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The evolution of the american diet
The history of unhealthy eating in America
Positive and negative effects of dieting
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Throughout the years, many diet books, pills, and plans have been tried and, most often, failed. People still go after them, however, because of the statistics: 64% of adults and 33% of children and teens are considered overweight, and 30% of American adults are morbidly obese. Fat people are discriminated against at work, school, and in social situations. Obviously, they’ll want to do something to change that. That’s where the diets come in. Popular diet pills over the years have been controversial, ever-changing, and always expanding in numbers and names: Trilene, Trimspa, Metabolife360, and Alli, just to name a few. Each of these “cures” has their share of faults: Trilene and Metabolife360 both contained the dangerous Chinese herb ephedra, which caused strokes and tachycardia. Trimspa was found to be unsafe and was sued but continues to be on the market. Alli, while still considered a breakthrough because of its method of weight loss (as opposed to the popular appetite suppressants and fat burners, Alli is a fat blocker), still has its share of unpleasant side effects: leakage, watery/greasy stool, stomach pain and discomfort. Case in point, none of these major diet pills have made an impression of the benefits outweighing the risks. Diet plans are also popular. Weight Watchers, Atkins, “faith diets,” “raw food diets,” “blood type diets,” “tapeworm diets,” and “astrology diets” are also highly debated, supported, and contradicted. Each of these has their own pros and cons; some have scientific evidence to support them and some just have swear-by-it followers. Some don’t even call themselves “diets,” but would sooner refer to them as “lifestyle choices.” Others still have been banned: the tapeworm diet is banished to the... ... middle of paper ... ... making a fortune off of playing with that innate, intrinsic, insatiable need in the psyche of every human being to be accepted and praised not for whom they are, but who they pretend to be, and in that sense, what they look like. When society tells them to be skinny, they’ll try anything to get to that skinny. It’s unhealthy. It has been, is, and will forever continue to follow in a vicious circle, a catch-22 of sorts: as long as there are fat people, there will be diets. As long as there are diets, there will be people who try and fail at the diets for one reason or another. As long as people fail, there will be more diets, and so on and so forth. America has a problem. There’s no quick fix, and there’s not buying a way out of it. Until this problem is solved, the cycle of madness and obsession will inevitably continue until it spirals completely out of control.
After taking a closer look at the American diet, it 's clear to see Americans are in a lot of trouble. The average American diet is filled with lots of greasy fast food, large cuts of meat, salty junk food and sugar-laden sodas. This tradition is then passed on to the children and creates a legacy of ailments, disease and a lower quality of life. To many people, plant-based eating sounds like a death sentence. In reality, it 's all about getting creative with the foods you already like. It also involves intentional meal-planning and organization. However, your health is worth it. The ability to experience a better quality of life should be motivation enough to start changing your eating habits. Consider a few of these simple ways to incorporate plant-based eating into each meal without eliminating delicious taste.
The irony is the fact that a majority of Americans are fat by national standards. Over 90 percent of women don't conform to the diet standards developed by insurance companies in the 60s. The media create a need to lose weight because they realize most Americans aren't statistically thin. By creating a standard of what is "normal" and then creating a need to achieve this normality, an industry of dependence is born - dependence upon diet pr...
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.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2013), in 2009-2010, 69.2% of Americans over the age of twenty were considered to be overweight or obese. That is a staggering number, but there are an abundance of diet plans on the market today to help lower that percentage. Some of the most popular diet plans are Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, and My Fitness Pal. The problem lies in deciding which plan is the right one, and the only way to make that decision is by weighing each of the plans many pros and cons against the others.
In “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating” by, Mary Maxfield (pp.442-447), she affirms a bright argument about how food is not moral or immoral. Therefore, you can eat whatever you desire and not suffer any negative side effects, which she ignores. Her key points including stated facts such as “Culturally,we resist these scientific findings,” that people can be fat and healthy, “in favor of a perspective that considers fatness fatal and thinness immortal.”(pp.445) The main point to Maxfield’s claim in healthy eating, is being active and living a fit lifestyle. In “Escape From The Western Diet” (pp.420-427)by Michael Pollan, his argument is to help the American community be enlightened with
Losing weight and getting in shape is not a logically simple task. According to research studies it is estimated that 40-50 percent of U.S. households purchase supplements costing Americans over 40 billion dollars per year (SNAC). There are numerous objectives that individuals do not take into consideration like proper diet, training regimens, and even quality sleep. Some understand the importance of combining all elements to have great success while others are searching for the “miracle” pill. In recent years weight loss supplements have exploded into the market of fitness. Some of the supplements like ephedra and yohimbine have been used for weight loss and other purposes. Ephedra is a drug used traditionally in ...
