America Made Inevitable Essay

In the article of How Junk Food Can End Obesity, David Freedman, the contributor editor at the Atlantic and Inc. Magazines, lays out a “they say” that then frames his argument. He states that making processed food healthier can contribute to the battle of the obese in our society. Freedman also says that the food these companies are cooking are making people sick and how it is destructive to an individual’s health. For instance, in the reading, Freedman states a quote from Michael Pollan, a journalism professor at the University of California at Berkeley, “It is one of the reasons that we have the obesity and diabetes epidemics that we do… If you’re going to let industries decide how much salt, sugar and fat is in your food, they’re going to put in as much as they possibly can… They will push those buttons until we scream or die.” In other words, Pollan believes that we constantly let people put all of these things in our foods but no one is stopping it.

People must make a living, right? The food corporations are making their living the same as any other corporation does. All successful companies modify their products and services to fit what the consumer wants. In this case, that means that the food companies must figure out what most people like and then they modify their products to those qualifications. Other than the selling of products and services, it all depends on the consumer. The consumer should be able to limit his or herself. At a young age, it’s drilled into our heads that all things are okay in portions, hence the reason we are told to limit our kid's time on electronics. The same goes for eating the products sold by these large junk food corporations. A person must eat out of necessity, but large junk food corporations do not provide the nutrition needed to keep us healthy, which should deter us away from these types of foods. All in all, this makes the growing obesity problem the

Trust me! “The sweet way to die” is not the way you want to die. Why? I know it may sound ridiculous for telling you not to die sweetly, but sweets have killed countless lives. Sweets have a high-level of sugar that people consume in their body every single day.

The documentary film Fed Up (2014) defines the problem of obesity in American culture due to low quality food products being sold by corporations through fast food chains and convenient stores. Katei Couric (the narrator) brings forth the argument that the quest for profits by industrial food producers reduces the quality of food through products, such as high fructose corn syrup. Currently, the dominance of industrial farming, genetic engineering, and lack of sustainable options define a downward trend in food quality: “One reasons why large farms are relatively unproductive compared to small farms is that large farms the world over tend to use monoculture. Monoculture is a single crop species” (8:45). This type of inefficient and wasteful method of farming depletes the land of minerals and tends to produce massive quantities of crops, such as corn and grain, as a base for the food supply. This corn product tends to be used in almost every food throughout the food chain, including feeding livestock for beef, corn syrup in fatty foods, etc. Therefore, industrial farming produces a decreasing variety of food products due to the prominence of massive industrial farms that produce America’s primary food supply. This encourages unhealthy and fatty foods (soda, bread, grease fried foods, etc.) to flood the food markets for greater profits due to the lower costs of food production.

In the book Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, he talks about our national eating disorders started and the impact it has on the world. Pollan argues with the nature of its supermarket and how it is linked to our food production. In saying this where do these foods come from? What are they made of? And who produces it? His self-discoveries covers the ins and out of our food systems through industrials corn, pastoral grass (organic food), and the forest (hunting-gathering). In the Chapter “Our National Eating Disorder”, Pollan points out how we Americans supermarket seems to be artificial and does not progress towards nature; plants and animals. Pollan gives the surprising fact that most of the world eats a fifth of its meals in the car, that fact is absolutely amazing (Pollan 11). The astonishing fact shows that America’s food industry has indeed changed. The debate is whether the change is good or bad. The book entails that the food industry that we currently have tries to keep up with the vastly growing population of the United States. The population of the United States has grown significantly since the 1970s. The industrial food production is designed for all Americans to view our food system as the best food system, but an average consumers lack knowledge of the food they eat which is genetically modified that been taken from nature and created by mankind.

Although gang violence and the possession of firearms seem more detrimental to our society, the production of our food and how it is being genetically modified effects our well-being. Individuals know the health risk of food and the modification of it; however, the issue that revolves around this situation is that, people do not want to hear about what lies beneath the surface because they do not want to give up their addiction. Power and profit are the reasons why corporations treat living-beings as objects. American medicine revolves around treating people with illnesses, not preventing illnesses. The economic development and production of modern meat are responsible for outbreaks and the contamination of our livestock’s. The consumption of animal flesh is a prime contributor to today’s epidemic of heart disease, obesity and cancer.

The food production companies have accentually bought the government. If they come up with a plan to produce more food, no matter how harmful it may be to the consumer, the government will not step in to protect the citizen of Americans. As the bourgeoisie owns the industry, this fact has been proven within the video of Food Inc. What is astonishing is that a company was actually able to get a patent on life. How can a company be allowed to monopolize an entire industry? That is depriving people of their basic human right of life, to eat healthy food, food that has not been modified by harmful hormones or genetics. Several of the food production companies give jobs to illegal immigrants and once their services are no longer needed, then the heads of these companies call immigration to have them arrested and deported back to their home country. This in turn saves the company money because they do not have to pay out anything for unemployment wages for laying the employees off for a period of time. The food industry has really become the bourgeoisie of this century.

Eating in America, over the course of time, has shifted from being a sole necessity to a favorite past time. With an ever growing human population, the demand for fast and inexpensive food increases. How does a nation keep up? It does so by becoming a well oiled machine. This way, companies have the ability to push out vast amounts of product all while keep cost down. Because of this, the fast food industry is booming! Outwardly, this seems like an acceptable practice; however, often times when one is in a rush critical mistakes can occur. The food industry is not immune to these mishaps as they happen more often than not.The current processing of food is detrimental to society through employee dissatisfaction , illness, and pollution.

How long will Americans allow themselves to be blindsided while consuming food where they think they know what it contains, but will learn that they are very wrong. Not only do we not know what our food contains, but we also don 't realize the future health problems we are allowing into our bodies to intake. Genetically Modified Foods (GMO’s) are a serious problem that we are unfortunately surrounded with every day, without even knowing it. GMO’s were invented to create a product with a lower price, but with better nutritional value or durability. Although this is what they are intended for, scientists soon discovered after they were introduced that they might run into some unplanned problems. Whenever scientists test how animals react to eating genetically modified foods, they can react with symptoms starting from small sicknesses, all the way to tumors, or even death. This happens only if the animal is actually wiling to eat the GMO. A lot of studies have shown animals will refuse to eat genetically modified organisms, so why are we not listening to them? Genetically Modified Foods should not be produced because they are unsafe for humans to intake, the FDA does not require the public to be notified when they are used, and they poorly effect the environment.

By buying processed food products, people promote the growth of these businesses and allow them to control the market. These businesses have mislead every consumer into thinking their products are healthy and natural. They use words to mess with the heads of the consumer and hide the dirty work behind making their food. Today it is hard not to find a GMO food or unprocessed food. It is the cheapest way for the business to get their product out while still having the taste and features of natural foods. Taco Bell is just one of the culprits in doing so and have had a major lawsuit concerning the ingredients in their food. People need to realize that fast food in the long run is very harmful to their bodies. They need to understand that their health is worth their money and time to prepare healthy food. And they need to prevent these businesses from pushing them into buying foods with such ingredients. Foods should include organic ingredients only, no GMOs, and no processing or chemicals. It has been proven by many scientific research studies to be very harmful to everyone. Yet people still eat it because they have not seen it as a big problem yet. It is important for people to be aware of what they eat and where it is coming from. Each person has one body and they have to make the most of it by keeping it healthy. Once it breaks down, there are too many problems involved in getting back up on their

Did you know, that 68% of U.S. adults are overweight or obese? That is because the food industries have been adding more and more chemicals, sugar and fattening items into our foods that it’s becoming difficult to eat even the simplest of vegetables without there being some GMO in it. For example, in the 1900s people would consume around 15 g of fructose, nowadays the average American consumes 70-80 g and teens consume up to 120-180 g. Also, there are an abundance of farmers that are economically bound to large food, mainly meat, companies because, the company says they will gain huge profit if they grow a certain crop, the company then says they need to buy certain equipment first, and by the time the farmer has bought that equipment, they are in dept. Even though people could argue and say that it is the individuals who are responsible for becoming overweight, the food industries aren’t much help.

Eating healthy foods is really important because it helps to maintain a good healthy body and it will help to fight with diseases but are people really buying a healthy food when they buy it from outside? This is the important question, that are people having a proper food when they buy it from a fast food restaurant? Are they sure that the food they are going to eat is going to be a proper healthy food with nutritious in it? No, people can't be sure about their food but, we can't blame people for this, the main problem is fast food companies and many other companies who are selling processed food to the public without warning them and making them sick. They don’t even tell people about how many calories are in it. But the people are not going to stop eating even

Food is essential to life. Everything that is living needs to consume food in order to survive, thrive and reproduce. Humans, unlike most animals, have a vast diet. In today’s world, processed foods rule the supermarkets and organics lay in the shadows. The more expensive, yet healthier, organics are not nearly as appealing to Americans than the readily available processed foods that cost a fraction of the price. This is a serious dilemma because the current system almost forces people to buy the unhealthier, cheaper options which then often leads to disease and high medical expenses. The food and health industries are so vital to the survival of humans, but are these industries trying to take our money and hang us out to dry?

As we all know, food is necessary for survival. The food many of us eat today is so unhealthy that our grandparents laugh in the face of our plastic-wrapped, and genetically modified fruit and vegetables. Food is changing every day from the healthy food our grandparents remember to the processed junk that is made in environment-killing factories. Whether in a restaurant or convenient store, healthy foods are no longer popular, people would rather eat the greasy processed food that happens to be cheaper. This essay will discuss the serious issues that come with modern food processing, such as obesity relating to cost of healthy foods and who has the power to fix these problems.

The American food industry has evolved in ways that may not be distinguishable to the human palate, but hopefully remain distinguishable to the human conscience. With all the options now available to company executives, citizens must be sure to keep them from abusing their powers and continuing to harm employees, mistreat animals, and kill consumers. The best ways are to promote public discourse and to make the most of the power of the consumer by thoughtfully deciding where to spend their hard-earned dollars.