When the dinner bell rings in America, many families are not flocking to the table, but running to the car and the call of the “Golden Arches”. In today’s over-scheduled world, food has now become an afterthought and America is paying the price, literally. Obesity is now an epidemic and a crisis that is not slowing down. The nation is not only paying the price with sky-rocketing medical bills from the effects of the American diet, but also with the deteriorating health of its citizens and for the first time in history, a generation with a shorter life expectancy than the generation before. Food today looks nothing like the food of just 40 years ago, and now instead, is making people sick and obese. It is quick, and the cheap, boxed, frozen,
The fast food industry also hurts environments around farms in general. It has created an unsustainable cycle that farmers cannot escape. In order to feed themselves and their family, farmers play it safe and buy more fertilizer than needed. When the farmers do not use all of it, they must dispose of it, because that fertilizer will not be as effective next year, so they dump the fertilizer in the areas surrounding their farms. But what this causes is too much nitrogen in the environment because too much nitrogen can kill plants and throw the nitrogen cycle out of balance, in turn hurting the environment. In addition to hurting the environment, Pollan argues that because fast food restaurants need so much meat for their burgers and other food
In “How Junk Food Can End Obesity,” by David H. Freedman, he claims that processed foods can help fix the obesity crisis in a more realistic manner, rather than whole-some foods. The popular opinion emphasizes whole-some foods because they aren’t informed about the similitude between processed and unprocessed foods. The essence of the essay is that people believe processed foods are bad and unhealthy for us, therefore whole-some foods are highly recommended for the health of an individual. Freedman mentions many prominent authors who wrote books on food processing, but the most influential voice in the food culture Freedman makes a point of is, American journalist, Michael Pollan. The media and Michael Pollan indicate that everything should be replaced with real, fresh, and unprocessed foods, instead of engineering in as much sugar, salt, and fat as possible into industrialized foods. With that being said, most restaurants and grocery stores are declining industrialized foods, giving the name, “food-like substances.” Freedman feels that it is not a realistic way to stop this obesity epidemic by trying to persuade people into completely changing their habits of eating. Instead, Freedman believes that incorporating better ingredients in processed foods will
In the essay “Green monster” who do you believe is his intended audience and why?
In the modern industrial society, being aware of what the food we eat come from is an essential step of preventing the “national eating disorder”. In Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, he identifies the humans as omnivores who eat almost everything, which has been developed into a dominant part of mainstream unhealthiness, gradually causing the severe eating disorder consequences among people. Pollan offers his opinion that throughout the process of the natural history of foods, deciding “what should we have for dinner” can stir the anxiety for people based on considering foods’ quality, taste, price, nutrition, and so on. In order to establish a stronger relationship between humans and food, and allow the humans to know what they are actually eating, Pollan uses different rhetorical analysis includes different appealing strategies and various literary devices, which contribute to persuade people to comprehend the deeper meaning behind the
When the United States federal government began to intervene in the food and drug businesses, the history of early food regulation in the United States started with the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. This was the first of significant consumer protection laws that were enacted by the federal government in the 20th century which also led to the creation of the food and drug administration. The main purpose was to ban foreign and interstate traffic in the adulterated or the mislabeled food and drug products. It is directed by the US Bureau of chemistry to inspect products and to refer offenders to prosecutors.
Junk food is responsible for the growing rate of obesity. This is outlined by David freedman in his article of “How junk food can end obesity.” David Freedman has credited the “health-food” motion, and followers of it along with Michel Pollan. Freedman claims that if the America desires to stop the obesity epidemic, or at least reduce its effects, they must shift to the fast meals and processed meals enterprise for assist, now not the “health-food” movement.
