The American Diet

1137 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Changes in the american diet

Do you struggle with health problems or anxiety? If so, do not worry, because you are not alone. Today, America is in the middle of a serious crisis. Many people are suffering from diseases that are directly related to the American Diet. An estimated sixty-one percent of Americans are deemed overweight, and about one-third of these are currently obese (cdc.gov). Throughout the country, the obesity epidemic has struck every population demographic. According to the Center of Disease Control, an estimated 248,000 Americans die prematurely every year owing to obesity. The Center also asserts that many more people die prematurely today owing to illnesses related to obesity, such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers. An even more ominous statistic is that the percentage of children and adolescents who are obese has doubled in the last twenty years (cdc.gov). In order to understand why obesity is on the sky rise in America, the average diet of Americans must be taken into consideration. In comparison to other countries, the American Diet is one of, if not the worst in terms of nutrition (Young 93). The unhealthy American Diet is a dietary habit that is highly associated with fast food, processed foods, soft drinks , and large portions, which explains why it has to change in order to save our country. Over the past 50 years, American diets have changed from leisurely family cooked meals that were usually prepared at home, using natural ingredients to today’s fast foods that are eaten on the run with little thought towards nutrition of content; at least one quarter of Americans eat fast food everyday (Harper 35). Eating out several times each week constitutes an important part of most Americans routines (Schlosser). The places as well as the foods consumed in eating out play an important role in fulfilling lifestyle aspirations. Compared to other foods

Show More
Related

  • Obesity In Michael Moss's Escape From The Western Diet

    1217 Words  | 3 Pages

    American health, specifically our obesity epidemic, has grown into a trending media topic. A quick Google search will bring up thousands of results containing a multitude of opinions and suggested solutions to our nation’s weight gain, authored by anyone ranging from expert food scientists to common, concerned citizens. Amongst the sea of public opinion on obesity, you can find two articles: Escape from the Western Diet by Michael Pollan and The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food by Michael Moss. Each article presents a different view on where the blame lies in this public health crisis and what we should do to amend the issue. Pollan’s attempt to provide an explanation pales in comparison to Moss’s reasonable discussion and viable

    Read More

  • Analysis Of A Food Manifesto For The Future

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    Forty-eight percent of individuals who cooked dinner six to seven times a week consumed 2,164 calories, 81 grams of fat and 119 grams of sugar daily. They were also able to conclude that those who consumed home-cooked meals depend less on frozen foods and are less likely to choose fast foods. However, as explained in, “Tasting food, tasting freedom: excursions into eating, culture, and the past” Sidney Mintz explains in chapter eight that the majority of Americans often choose to eat out at fast food joints because of the convenience of these meals. Mintz states that these meals are usually diets, “high in animal protein, salts, fats, and processed sugars, low in fresh fruits and vegetables, drinking more soda than tap water.” This is where cultural, and social aspects create conflict when attempting to switch to this healthier lifestyle (although it is feasible). Depending on an individual’s schedule, it will either be an easier switch to make home-cooked meals, or just another difficult task to accomplish throughout the

    Read More

  • Is The Food Industry Trying To Make Us Fat Case Study

    1605 Words  | 4 Pages

    Waist sizes are expanding, everyone is on a diet of some sort, and a large majority of the population is under the care of a physician for some disease that can be attributed to the modern diet. With no end in sight to the obesity crisis and its associated diseases, individuals will need to educate themselves on healthy nutrition and how to avoid the pitfalls inherent in our food environment. Information on the origins of this epidemic, potential cures both magical and old-fashioned, and who or what is to blame for this crisis are everywhere you look. Two authors that offer their opinions on this vast subject are Michael Pollan, author of the book Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, and Mary

    Read More

  • The Western Diet

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Western Diet mainly consists of fried foods, refined grains, sugar, high carbohydrate and fats, and meats (3). It has been hypothesized that having a Western Diet increases one’s chances for developing depression. There has been a great deal of research into why the western diet increase’s one chance of having depression. A common sense reason maybe that the Western Diet consisted of large amounts carbohydrates, fats and sugars which promotes obesity and then causes depression (1). More scientific evidence suggest that having a improper diet like the Western Diet negatively affects peripheral and central dopamine, which are neurotransmitters (chemical which transmit signals across the synapse from the nerve cell to the target cell) directly linked to the mental health of the brain and are negatively affected by high fat diets (4). Research has also suggested that having a poor nutrition status such as lacking folate (a natural water form of vitamin bg which is crucial for many of the bodies processes) and key vitamins like vitamin b12 significantly increases the risk of depression in elderly people (5). Research into the topic of dietary habits and mental health is very crucial with the growing rates of obesity and depression in the United States compared to the rest of the world. Thus, does having poor dietary habits increase the likelihood of having depression? The likelihood of developing depression has been linked to the type of diet one consumes such as the Western Diet, Diets Low in Fat and Carbohydrates and weight control diets like binge eating.

