Calorie Research Paper Outline

In Zinczenko’s article he said, "that there are a lack of alternate food options and there are no calorie information charts on fast food packaging, the way there are on grocery items (Zinczenko 394).” This information Zinczenko states may have been true back in 2002 but now of days, government is stepping in. According to the New York Times, President Obama signed off in 2011 that any American patron that enters into a McDonalds, Starbucks, Burger king, or any major restaurant chain, will be required to put calorie information on their menus and drive-through signs. This legislation also requires labels on food items in vending machines. In addition, anyone can find any

Many areas in the United States contain an abundance of neighborhoods that function with little to no healthy food sources nearby because of the large number of people in poverty. With the fleeing number of locally owned grocery stores and convenient fast food restaurants sprouting in urban and rural areas, residents do not have an adequate quantity of fruits and vegetables readily available. The City of Baltimore defines a food desert as “an area where the distance to a supermarket is more than one quarter of a mile; the median household income is at or below 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Level; over 30 percent of households have no vehicle available; and the average Healthy Food Availability Index score [convenience stores, corner stores, and supermarkets] is low” (Food Deserts). Baltimore City today “ranks second among similarly sized cities for the number of low-income people living in food insecure areas” (Freishtat, 2014). Leaving eight percent of white Baltimoreans living in food deserts compared to the 35 percent of black Baltimoreans, and 30 percent of children living in food deserts in Baltimore alone (Buczynski, 2015).

Pomeranz, J. L., & Miller, D. P. (2015). Research report: Policies to promote healthy portion

The lack of access to and availability of health food has always been a Public Health issue, affecting many lives, particularly the underserved population. The presence of small corner stores in inner cities that carry unhealthy food items has been linked with increased risk of chronic diseases and obesity. The inner cities in New York with low-income and minority communities have a large number of corner stores in close proximity to the neighborhoods and fewer number of grocery stores as well as supermarkets at a distance from the neighborhood. The owners of the corner stores in the inner city neighborhoods have very limited knowledge about the health benefits associated with the consumption of highly nutritious food. They are also unaware of the health consequences associated with the consumption of unhealthy food. Without any knowledge about health and food, these corner stores are simply

For numerous amounts of people, fruits and vegetables may take a backseat to other foods such as junk food, but for many these healthy food choices are just not options. This is a very widespread issue that has swept the nation and the individual cities that formulate it. In particular, the lack of food security in Columbus, Ohio has had devastating effects for many residents, especially those who live in rural areas and the many underserved communities. These effects include being more prone to chronic diseases and unhealthy Body Mass Index (BMI) measurements. For adults “Twenty-five percent of Franklin County, Ohio, adults say they don’t eat five servings of foods and vegetables each day” (NLC). The residents of Columbus City should be able

President Bush earmarked $200 million in his budget for anti-obesity measures. State legislatures and school boards across the country have begun banning snacks and soda from school campuses and vending machines. Sen. Joe Lieberman and Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, among others, have called for a fat tax on calorie foods. Congress is now considering menu-labeling legislation, which would force restaurants to send every menu item to the laboratory for nutritional testing (467).

Snack machines are big business in the public school system. They are privately owned and serviced, in order to be placed in schools the vending companies enter into contracts where a portion of profits are provided back to the school. These profits often play a big role in an already tight school budget; they pay for necessities such as copies of student handouts and other teaching aids. Where the problem begins is that the Let’s Move program authorizes the United States Department of Agriculture to set standards for all foods regularly sold in schools including vending machines and al la cart lunch lines. Neither of the affected receives funding from the program, making this a controversial issue of the federal government setting controls on state funded schools. The federal government needs to stay out of state run programs, especially when it can affect funding which directly relates to our children’s education.

