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The history of unhealthy eating in America
The history of unhealthy eating in America
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It was 3:30 a.m. and I was in the school convenience store browsing around for a couple of minutes before deciding to buy beef jerky, Chex mix and an entire can of Pringles. I awoke in the afternoon to discover that I had already eaten everything I bought that morning except for five Pringles. If it is not apparent already, like most college students, I do not eat terribly healthy. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans also do not eat very healthy either and this is causing our government to propose many possible solutions. One of these solutions is a “Fat Tax” where the government levies an additional tax on unhealthy food. However, there are many obstacles baring its way to law. While there are reasons that a fat tax might be a good idea, there are many negative aspects relating to America’s health care system, and its people that clearly overshadow the possible benefits. For instance, some people believe that obesity is clogging our health care system but many experts belie that any tax on food could have unintended circumstances. A tax on unhealthy foods is not the way the United States should deal with its unhealthy citizens.
This “fat tax” is more of an idea to levy a tax on unhealthy foods than an actual tax. There have been many proposals to tax some foods based on fat to weight ratio some based on fat to nutrition ratio and some even tax sugary soda drinks, but they all have one intention: to make people healthier. Not all fat taxes are proposals, indeed Australia, just like the United States, does not levy a sales tax on food but unlike the United States Australia does charge its sales tax on unhealthy foods. This is not completely unprecedented, in fact the Assize of Bread was the first food law passed in 1202 for Englan...
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Lawmakers Weigh in on "Fat Tax", WNYC, 22 Jan 2010. Web. 4 Feb 2010
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McColl, Karen. "Fat taxes" and the financial crisis. The Lancet. London:Mar 7, 2009. Vol. 373, Iss. 9666, p. 797-8 (2 pp.). Print.
Mello, Michelle M. "Obesity--Personal Choice Or Public Health Issue?" Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology & Metabolism 4.1 (2008): 2-. Print.
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Everyday Americans die from the diseases they carry from obesity. Many Americans over eat because their social problems or because they are hereditary. Many plans have been discussed but finding the solution is the problem. Junk foods and unhealthy beverages have corrupted children’s minds all over the nation and putting a stop on it could lead to other benefits. Unhealthy foods and drinks should be taxed and healthy foods should be advertised more to help prevent American obesity.
Drenkard, S. (2010). Overreaching on Obesity: Governments Consider New Taxes on Soda and Candy. Retrieved from http://heartland.org
In his article, “What You Eat Is Your Business” Balko contends that government intervention is the wrong way to fight obesity. Rather, each individual should be held responsible for their own actions (Balko 467). This assertion is made through lines of deductive reasoning. He starts this argument by first arguing that former President Bush reserved $200 million in an anti-obesity budget that will foster measures to prevent and reduce obesity (467). Following that, he referred to some politicians trying to put a “‘fat tax’ on high-calorie food” (467).
Obesity has become a growing epidemic in the United States of America. Federal agencies, authors of diet books, and others have offered advice on how to lose weight but none seem to work since the epidemic is still on the rise. In the article “The Feds’ Fib about Low-Fat,” Michael Fumento argues that the low-fat myth government agencies have inadvertently promoted can be deceiving and not healthy for the individual. This article is a syndicated column that has appeared in newspapers around the country, therefore allowing for a diversified audience. The audience of this article includes adults from all over the country who are concerned about the low-fat controversy and adults who are up-to-date on the latest political issues. Fumento claims
National Institute of Clinical Health and Excellence. (2006) Obesity: The prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children [online]. Available from: http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/CG43 [Accessed on 19/03/2011].
So far, implementing real life fat taxes has been a lot of trial and error. There have been very few fat taxes implemented in the world, and many have been unsuccessful. An example from Denmark shows how fat taxes fail as a result of improper administration. Denmark initiated the world’s first fat tax, and it has been used for the precedence of many studies. Their tax had an applied surcharge to foods containing 2.3 percent or more of saturated fat (Good Morning America 1). The tax was 16 kroner per kilogram or $2.90 per 2.2 pounds (Good Morning America 1). Even the final proposal for the Denmark fat tax was flawed because people believed the taxes on meat did not match up to the quality of meat
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Rydén, P., Sydner, Y., & Hagfors, L. (2008). Counting the cost of healthy eating: a Swedish
To fish or not to fish is a personal choice. The fact that the oceans are being overfished is a growing concern for individuals, organizations, and governments throughout the world. In this paper I want to discuss the effects of overfishing on the restaurant industry, and possible solutions to solve the problem. Fishing is an ongoing source of food for people around the world. In many countries it is a food staple in their everyday diet. In more modern societies eating fish has become a sensual experience, and not just for the wealthy. It hasn't been until population explosions in the last century that the demand for seafood has led to more effective fishing techniques and technologies. Now the demand for popular fish like the salmon, tuna, sea bass, cod and hoki, which is the key fish in McDonalds filet o' fish, is diving wild populations to dangerously low levels. The methods used to catch the amount of fish demanded by the industry do not leave sustainable populations in the wild. In an attempt to preserve the fish population, governments have set limits on the minimum size that may be harvested and how many of each may be taken. Boundaries have been set up saying which areas can be fished and which ones should be left alone. A number of smaller fisheries have gone out of business because of the limits imposed by the government. This leads to even less fish being harvested and brought to market. Therefore the amount and varieties of fish at markets are smaller and can cause shortages for wholesalers and restaurants. Some restaurants will no longer have the variety on their menus that they used to enjoy. If a restaurant thrives on its seafood menu they may be unable to cope with the shortages and will go out of business. In the ...
e Approach to a Growing Problem. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Haslam, D. (2007). Obesity: a medical history. Obesity Reviews, 8, 31-36. Hawn, C. (2009).
Although many individuals are uncertain about the increasing statistics associated with obesity, more than seventy percent of men and virtually sixty-two percent of women within the United States adult population are overweight or obese (Wilmore, Costill, & Kenney). Obesity refers to the condition of having an excessive amount of body fat. If an individual’s amount of body fat becomes too excessive, he/she is at a much greater risk of developing life-altering diseases such as heart failure, hypertension, type II diabetes, cancer, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, etc. (Wilmore, et al., 2008).
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity now ranks as the 10th most important health problem in the world (“Obesity Seen as a Global Problem”). Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years. Centers for Disease Control and Protection estimates that obesity contributed to the deaths of 112,000 Americans in 2000 (“Obesity in the U.S. Fast”). It is estimated that annual medical care cost of obesity are as high as $147 billion (“Obesity in the U.S. Fast”). Government-provided food stamps are often expended on junk or fast food, because it tends to be less expensive than fresh or cook food. Governments fund producers of meat and dairy products to keep prices low. For now, governments are taking a smarter and more productive approach through regulation, and by working with manufacturers.
The government must have a say in our diets. Because the issues of obesity have already reached national scales, because the costs of obesity and related health issues have gone far beyond reasonable limits, and because fighting nutritional issues is impossible without fighting poverty and other social issues, the government should control the range and the amount of available foods. The cost of healthier foods should decrease. The access to harmful foods should be limited. In this way, the government will be able to initiate a major shift in nutritional behaviors and attitudes in society.
Yet some readers may challenge my view that the U.S. government should further regulate Junk food. After all, many believe that the government would be infringing on the rights of consumers. Indeed, my argument seems to ignore that you should be able to purchase and consume what you want, and that reducing obesity comes down to personal responsibility. However, I still maintain that further government intervention is required because although we may think we have a choice in what we eat, the addictive properties in fast food prevent us from selecting healthier options. In fact, according to a study conducted by the American Journal of