    Read More

  • The Hawaii Diet : Returning to our Roots

    1963 Words  | 4 Pages

    Obesity is becoming an increasingly significant health concern in the United States, nearly to the point of epidemic proportions. To be considered obese, one’s body weight must be at least 20% over their ideal body weight; unfortunately with this definition, over 30% of all Americans are obese. Alarmingly, approximately 280,000 annual deaths were attributed to obesity in the United States (Allison, p. 1530). http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v282n16/full/joc90587.html There are significant health concerns that must be addressed with increasing trend towards obesity. The National Center for Health Statistics has identified the leading three causes of death in the United States as heart disease, cancer and stroke. Obesity has been identified as a leading risk factor for each of these diseases as well as adult onset diabetes. Fortunately these killers can be controlled through one’s diet. Dr.Shintani’s HawaiiDietÔ has closely studied trends in weight gain from both past histories and present day to identify a proper diet that will control one’s weight as well as significantly improve their health. http://www.hawaiidiet.com

    Read More

  • The American Diet: The American Diet

    838 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Mediterranean Diet is one of the diets that includes a high consumption of olive oil, fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, and unrefined grains (Robson, 2014). Additionally, this diet recommends a low consumption of red meat, poultry and dairy products as well as low to moderate intake of wines (Robson, 2014). Research studies have revealed that the Mediterranean diet helps to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis as well as chronic inflammation indicated in diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity and other mental health disorders (Gostis et al., 2015). The Mediterranean diet contains anti-inflammatory properties, which aids in the atherosclerotic inflammatory process by using oxidative stress to improve the regenerative capacity of the cell endothelium (Gostis et al.,

    Read More

  • How Junk Food Can End Obesity Pollan Summary

    1258 Words  | 3 Pages

    We Americans are always on the go, no matter if it is on our way to work, school, or exercise. Most people are eating some types of processed food usually for almost every meal due to how quick it is to prepare. However, most Americans do not realize that the nutrition facts on the other side of their granola bar shows the ugly truth about what they are eating. Michael Pollan who is a highly esteemed author on this subject refers to the “Western Diet” as mostly processed foods. Pollan’s main argument is that Americans need to reduce the amount of processed foods that are consumed so that health risks will be reduced. Pollan says, “People eating a Western diet are prone to a complex of chronic diseases that seldom strike people eating more traditional diets.” Pollan believes that Americans are eating too much processed foods, and that it is making Americans fat and more vulnerable to many diseases. In other countries where processed foods are eaten on the same level as Americans are not showing as much

    Read More

  • Childhood Obesity is Causing Death

    1113 Words  | 3 Pages

    You are what you eat. The fact is many American’s are out to lunch when it comes to making healthy food choices. The obesity epidemic is affecting every man, woman, and child regardless of age, race, religion or geographic location. Obesity occurs in over one-third of adults age 20 or over (BMI ≥ 30)Body Mass Index. More remarkable is the dramatic weight increase in America’s adolescent youth. According to the NHANES 1999 - 2000 data, 15% of children ages 6-11 are overweight.(Obesity In America.

    Read More

  • The Exponential Rise Of Obesity In America

    176 Words  | 1 Pages

    Over the past 50 years, Americans have seen drastic changes in its politics, the popular culture, and in its lifestyle. Some of these changes have had an amazing impact on the society both positively and negatively changing how we view the average person in America. One of the most obvious changes, is the rise of the obesity in America. Although there are some evident factors to the increase, typically a person dealing with obesity is dealing with multiple factors, creating situations where handling one's obesity is out of his or her control.

    Read More

  • Summary: The Epidemic Of Obesity

    416 Words  | 1 Pages

    There has been a very big issue spotted in America and the problems name is obesity. The national Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases have shown that “more than 2 in 3 adults are considered to be overweight or obese,” in 2009-2010. It has become so intolerable that it has been claimed as a “widespread occurrence of a particular undesirable phenomenon.”(Oxford Dictionaries.) Other known as an epidemic. Many careless decisions and poor factors have triggered this problem such as: restaurant dining and fast food, living an inactive life and a person’s environment as well as their health.

