Junk food has been around our life for decades. People always see it everywhere such as in convenience stores, advertising, schools, airports, groceries, gas stations, etc. It refers to the food that has low nutritional value and contributes high levels of sugar, calories, fat, and salt. Junk food was blamed for causing major health issues and that is the reason America’s largest food companies gathered for a meeting to discuss the issue. According to “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food,” written Michael Moss, rivals any other day, the C.E.O’s and company presidents had come together for rare, private meeting. On the agenda was one item: the emerging obesity epidemic and how to deal with it. Junk food has caused serious health issues for decades, which can lead to obesity and raise health problems, including high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. Although major food companies are aware that the much of the food they produce is a leading cause of obesity and related health problems, they continue to market and engineer junk food to the public.
Nowadays, obesity is a major health crisis American that people have issues with. There are some factors cause obesity such as consuming too much junk food and having bigger portions than their body needs “American adults eat an average of 500-800 calories per day more than their body needed” (Marks). Genetics has a role and can cause some people to be obese but environment and behavior have influence also. For instance sleep deprivation, and lack of physical activity. People choose spending spare time in front of a television or a computer and do not use their time to exercise. “In 2009-2010 more than one-third or over 78 million of American adults and app...
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...traordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food.”
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In this essay “How Junk Food Can End Obesity,” published in 2013 issue of The Atlantic Daily, David Freedman explains how junk food is a better source of the organic food. Stressing the price and how many calories to natural/healthy smoothies and fast food /junk food. While most people believe junk food contributes to obesity, Freedman advocates eating junk food but making smart choices.
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
The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Aug. 2013. Web. The Web.
Published In his article “How Junk Food Can End Obesity”, David Freedman begins by talking about how misinformed people are about wholefood restaurants and stores. These stores are run by so-called health food experts. Freedman makes himself distinguishable himself from the position of Michael Pollan and his adherents. His adherents are known as Pollanites. They are the people who believe that processed food is the reason we have health and obesity issues. He brings up the phrase small elite minority to talk about how Pollanites think they are better than everyone else. Throughout the article Freedman compares how the Pollanites view the masses, to how everyone else views it. The way to fix the problem according to Pollan and his followers
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Throughout the past years and more here recently obesity has become a fast growing problem in the United States and around the world. Since this has become such a problem certain authors are starting to take a stand in how they think the solution should be fixed. The solutions are discussed in the following articles: How Junk Food Can End Obesity by David H. Freedman and What You Eat Is Your Business by Radley Balko. Both articles have clear and distinct arguments, but the argument by Balko entices his readers and has a clear purpose and tone that allowed his article to be more effective.
The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 1 July 2011. Web. 21 Aug. 2012.
In The Atlantic article ‘How Junk Food Can End Obesity’ David H. Freedman asserts that junk food is superior to wholesome foods. He does this by bringing up points saying processed foods are not the reason why America has problems with diabetes and obesity; he is critical of the nutrition, cost, and stigma of wholesome foods. While nutritionists advocate that consumers should avoid processed food, Freedman presents evidence that junk food is as healthy aa wholesome if better in reducing the populations obesity. Freedman claims that wholesome foods may not live up to the robust expectations instilled in people’s minds.
Obesity has increased rapidly throughout the years, especially in the United States. As of today, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of adults in the U.S are considered to be obese. We all know that obesity is becoming a serious issue in the lives Americans. The effects of obesity can lead to heart disease, diabetes, and in serious cases, death. So the question we can all ask is, “What is the cause?” The cause of obesity can come from, but is not limited to, some of these things: eating habits, lack of exercise, or a medical condition.
According to the USDA, at the start of century 21st American people have increased their daily caloric intake by consuming five hundred calories more than in 1970. As cited by Whitney & Rolfes (2011), there are many recognized causes of obesity such as genetics, environment, culture, socioeconomic, and metabolism among others; but the cause most evident is that food intake is higher than the calories burned in physical activity. Excess of energy from food is stored in the body as fat causing an increase of weight. During the course of the last 40 years, obesity has grown enormously in the United States and the rates remain on the rise (pgs. 272-273).
The obesity problem in America is out of control and something needs to be done. Some may say that this problem is caused by the lack of cheap healthy food and the wide variety of cheap fast food. “More than one-third (36.5%) of U.S. adults have obesity.” (Adult Obesity Facts). This means that 88.5 million adults are obese in America. Obesity increases the risk of serious health problems. This can include high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, cancer, sleep apnea, and a increase risk of having a stroke just to new a few. Those who body mass index surpass 40 have a life expectancy of six and a half years less than that of a person who has a normal body mass index (Los Angeles Times). Being obese will take time away from you and we should all strive to be in the best shape we can be. “From 1990 to 2015, the average percentage of obese adults increased from 11.1% (for 44 states and DC) to 29.3%. As of 2015, 37.9% of the US population was
The essay Junking Junk Food written by Judith Warner, brings to the audiences attention the wicked problem of how there has been a decline in Americans health. Warner’s information speaks loudly about being forced into a healthy lifestyle by the Obama administration. The Obama administration tried to enforce a healthy lifestyle among the citizens by focusing on the youth and taking away sugar options for them. Warner, puts her voice into this by mentioning the system during the world war when the soldiers had to eat overseas so there was less food consumption in America, which helped stop over consumption of food. Back then food was also much healthier thought, with less hormones, chemicals and less options of fast food. Again making it easier
The United States of America has the highest rate of obesity among all the high-income countries. This is an epidemic that needs to be reduced in communities and throughout the nation. Obesity, a medical condition which a person has excessive fat and not weight, is caused through eating a lot of food that is high in saturated fats and lack physical activity. Doctors use Body Index Maas (BMI) to determine if a person is obese. It has become a national problem that affects both children and adults. Obesity is the leading cause of death and linked to major chronic illnesses. The majority of people who are obese are from low-income families. Although, obesity causes chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and high-blood
It became so clear that junk foods lead to a punch of catastrophic diseases like obesity, type two diabetes, vascular diseases and cardiac disorders. Those kinds of diseases cost more than $150 billion annually, just to diagnose, treat people who suffer from them. That disease is chronic and leads to many health-related issues, for example, obesity considers a risk factor for type two diabetes, and high blood pressure, joint disorders and many others (The Denver Post 2012). The key of preventing many chronic problems is nutrition. Low income plays an important role of limiting most people to buy and eat a healthy diet and in the other hand, it is easy for people budgets to purchase junk foods. So controlling the prices of healthy foods to be suitable for all people make good nutrition available for everyone. Adequate diets mean decreasing the epidemic of those serious diseases, and stopping the spread and break the bad sequences that may happen. Long-term exposure to junk foods that are full with chemicals like additives, preservatives have led to chronic illnesses difficult to treat. Also, the chemical added to junk foods are tasted unique and made millions of people becoming addicted to them and are available everywhere for example in restaurants, cafes, lunchrooms (The Denver Post