more benefits, which are the convenience of driving through and not messing up your own kitchen. I know what that is like because since I came here, I have been getting fast food from outside almost every day. I have to do things around me by myself since I moved out my parent’s house. There is not my mother who used to make healthy meals for me every day anymore. I am becoming lazy to cook by myself and tend to get fast food until now. As a result, I gained ten kilograms which means how bad food I keep eating. Additionally, there are a lot of attractive advertisements on the street that can make me feel like I want to eat more. Finally, fast food is cheap. I would like to eat a dollar hamburger from McDonalds rather than a fifteen dollar steak from the store. The environment does not only enhance people’s access to go to fast food store, but also the advertisements that the store shows could be the cause that makes people feel like eat more,…
- 1102 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Bandura and Walters (1963) proposed the social learning theory initially to explain aggression in children, yet they argued it can be readily applied to any behaviour. SLT suggests we acquire new behaviours via observing others, then modelling the observed behaviour. We are more likely to model behaviours if the behaviour is rewarded, via indirect, vicarious reinforcement. We can also learn new behaviours via being reinforced or punished directly. Therefore, learning is a combination of indirect and direct reinforcement, both key aspects of the behaviourist approach.…
- 1070 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
If someone is obese, the initial blame is always on the individual. Though the person certainly deserves some of the blame, we often fail to consider social forces such as the proliferation of fast food restaurants, the ease of obtaining inexpensive, packaged food products, and a lifestyle that values convenience over health.…
- 583 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
When it comes to keeping the human body, nutrition is the most essential part of everyone’s life. If people do not have full control, it will affect the way they will be in the future. Any change to someone's diet will change their body in the long run, whether it be positive or negative. It is quite apparent, especially in America, that the common person’s nutrition has gone down hill. Since the 1980s, the rate of obesity has inflated double the amount for adults and triple for children (“Obesity” p. 1). Shockingly, America spends more on fast food than on college education, computers, software and cars combined. In fact, in 2005, Americans spent one hundred thirty four billion dollars on fast food alone. In the ‘70s, America only spent six billion (Schlosser p. 10). I am not one to blame McDonalds for the drastic rise of poor nutrition. There are obviously other reasons why. I mainly blame the misinformation and myths that the general public has been told. The reason why that people are more unhealthy now than in the past is…
- 1532 Words
- 7 Pages
Better Essays -
Eating healthy is critical and plays a role in lowering your risk of developing various diseases such as diabetes, different types of cancers, having strokes and different heart problems. Poor eating habits are usually established at a very young age and are often times hard to break or correct.…
- 704 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Good nutrition and a balanced diet help children to grow up healthy. Children and young people need to be taught about eating healthily.…
- 2145 Words
- 9 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Approximately 17% of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are obese. This is caused by lack of knowledge and lack of access to correct nutrition in children and teens. 99% of public schools offer nutritional education somewhere in their curriculum. Obviously the information that these kids are receiving isn’t sticking in their heads. It is going in one ear and out the other and this needs to change. Healthy eating is associated with reduced risk for many diseases, including several of the leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. Overweight and obese children are at a greater risk of developing serious health problems such as: high blood pressure, bone and joint problems, depression and low self-esteem, and restless or disordered sleep patterns. Since children are becoming…
- 506 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Something needs to be done in order to fight this problem and reduce the amount of obesity in our country. What I am proposing is to mandate that all schools be required to teach nutrition education classes to children grades K-12. The University of Crete did a study to discover the benefits of introducing a nutritional educational program in primary schools. This study also assessed whether this education lowered the risk of chronic disease risk factors. After six years they found that risk factors decreased significantly. Introducing children to healthy eating behaviors and the knowledge of how to eat healthy would be beneficial for them and all Americans. This nutrition education would not only focus on healthy eating behaviors but active lifestyles as well. The current health education curriculum is obviously not working. Children are in serious need of an intervention in order to prevent them from being unhealthy at an early age, which would continue throughout the rest of their lives.…
- 2846 Words
- 12 Pages
Powerful Essays -
If a child begins eating healthy at a young age, then they are more likely to eat healthier into their adulthood. Most students eat in their schools cafeteria once or even twice a school day, so the healthy options for breakfast and lunch would make a great difference. Since children cannot be forced to eat healthy, students who do not want the healthy options provided by the cafeteria can bring their own lunch from home. Providing healthy meals to the students will help reduce Type 2 diabetes, which is closely related to obesity, in children and young adults. According to “Don’t Blame the Eater,” an article by David Zinczenko, Type 2 diabetes is becoming a rising problem: “Before 1994, diabetes in children was generally caused by a genetic disorder-only about five percent of childhood cases were obesity-related, or Type 2 diabetes. Today, according to the National Institutes of Health, Type 2 diabetes accounts for at least 30 percent of all new childhood cases of diabetes in this country” (Zinczenko 392).…
- 865 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
There is controversy over whether or not people should stop eating junk food. In the article “New Study Reveals Junk Food Good for You,” Billy Bunting believe some types of sugary, fatty junk foods “are better for you than so-called healthy foods” (Bunting). Throughout the article, he accounts evidences to verify his argument that eating large doses of junk food is good and a key to a long and healthy life. In “New Study Reveals Junk Food Good for You,” Bunting accounts studies, action points, and seven “tips to enjoy eating junk food so that its benefits can be fully realized” (Bunting).…
- 568 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, approximately one-third of Americans are obese. There are several culprits to this alarming increase such as lack of exercise, failure to research nutrition information, and modality of convenience. Author of the book, “Fast Food Nation”, Eric Schlosser states the expenditure on fast food annually by Americans, has increased from six billion to 110 billion dollars in the span of approximately three decades. Schlosser correlates the increase of consumption to increase of Americans becoming obese. As mentioned earlier, fast food availability is only one aspect of the poor health epidemic. There are not enough valid grounds to prove the increase of obesity and diseases such as diabetes. The employees of the tobacco industry are not slipping cigarettes into the pockets of civilians forcibly. Similarly, these fast food corporations despite their sophisticated marketing are not completely directing individuals to consume their foods. Individuals have the freedom of choice and should be aware that their choices may lead to…
- 402 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays