A Brief History of the NNC in the Philippines

Malcolm Gladwell’s article “The Trouble with Fries” is about a very invasive topic. Fast Food is killing us. Can it be fixed? Although his thesis statement isn’t exactly clear, he effectively uses evidence to convince his audience that a nutrition movement is needed especially for fast food. By discussing many factors with supporting evidence that is factual he shows why fast food is struggling to have a nutrition movement.

We could institute a national, comprehensive program that would make us a world leader in preventing chronic or “lifestyle” diseases, which for the first time in history kill more people than communicable ones. By doing so, we’d not only repair some of the damage we have caused by first inventing and then exporting the Standard American diet, we’d also set a new standard for the rest of the world to follow (Bittman 299).

Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto is an eye-opening analysis of the American food industry and the fear driven relationship many of us have with food. He talks in depth about all the little scientific studies, misconceptions and confusions that have gathered over the past fifty years. In the end provide us with a piece of advice that should be obvious but somehow is not, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." He follows the history of nutritionism and the industrialization of food, in hopes to answer one question….. how and when "mom" ceded control of our food choices to nutritionists, food marketers and the government.

As a culture and as individuals, we no longer seem to know what we should and should not eat. When the old guides of culture and national cuisine and our mothers’ advice no longer seem to operate, the omnivore’s dilemma returns and you find yourself where we do today—utterly bewildered and conflicted about one of the most basic questions of human life: What should I eat? We’re buffeted by contradictory dietary advice: cut down on fats one decade, cut down on carbs the next. Every day’s newspaper brings news of another ideal diet, wonder-nutrient, or poison in the food chain. Hydrogenated vegetable oils go from being the modern alternatives to butter to a public health threat, just like that. Food marketers bombard us with messages that this or that food is “heart healthy” or is “part of a nutritious meal”. Without a stable culture of food to guide us, the omnivore’s dilemma has returned with a vengeance. We listen to scientists, to government guidelines, to package labels—to anything but our common sense and traditions. The most pleasurable of activities—eating—has become heavy with anxiety. The irony is, the more we worry about what we eat, the less healthy and fatter we seem to become.

Most people say that the government’s role, in our diets, is the key for a healthier life. While others may argue that it is freedom of choice to eat whatever we want. However depending on the point of view, the government’s role in shaping what we consume is either a compulsory intervention or a blatant interference on American free will. Even though we hear a good argument on the government controlling our diets, most research show that the involvement of the government on our diets has shown little to no results.

A brief summary of the evidence for issue area’s link to health outcomes/social determinants of health.

Looking back at the nutritional food plan for the week for my individual which I previously done in my P3, I will be looking back at the kind of food and exercise the individual was doing in that week. This will then link into my D2- as in my previous P5 for this unit I had to create my own healthier diet plan for my individual and I will be evaluating how my plan may help the individual’s health.

Over the last several decades, the diet of society has been continually changing. This has resulted in different formulas for nutrition and the proper portions of foods that must be consumed. To fully understand the various arguments requires looking at numerous viewpoints. This will be accomplished by focusing on Michael Pollan's Escape from the Western Diet in contrast with Mary Maxfield's Food as thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating. These views will highlight how diet and nutrition is based upon individual opinions. This is the focus of the thesis.

Traditionally, nutrition programs were targeted to the indigent and poor populations in developing countries. Many of today's Americans are malnourished also, but they are inundated with unhealthy foods and require a multidisciplinary approach to nutrition education. What would be the three most important points to include in a public nutrition program? Provide current literature to support your answer and include two nutritional education community resources.

In order to prevent higher rates of obesity in the community, government has to intervene. Marion Nestle claims that "a recent

In Pollan’s “Voting with Your Fork,” he first develops a controversial question by examining the food we eat, the production of food, and the health consequences. Pollan counterbalances his argument on food, and health being manipulated by the food industry by providing supporting evidence and expressing his opinion on the issue. Pollan identifies in his article that as the food industry produces cheaper food the unhealthier the food becomes. Pollan explanation to cheap food is, “While it is true that this system produces vast quantities of cheap food (indeed, the vastness and cheapness is part of the problem), it is not doing what any nation’s food system foremost needs to do: that is, maintain its population in a good health.” In increasing the consumption of cheap food, can result in lethal health problems. “For most of history, the food problem” has been a problem of quantity. Our shocking rates of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, foodborne illness and nutrient deficiency suggest that quantity is not the problem- or the solution.” The purpose of Pollan’s article was to trigger society to acknowledge the food being consumed, the production of cheap food, and how certain foods can lead to negative health consequences. In comparison to Pollan, Konstantinovsky also used an argument of facts to state her claims as to why

The book “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto”, by Michael Pollan, is one of the most informative and shocking books I have ever read. This book has three different parts, each discussing the different impacts the food we eat has on us. These different parts are as follows: part I, “The Age of Nutritionism,” part II, "The Western Diet and the Diseases of Civilization," and part III, "Getting Over Nutritionism." Throughout this book the author stresses how important food is to our everyday lives.

Ron Nixon, a writer advocating the need for healthier school lunches, does attest that the proposal would have costed about $6.8 billion over the next five years, adding about 14 cents to each meal.$6.8 billion. Nixon implies that the $6.8 billion is a hassle, and though it may a hefty price that will be weaved in along with the endless of piles of expenses and debt, it is more an investment than it is a debt. With childhood obesity rates steadily rising, so will the hospital bills for thousands of families around the nations. Hospitals tend to be notorious for its exorbitant bills, leaving families distressed, families that will not be appeased if stricter regulations focusing on augmented refinement aren’t implemented into today’s typical laws and regulations. However, the companies who feed off of the refutation of this law seem to presume otherwise due to the fact that “the agricultural department went too far in trying to improve nutrition in school lunches.” Childhood obesity is not a matter to be taken lightly, nor does it, since redundant weight gain plagues children. It may not hold the same status as other dilemmas faced today—such as political or economic issues—but it

Raj Patel’s Stuffed and Starved analyzes the paradoxical content in its title statement. Patel demonstrates how the world food system has created two opposite, but inherently linked epidemics: obesity and crippling hunger. Throughout the course of this book, it becomes painfully clear that the majority of the world’s population is being manipulated by our global food system and by the corporations and their CEO’s who control it. Patel encourages his readers to make themselves politically responsible (313) and through Stuffed and Starved, highlights the discrepancies and major imbalances of our world food system, the small percentage of people who benefit from it, and the vast majority of humanity who does not. He does all this while

Society must educate itself on what type of food is healthy such as fresh or fresh frozen vegetables, lean meats, whole grains and fruits. Parents should take the time to explain what these are and why they are important, educating themselves if necessary. Families can also extend this education to a hands-on experience but starting a small vegetable garden which produces some of the vegetables they eat. Author and farmer, Sharon Astyk, and sustainable systems land planner, Aaron Newton, argue that people need to take back the control of the food selection and prices by growing their own or purchasing directly from local farmers. In their article, “The Rich Get Richer: the Poor Go Hungry”, Astyk and Newton (2015) write, “When we grow our own food, or buy it directly from local farmers, we take power away from multinationals” (p.518). I agree that society should become more involved and self-sustaining pertaining to food to retain independence from companies that are loyal to shareholders. This education will provide the current and future generations necessary resources to make improved food choices, thereby reducing the obesity and diabetes epidemics gripping our nation.