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The importance of food choice
Influences on food choices, diet and habits
Influences on food choices, diet and habits
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It’s easy to assume that poor countries usually have the most unhealthy diets. Well, that’s a misdirected assumption. High blood pressure, high blood glucose, overweight and obesity, and high cholesterol are one of the 4 of the top ten risk factors that cause death. High blood pressure is the number one cause of death around the world and heart disease is the number one cause of death globally. All of them are caused by unhealthy eating. People tend to eat less fruits and vegetables which increase the risk of diseases and health problems, causing 1.7 million deaths a year.("Global Dietary Changes Threaten Health") America, one of the richer countries, has the worst eating diets. Nearly 2 out of 5 people in America are suffering from obesity.(Richardson) In a year, each person eats approximately 1.996 pounds. That’s a lot of food. Americans are eating too much cheese, sugar, starch, and red meat. Their most popular meals are pizza, burritos, nachos, quesadilas, and pasta which sounds healthy but as they develop, they are not as healthy as they were before with all the ‘extra ingredients’ they put in. Americans are taking in way too many calories per day if that’s what they eat, which suggest that they are definitely overheating. (Filipovic) Americans are taking approximately twice the amount of salt needed, around 70 pounds of sugar per year, and 11 percent of calories from saturated fats which can cause heart disease.(Berger) Besides that, they are not eating enough fruit and vegetables to balance the meal. (Filipovic) Americans eat 632 pounds of dairy, 31.4 pounds of that is cheese. 415.4 pounds of vegetables, most of it is potatoes and corn, and 29 pounds of that is french fries. They eat 273 fruits which usually means apples o... ... middle of paper ... ...ange." The Guardian. N.p., 26 Sept. 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. . "Global Dietary Changes Threaten Health." World Health Federation. Medtronic Foundation, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. . "Healthy Eating." Health Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. . Richardson, Jill. "How America Is Making the Whole World Fat and Unhealthy." Alternet. N.p., 7 Mar. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. . "TeensHealth." When Being Overweight Is a Health Problem. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. .
In “Bad Food? Tax it, and Subsidize Vegetables”, Mark Bittman suggests that the people of America should stop eating unhealthy foods so often. In the article, Bittman tells his audience that people have “heart disease, diabetes and cancer are all in large part caused by the standard American Diet” (page 35). He also states that eating healthy can result to a better health care system saving millions of lives. The big issue is Americans eating unhealthy every day, but proposing a plan to help stop it from happening.
When it comes to the topic of nutrition and eating habits, most of us will readily agree with Pollan in the instance that we as Americans are perhaps the worst offenders. To be honest, it’s quite hard to disagree with him here. Whether stereotypical or not, staples of the Western diet emit a worldwide assumption that we are a burger-eating, soda-drinking, donut-devouring nation; all unhealthy foods might I add. Is this the case for everyone? Of course not, but that’s one of the ways citizens of the United States are negatively perceived.
The American diet is full of on-the-go amenities from an array of different meals; however, is this fuel actually causing harm to the body in the long run? What is in the American diet that sets American’s health apart from other parts of the world? The documentary Forks Over Knives states that “We spend 2.2 trillion dollars a year on health care, over five times more than the defense budget. In fact, we pay more per person for healthcare than any industrialized country in the world, yet we’re sicker than ever” (Forks Over Knives). Studies are finding that the excessive consumption of sweeteners, meats, and dairy products are many of the leading causes of American’s health failure.
The typical American diet is about 50% carbohydrate, 15% protein, and 35% fat, which is over the dietary guidelines for the amount of fat (below 30%), below the guidelines for carbohydrate (above 55%), and at the upper end of the guidelines for the amount of protein (below 15%) recommended in the diet. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_pattern_diet). Not only is the Standard American Diet completely lacking in terms of the quantity of macronutrients being consumed, but the quality of the foods that most Americans are eating is extremely poor as well. The Standard American Diet is high in animal fats, low in fiber, low in complex carbohydrates, and low in plant-based
In this book, Pollan focuses a lot on the culture that surrounds the eating habits of today’s society in America. He talks about how we come from a culture that was primarily dependent on the hunting and gathering of our food. Pollan explains that through the years, Americans have turned away from providing for themselves in exchange for quicker and more convenient meals. I believe that America has evolved into a fast paced way of living. This has inhibited today’s society from having optimal time to prepare and even sit down to enjoy their meals. These cultural changes have led to a higher consumption rate of processed and fast foods. Almost anywhere you go, you can find a find a fast food restaurant or chain. With all of these arising opportunities, today’s culture has created a very unhealthy nation filled with sickness and disease. Pollan states that three out of every five Americans are overweight and one out of every five is obese. When compared to American culture before processed and fast food were ever an option, issues and diseases related to weight were almost non-existent. The people that lived before our modernized culture had to expend a greater amount of energy on hunting and tracking their prey, sometimes even ending up empty handed. However, when compared to today’s culture a surplus of food is available to people in exchange for much smaller energy expenditures.
