Obesity will soon overtake smoking as the number one preventable cause of death (Cawely, 1). Because organic healthy food is so over-priced, Americans are forced to consume cheap unhealthy fast food. This is leading to most of the US population being obese, which could cause serious health risks. About 30% of Americans are now considered obese, and 61% considered overweight (Cawely, 3). If organic food was cheaper, many people say that they would eat it rather than the cheap fatty foods they consume. However it all comes down to money and convenience for us Americans, and we often put our health second instead. If organic health foods were cheaper, the obesity rate in America would go down dramatically.
Us Americans don’t choose to be overweight or obese, in fact we choose to be the complete opposite. But a majority of us are at an unhealthy weight because of poor diets and a lack of exercise. About 400,000 people in America die every year from weight problems (Kalb, 2). Now why would we not want to live longer, or look the ideal way we all praise? The sad thing is, money is more important to some people than their looks or even their lives. According to an organic food eater, “I eat more fruits and vegetables than most people, and they’re expensive” (Gollust, 1). Unfortunately, many people would choose more convenient cheaper food rather than the healthy stuff.
Besides the unsightly cost of organic food, many people choose not to buy it because they feel there is no health related difference between organic and processed foods. In order to be stamped as ‘organic’, foods must contain at least 95% certified organic ingredients (Laliberte, 7). The remaining 5% must be from a national list of substances the USDA has ap...
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...Works Cited
Cawely, John. "The Economics of Obesity: Costs, Causes, and Controls." Ebscohost. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
Kalb, Claudia. "Culture of Corpulence." Academic Search Premier. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
Laliberte, Richard, Holldand, Joel. “Today’s Special: 94% Safer Food!.” Prevention 65.9 (2013): 106. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 2, Apr. 2014.
Singh, J., and K. Whelan. "Limited Availability And Higher Cost Of Gluten-Free Foods." Journal Of Human Nutrition & Dietetics 24.5 (2011): 479-486. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
Gollust, Sarah E., Jeff Niederdeppe, and Colleen L. Barry. "Framing The Consequences Of Childhood Obesity To Increase Public Support For Obesity Prevention Policy." American Journal Of Public Health 103.11 (2013): e96-e102. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
In “Bad Food” – What’s the Best 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 with “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 in 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.
In Escape from the Western Diet, Pollan discusses how Americans have become obese due to their diet of mainly processed foods. He makes the case that for Americans to once again become healthy, we must return to eating “whole foods”. Pollan brings up the fact that Americans don’t spend as much time nor as much money on
Holden, Diana. "Fact Check: The Cost of Obesity." CNN. Cable News Network, 09 Feb. 2010. Web. 06 May 2012.
Did you know that 35% of the United States population is considered obese? Also, 66% of the population is considered overweight or more? (Saint Onge 2014) Even more frightening, in 2012 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than one third of children and adolescents in America were overweight or obese (CDC 2014). The media sources used investigates the political, scientific, historical, and cultural reasons behind the childhood obesity epidemic in America. Obesity is a rapid growing epidemic in America and these sources present the facts causing this epidemic. As well as how the children of the American society are being wrongly influenced by the media, especially advertisments. (Greenstreet 2008).
Organic refers to the way agricultural products, food and fiber, are grown and processed. “It is an ecological system that at its core relies on a healthy rich soil to produce strong plants that resist pests and diseases. Organic farming prohibits the use of toxic and persistent chemicals in favor of more “earth-friendly” practices that work in harmony with nature. In the case of livestock, antibiotics are prohibited, opting instead for preventative measures for keeping animals healthy and productive. Organic production also prohibits the use of genetically modified organisms (GMO’s).” (Ameriorganic) To find organic products one must only look for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) seal. The seal certifies the product must be 95%
Goldstein, Hesh. Why There is an Obesity Epidemic. 16 Nov. 2009. 12 Nov. 2011 .