The typical diet of the average Japanese citizen is much healthier than that of an average American citizen. The Japanese diet is vastly different than the common western diet in terms of ingredients used, portion size, preparation, and relationship between its users and their food. While Americans commonly opt for unhealthy food high in calories, fat, cholesterol, and sodium, many people of Japan benefit from their healthy choice of rice, fish, vegetables, and soy products. The Japanese style of preparing and serving food is also very intricate and deliberate, which encourages diners to truly appreciate their food, instead of rushing through each meal without much thought, as done in the United States. The typical Japanese diet offers its users increased immunity and can help prevent against some cancers, heart and cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, among other illnessesi. The diet typically followed in the United States is grossly opposite in that many commonly consumed unhealthy foods have been determined to actually cause the same diseases that the Japanese diet works against, including but not limited to heart disease, some cancer, and diabetes.
However, Kilbourne’s statement surprised me when she claimed, “dieting doesn’t work.” Although Kilbourne’s intention with this statement was to encourage young women to accept their bodies, it creates leeway for laziness and obesity. Advertisements at times can be used as inspiration or motivation for those who try to sculpt their own body through fitness and healthy dieting. Dieting in today’s society is often associated with depriving oneself from the food they love. However, dieting is simply eating food in moderation and not splurging excessively. Furthermore, advertisements displaying women who are overly skinny from an eating disorder such as Anorexia, is not helping the current and future generations of women. In fact, companies should advertise women that have dedicated their lives to a healthy diet along with a vigorous routine of fitness and have achieved a healthy and achievable body.
This paper will look at two areas, which are physical and mental problems. Fad diets are becoming more popular because the consumers spend a huge amount of their money to follow specific type of diets to lose weight hastily as industry contributes to the dissemination of more books and magazines that deceive people and take their money. The FTC deceives consumers by using advertisement weight-loss and as a result it has collected almost $107 million since 2010 (Giorgianni, 2014). In addition, people need to increase their awareness of fad diets by knowing the negative impacts of it.
Obesity in the United States is a major issue. Because there is such a high obesity rate, there have been so many diets established to try and reduce these constantly rising rates. A lot of these weight-loss diets that have been established are known as fad diets. A fad diet is a diet that becomes popular quickly, and may die out just as quickly. In the United States, there are some popular and healthy fad diets such as the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet, and Weight Watchers.
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.
According to recent statistics, every year Americans spend about $50 billion on products and services promoted to help them lose weight. Many of the overweight and obese people that join commercial weight loss programs are looking for a quick fix to lose the weight, such as fad diets and dietary supplements that are marketed to burn fat fast. However, many of these diets offer little success or success for a short time, resulting in many gaining the weight back a short time afterwards. Fad diets are “a trendy practice that has widespread appeal among a population. After a period, however, people lose interest in the practice, and it becomes no longer fashionable. People often lose weight while following fad diets, but usually regain much of
Every day people are becoming more and more concerned with their health and their appearance. Thanks to scientific research there are many remedies to improve the human body. As far as weight loss there is exercise, diets, pills, and different surgical procedures. Diet pills have become a very popular supplement to assist in weight loss, but with diet pills come many questions; are they safe, do they really work, and mainly if they are a good product or not. In order to know whether or not something a quality product, is to know how it works. The ingredients are very important and unfortunately not every diet pill has the same ingredients. There are multiple types of pills, with different effects, and conditions. There are three popular types of pills. There are appetite suppressors, metabolism regulators, and fat absorbing pills. Combining these effects into one pill with the correct usage creates positive results.
Most fad diets do not focus on meeting the nutritional requirements of your body, but on losing weight quickly. This encourages unhealthy eating habits as many people result to restricting their intake of foods that have essential nutrients. In fact, the diet programs are designed to take advantage of the willingness of people to attempt anything to lose weight or feel and look
A sad fact in American society is that thousands of people search for the elusive dream of being thin. On any given day, one finds neighbors, friends, and relatives on some kind of diet. Dieters assume various disguises, but the noteworthy ones are the "bandwagoneer," the "promiser" and the "lethal loser."