Nowadays in America, we are encountering problems with our food system. The way it’s being processed is affecting everyone. From youngest to oldest, farmers to lawyers and smallest to biggest animal. Consumers are made to believe that they are buying and eating healthy foods , but the labels that led them to believe that are not completely honest. The essay “Escape from the Western Diet” written by Michael Pollan is an explanation of the theories of the western diet. Then, David Zinczenko’s essay “Don’t Blame the Eater” focuses on showing the truth behind labels. Both Pollan and Zinczenko, are writers of essays about food and eating. They support the idea that people need to inform themselves regarding what they consume. If people were to inform
In Michael Pollan’s essay “Escape from the Western Diet,” he directly to Americans about the western diet and why he believes they need to escape from it. The reason Americans should escape the western diet is to avoid the harmful effects associated with it such as “western diseases” (Pollan, 420). To support his view on the issue, Pollan describes factors of the western diet that dictate what Americans believe they should eat. These factors include scientists with their theories of nutritionist, the food industry supporting the theories by making products, and the health industry making medication to support those same theories. Overall, Pollan feels that in order to escape this diet, people need to get the idea of it out of their heads. In turn, he provides his own rules for escaping the western diet as well as the idea of nutritionist set forth by scientists.
The food industry is the worldwide diversified industry which has to do with anything relevant with food from food education to marketing but principally the industry produces and or provides food to essentially all people on the planet. The only people who are excluded from the food industry are self-sustaining farmers and hunter-gatherers. It is one of the largest industries in the world and continues to grow because people need food and the population is increasing every day. In America, the food industry possesses such an important role, yet there are so many problems within the industry which is ruining the society as we know it. Countless social issues within America today can be traced back to the food industry. Although
Accurate, easy-to read and scientifically valid nutrition and health information on food labels is an essential component of a comprehensive public health strategy to help consumers improve their diets and reduce the risk of diet-related diseases. Consumers often compare prices of food items in the grocery store to choose the best value for their money but comparing their purchases using a comprehensive food label can help make the best choices for their health. That is what makes food labeling a public health issue – inadequate food labels may lead to poor quality food choices. Indeed today food labels could not confidently be referred to as accurate, easy-to read and containing scientifically valid nutrition and all necessary health information. They are often referred to as misleading, containing flawed or inaccurate information and sometimes very difficult to understand by various health specialists. Indeed, consumer research shows that the majority of Americans do not understand the “% DV fat” on Nutrition Facts labels mean. They are
The term ‘processed food’ applies to any food that has been changed from its natural state in some way, either for safety reasons or convenience. Some foods need processing to make them safe, such as milk, which needs to be pasteurized to remove harmful bacteria. Other foods need processing to make them suitable for use, such as pressing seeds to make oil.
From the skyrocketing obesity crisis to convenience, it's time to put warning labels on fast food. In May 1988, Canada passed the Tobacco Sales to Young Persons Act; this act required tobacco companies to put warnings labels such as; “smoking increases the risk of lung cancer” or “smoking during pregnancy can harm the baby” on their packaging. The same should happen to all fast-foods, fast-foods should have warning labels on them warning potential customers about their dangerous hazards. There are very few downsides and very many upsides to why there should be fast food warning labels. Fast food warning labels will make it very convenient to know about fast food items; it will benefit the companies themselves; and finally, it will help reduce obesity, obesity-related illnesses, and health costs.
While researching information on this project, the information I found included many things the fast food industry keeps from us that we often do even think about. For example, a food product can be labeled as “sugar free” but can be substituted with other things such as, agave which is often worse due to its high concentration in fructose syrup. Another example would be that, Gerber uses fruit pictures to claim its Gerber’s are made from real fruit when in reality they are filled with corn syrup, syrup and grape juice concentrate. These are known as “calorie distracters” and work really well on people who refuse to give up eating fast food. Whether they know that fast and processed foods are unhealthy or not, they are satisfied by knowing that a label says “sugar free” and therefore it is okay for them to consume it. They want to believe that the food is okay to consume simply because it tastes good and satisfies a hunger and therefore they process the information in a manner that suits them. Of course the goal is for fast food companies to keep selling and us to keep buying, whether the food is healthy or not. We can either keep thinking that a “sugar free” product is healthier than one without sugar and continue to consume them or do some research and see the actual reality. In the end the fast food industry alters the information in a way
According to Centres of Disease Control and Prevention more than one-third (34.9% or 76.6 million) of U.S adults are obese.