This legislation increases access to healthy food for low-income children, first by setting new standards to the free-lunch program that increase the number of eligible children by 115,000. This is facilitated by federal reimbursement for schools in areas with high concentrations of low-income children and the elimination of paper applications. For these children, the lunch they receive at school may be the only meal they can depend on every day. One of the goals of this legislation is to make sure that this one meal is as healthy and nutritious as possible, so the USDA has been granted authority to create nutritional standards for all foods sold in schools. The bill allocates $4.5 billion to implement new health standards, and reimburses an average of six extra cents per meal for schools that meet the new nutrition standards. Another use of the funds included in this bill includes providing resources for schools to utilize local farms and gardens that provide fresh produce. A study from Social Science & Medicine, Lee, 2012, suggests that availability of local foods is linked to healthier weights. The bill also required the USDA to develop new nutrition standards for the meals and

“For people to be healthy, personal behavior, safe conditions, and an environment that supports healthy choices must combine in complementary ways” (Brownell, Kersh, & Ludwig, 2010, p. 382). Humans respond to food accessibility and choices in their area. Sadly, in Wyandotte County there are numerous fast food restaurants, but limited healthy grocers. This is why we believe Wyandotte County needs to be more accommodating to their residents. If the county had more accessible healthy food choices it would make a tremendous impact on its inhabitants. Of course we know that personal responsibility is a big factor in making these nutritious choices, but how are residents supposed to make the right choice when they are not given the capacity too?

Most people think that obesity is a choice well, the New York City Health Department doesn’t think so. As of Thursday, the New York Health Department became the first in the nation to ban the sale of sugared beverages larger than 16oz. at restaurants, mobile food carts, sports arenas and movie theaters (Park). The New York Health Department feels that they need to start to make a change against how people have their diets so people aren’t as lazy and have more motivation. This is important, because if people have more motivation to do certain activities such as cleaning, playing with their children, going out of the house, as long with much more that they cannot do as an obese person. As people can see, most people who are active and eat healthy have a good life style and tend to live longer as well. This ban against sugared beverages would prevent retailers who sell prepared food from also dispensing sugared beverages.

Many schools nowadays turn off their vending machines during the school day to prevent students from eating fattening foods. In California and Hawaii, state legislators are very close to passing a law that would ban any drinks excluding milk, water or juice from being sold in elementary schools, and reduce the hours older students can use the vending machines. Michelle Obama and the Obama Administration have asked Congress to improve children's nutrition by getting rid of school vending machines that provide students with sugary snacks and drinks. The problem with this is school’s are making an extravagant amount of money off feeding their students with artificial flavoring and

This value often fluctuates more than 60% from day to day, illustrating that a majority of individuals are not dependent on cafeteria food for lunches, but instead purchase them because they enjoy the food being served. Because they are often not recipients of free or reduced price meals these individuals are important to the cafeteria’s bottom line. If crowd-pleasing, sugary foods are displaced by healthier, less popular alternatives, lunch purchases will fall significantly, further increasing the cafeteria’s overall operating expenses. Requiring school meals to comply with sugar limiting standards would only exacerbate current budgetary conflicts, causing smaller proportions of the district’s already contracted funding to be available for spending on actual education. While some individuals may insist that increased spending on meals can be justified by its positive effects on the health of adolescents, once again in practice, these benefits are not as pronounced as one might

The law will improve childhood nutrition and reduce obesity by: establishing national nutrition standards for all foods sold in school during the school day, including a la carte lines and vending machines and strengthening local school wellness policies and school food safety programs. (United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service, School

Poverty is one of the many factors that affects health and wellness within minority populations and is a major cause of health disparities across the nation (Pettit & Nienhaus, 2010). People living below the poverty level frequently live in racially segregated communities with high levels of poverty and crime (Pettit & Nienhaus, 2010). Within these communities, healthy food options are not always accessible. As a result, fast food establishments and local convenience stores provide much of the grocery and food options for these poor neighborhoods. Diets primarily assembled from fast food and convenience stores tend to be high fat and sodium in nature and contribute to the obesity epidemic affecting many low-income populations’ across the nation

However, elementary and secondary school cafeterias as well as hospitals are exempt from the legislation as well as federally operated trains and planes (9). In addition to the number of calories, food service providers are also required to include a statement acknowledging the individualized caloric needs that depend on age, gender, and physical activity levels of consumers. As such, this is an attempt to allow people to be further informed about their eating habits (4). According to The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, policy goals included raising public awareness about the caloric content of foods while encouraging individuals to make healthier and more informed food choices when dining out, as well as to encourage the food industry to reconsider the high caloric food items on their menus