There is no doubt that obesity has taken its seat as one of the top disease that strikes the world today. In America, obesity has now spread through the country leaving 2 out of 3 adults either overweight or obese, and worldwide 1.5 billion are overweight or obese (Overweight). The cause of this disease stems from multiple reasons such as the increase in modern food production, putting out ample amounts of food causing the prices for meat, groceries, and especially junk food to plummet. Subsequently, Americans especially were more inclined to purchase more food and showed an increase in the average American house hold food intake by 1,000 more calories a day (Dreifus).
It is heart breaking to see an obese American on the street,because one instinctively knows that the obese American is not making the best food choices. We are constantly establishing new and innovative ways for improving society in terms of technological advances and transportation, although as stated from Budiansky we are also to be blamed for transportation and environmental consequences. “A single ten-mile round trip by car to the grocery store or the farmer’s market will easily eat up about 14,000 calories of fossil fuel energy.”(8) Growing food locally and consuming food locally will save a trip to the grocery store. Innovative technologies don’t always have to be the case. Agriculture only makes up 2 percent of our nation’s energy usage,which is used for running farm machinery and manufacturing fertilizer. Using these effectively will allow us to avoid processed foods and reduce the obesity rate. Individuals with food allergies are able to ask farmers about how the food was grown or ask chefs at a restaurant what ingredients were used in a specific dish. As most of us we desire social interaction. Going to a local food market, allows us to meet different individuals that may offer favorable advice for selecting food items. Our lifestyles all come down to ourselves,which means choosing foods that are advantageous toward our health. If we are aware of where the food comes from, it is easier to make those choices that will benefit
6. Puska P., Nishida C., (2003) Obesity and Over weight. Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. World Health Organization.
Childhood obesity is an increasing problem here in the United States. According to Schuab and Marian (2011) “Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions” (P.553). The prevalence of child obesity and overweight has increased over the last 30 years all over the United States, becoming one of the biggest public health challenges (Moreno, Johnson-Shelton, & Boles, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to give a background of the obesity epidemic, a review of current policy, and make a policy recommendation.
We live in the generation of the health revolution. Every time you turn around there’s a new gym being built. This year’s biggest “super food” is kale. Salads, smoothies, you name it. There are so many healthy options available to the public, but sometimes it seems that all these healthy choices go ignored. The so-called “obesity epidemic” is not due to what’s in the food. The issue is that we eat too much and exercise too little. In the last decade, there have been numerous reports claiming that one of the leading causes of high cholesterol and coronary heart disease is trans fat, which is made by hydrogenating vegetable oil. This process increases the shelf life and enhances the flavors of any product that contains it (Miller). These trans fats can be very harmful, but when consumed only on occasion are no worse than anything else. In fact, many fast foods don’t even contain trans fats. Many health activists claim that the only way to stop the rise of obesity, or rather the fall of health, is to ban trans fat. These activists fail to see that trans fat is not the problem. The problem lies within our nation’s apparent inability to choose our own well being over the convenience of high calories foods, regardless of whether or not they contain trans fats. We don’t need to take unnecessary government action to fix a problem that could be solved with a just a teaspoon of self control.
1. Gollust, S. E. (2014). Framing the consequences of childhood obesity . American Journal of Health Promotion to Increases Public Support for Obesity Prevention Policy, 28(3), 189.
The term “organic” is almost everywhere in modern society, whether it’s used to promote a product or it’s debated on whether it really benefits the human diet. Organic food is heavily debated on as it appears more and more in local grocery stores and farmers markets begin to populate, it raises questions such as “Is organic food better than food grown with pesticides and biologically engineered genes?” and “Are there benefits to eating organically over foods grown in any other way?” In terms of what data and results show in research may help lead to answers to most of the heavily debated issues throughout discussions on organic food.
According to Marge Dwyer, “The researchers found that healthier diet patterns—for example, diets rich in fruits, vegetables, fish, and nuts—cost significantly more than unhealthy diets (for example, those rich in processed foods, meats, and refined grains). On average, a day’s worth of the most healthy diet patterns cost about $1.50 more per day than the least healthy ones. The researchers suggested that unhealthy diets may cost less because food policies have focused on the production of “inexpensive, high volume” commodities” (hsph.harvard.edu). This shows that why people choose to eat fast food instead of buying all the ingredient when you have no time and cost more. People do not care what food they eat since it is cheap and
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