“Fat Land”, a book by Greg Cristler, a health journalist who was formerly considered overweight, explains how America became the fattest people in the world. Before writing this book, Cristler was told that he needed to lose forty pounds and so to do so he enlisted a competent doctor, the prescription weight-loss medication Meridia, jogs in a congenial neighborhood park, a wife who cooked him healthy food, and access to plenty of information. Cristler is quick to add that those weren’t the only factors that led to his weight loss, but money and time were a big part of it. Cristler lost the weight, but he states “the more I contemplated my success, the more I came to see it not as a triumph of the will, but as a triumph of my economic and social
Obesity in America is a very serious problem affecting many Americans currently and is a problem that continues to grow each year. “Over the past 40 years, the prevalence of obesity has more than doubled in the United States” (Wimalawansa). This issue is known to many but believed not be an issue to care much about but this is not true. Obesity in America affects everyone regardless if they are obese or not. In order to resolve the problem, we can slaughter all the adults that are currently obese in America.
Obesity rates have skyrocketed within the last 10-20 years. This is in direct correlation with the diet and exercise habits of cultures. As cultures begin to incorporate different culture’s cuisines into their own cultures, the obesity rate starts to increase. This is most likely caused by their heritage history being accustomed to their culture’s cuisine history. Then diet and exercise come into play as well. We live in a time where technology has almost taken over our lives. In modern day, we can drive wherever we need to go, we do not have to walk everywhere anymore; we do not have to even go to the grocery store anymore because Amazon.com has now made their website into a grocery store in select parts of the country where we pick what we need online and it is delivered to our house. This program is set to go nationwide soon, and eventually globally. This is the epitome of laziness and why different cultures are becoming obese; especially America. Diet and exercise have almost become a thing of the past in America. Yes, there is still a large amount of humans that still exercise daily, but not the average American. The most active age group, worldwide, is 22-34 year olds with an average salary of $20,000 or less (Thompson 2013). Cultures such as the Native Americans, Mexicans, Chileans, and the culture that tops the list; Americans, are among the world’s most obese cultures (Downey 2011).
One of the most unhealthy diets in the world is that of an American. It is made up of processed foods and a good amount of television. America easily has the most fast food restaurants in the entire world. Leave it to McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King or any other fast-food restaurant to serve extremely cheap and even unhealthier food at any time during the day or night. ”It tastes good so why not?” That seems to be the question many people are asking now-a-days. Because it is so easily accessible and processed, it is made to be very tasty and extremely unhealthy. Many Americans find his or herself indulging on the these fatty foods of America on a day-to-day basis. While it may taste good at the time, it has a terrible effect on your body on a long-term basis. Eat it regularly, and it becomes a nasty and deadly habit and can cause heart failure, Type 2 Diabetes, high cholesterol, high-blood pressure, and many other life threatening complications to the body. The American diet has a numerous amount of pitfalls and disgusting habits. The American diet is one of the worst diets because of its portions, processed foods, and how it is very cheap, but the American diet can be overcome with determination, a healthy diet, and an exercise routine.
Jamie Oliver tells us that obesity is the leading cause of death in America and Greg Critser tells us that obesity is getting so bad that the United Nations are meeting to discuss the issue. Obesity is a serious issue. “I went to the eye of the storm. I went to West Virginia, the most unhealthy state in America” (Oliver 3:27). In Jamie Oliver’s Teach Every Child about Food, Oliver sums up his experiences of helping obese families to give solutions to help cure obesity. In comparison to Oliver’s piece, Greg Critser has published an article titled, “Too Much of a Good Thing”. In this piece, Critser analyzes some current health issues to show how America has become obese. While both authors address how obesity in America
Finkelstein & Zuckerman (2008). The Fattening of America. How the Economy Make us Fat, If
The population in the United States as of 2009 was 307,006,550 the younger population is projected to slightly increase and eventually plateau though the older population has been steadily increasing and projected to continue on an upward trend (Vincent & Velkoff, 2010). The lack of a healthier diet is something that has been highlighted in the media for the past decade and more often than not we are seeing the effects of overindulging and the consumption of highl...
"Overweight High School Students." Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 May 2014.
The astounding finding by doctors is that ⅓ americans are obese the surplus of processed and sugary foods is killing us with diseases, that also are making it harder to buy healthy alternatives. The obesity rate is taxing on the mental and physical level. Alot of people do not know how much sugar affects the calorie count (if you count them) and the reaction it causes after it is digested. It is a natural drive to keep calorie packed foods for survival but we are starting to find we can differentiate the survival food and good foods. It was good for ancient times for food shortages happened. But they're cheap now and in abundance out the wazoo. They cause (the sugar added in our foods) diseases like type 2 diabetes, fatty liver diseases, belly fat, joint pain worsening
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.