    Read More

  • The American Diet

    1162 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most Americans do not care enough to take a look at the nutritional values of the food that he or she is consuming. That is why America has the highest percentage of obesity in the world. This is a serious problem because one in every three adults is obese, and one in every six children is obese. There are many factors that go into the regular American diet, but most of those factors are not appealing nor is it healthy. Americans put way too much processed food into their daily diet. Some would say that other countries diets superior the American diet because of nutritional values that it carries. Other countries have proven that an active lifestyle is a huge element in the average weight of the country. There are many things that Americans could change about their diets and lifestyle that would help them to become healthier.

    Read More

  • Government Should Have A Say In Our Diets

    931 Words  | 2 Pages

    Obesity and overweight remain the two major social problems in the United States. Apart from the fact that obesity and overweight are dangerous by themselves, they also cause a variety of negative health consequences. Our lives our overloaded with tasks and obligations, and we often choose to eat something fast. “Fast”, however, does not necessarily imply “useful”, and more and more people face the risks of becoming obese even at young age. Because obesity has already become a national i...

    Read More

  • Obesity Persuasive Essay

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over the past years, Americans have continued to double or even triple how much they weighed in the past two decades. Nearly two-thirds of Americans have been diagnosed as obese. “Nearly 78 million adults and 13 million children in the United States deal with the health and emotional effects of obesity every day” (American Heart Association). Millions of Americans have suffered from obesity due to portion sizes increasing in size, not getting the sufficient amount of exercise needed daily, and electronics getting in the way of people going outside and doing exercise. Type two diabetes, heart disease, bone joint disease are some of the side effects of being obese. All these reasons support why Americans, over the years, have become more obese.

    Read More

  • Unhealthy Lifestyle of American Citizens

    2246 Words  | 5 Pages

    The United States of America is one of the most advanced mass producing countries in the world. With vast technological and agricultural advances, physical activity and minimal production of crops has become obsolete. An epidemic as defined in An Introduction to Community Health by Mckenzie, Pinger, and Kotecki, is “an unexpectedly large number of cases of an illness, specific health-related behavior, or other health related event.” Diabetes, heart disease and cancer are all forms of lifestyle diseases, and each of these diseases of the human body can be caused by unhealthy lifestyle choices, particularly affecting those who are overweight or obese. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, obesity is defined as a condition characterized by the excessive accumulation and storage of fat in the body. Medically defined, it is an “abnormal accumulation of body fat, usually 20% or more over an individual's ideal body weight associated with increased risk of illness, disability, and death.” More than 35.7% of Americans are obese and the medical costs for those who were obese in 2008 spent $1,429 higher than those that were considered a normal weight. Obesity rates are also higher in different ethnic groups. Some of the leading causes of obesity that will be explained further include sedentary lifestyles, health conditions, and food chains. Although obesity is an issue that is currently rising due to our country’s advances, it is completely curable and avoidable if people were further educated about this problem.

    Read More

  • Obesity as a Social Disease

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    For most people, the phrase , “you are what you eat”, rings more than just a few bells. In a growing visually appeasing society it may come as a surprise however that most Americans are overweight and that poor diet/obesity is a leading cause of death in our country. There are many ways that Americans try and attack this problem, the most common being dieting and exercise. Yet with all the money spent yearly on diet programs and personalized fitness regimens, Americans still top off the list in percentage of adults that are overweight. As of 2010, more than one third of all Americans were overweight and that number continues to climb at an alarming rate. In 2012 , there was an estimated twenty billion dollars in revenue for any and all diet books, diet drugs, and surgeries (1). Capitalism has a say so clearly, one aspect of the money is pushing the mentally weak toward fatty foods, the other form is racking in twenty billion on improper self discipline and fitness fads of those trying to be the opposite. Even with the increasing numbers of diets and obesity prevention programs, American obesity remains an instable issue. In our society obesity has become a primary link to heart diseases and other preventable lifestyle illnesses that can lead to early death. Why is our society overweight, and why is it our attempts to correct the issue have yet to yield positive results? Without the proper understanding that obesity is a social disease, our society will continue to seek quick fixes for obesity and never address the ongoing issue at it's core.

    Read More

More about The American Diet

Open Document