Fat Head Thesis Statement

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.

Weight is a part of every human beings life. Every one weights something. In society, it is commonly found that people mistakenly judge their health based on their weight. America has thousands of health experts and nutritionist who claim themselves as protectors of health, “helping a nation stricken with heart disease, diabetes, and cancer” (Maxville 443). They believe that eating is simply for fueling the body and you should eat mostly plants, but not too much. Maxville uses the vast theory of health experts to tie in the point that, “each of these maladies is tied to our diet and essentially our weight. As a culture we no longer discuss healthy eating without also discussing unhealthy weights” (Maxville 444). While Maxville believes that the bigger issue is not weight, but linking nutrition and body type. While, Pollan warns readers of eating too much, he never mentions that it is equally as fatal to eat too little. Pollan states in his essay that overeating is the “greatest threat” to our survival. Maxville uses Pollan’s statements on the topic of weight to prove that being unhealthy should not be tied solely to being overweight, because being under weight is equally unhealthy. To further discredit the claims Pollan makes linking weight to health, Maxville states, “A growing group of academics who

Long ago, the ancestors of humans lived in unpredictable times in which meals were not guaranteed. Now in the 21st century, data suggests, as mentioned in Fed Up, that there will be more deaths caused directly or indirectly by obesity than by starvation. The documentary Fed Up focuses on the terrifying issue that plagues the United States and the world: obesity. It delves into the components that contribute to this menacing epidemic that only continues to get worse. The documentary builds on the stories of four young American children from all over the country that are severely obese. One of the kids, at 14 years of age, weighs over 400 pounds. Fed Up tries to answer one simple question with a complex and scary answer. How did the world get here? There are several different issues the documentary tried to address to answer this question. In the documentary, several misconceptions about food were dissected. In addition to debunking myths about food, the documentary discussed how it is possible to eat healthy for less money than eating unhealthy. Those were a few of the aspects that can have an impact on individuals, but the documentary did not stop there. It also attacked the huge food industry for their misleading advertisements and selling techniques, as well as condemning their focus of selling to younger people. Furthermore, the documentary explained how the food industry is so rich and powerful in the country’s capital that it has thwarted the many attempts in trying

There are more ways to shun obesity. Michael Pollan, who wrote “Escape from the western diet”, claims that the fast food industry is one of the main reasons why people struggle with their health. He believes that the processed food we consume gives us harmful deceases. Pollan urges us to listen to his words to avoid the western diet, he preaches that we should start eating healthier and to put more time and effort when it comes to buying food. Pollan provides us with his rules as well and claims that it will help us plot our way out of the western diet. Also, Pollan informs us that when it to the intake we tend to over eat, thus it becomes a huge threat to our health. The government has also made an attempt to put a stop to obesity by inverting an array of food options. By focusing on the main causes of obesity, Pollan overlooks the deeper problem of the lack of insufficient information, thus he leaves us with a lot of question marks .

Contrary to the popular belief of the time, Morgan Spurlock’s amateur documentary “Supersize Me” pushed reform in both fast food culture, and eating habits of citizens, being one of the first catalysts in a new movement in America. This 2004 film, being the first of his works to establish Spurlock as a filmmaker, focuses on Spurlock’s 30 day journey in which he vowed to eat solely McDonalds for three meals a day, and track his overall mental, physical, and social changes over this span of time. Throughout the film, Spurlock consults three doctors (a gastroenterologist, a cardiologist, and a general practitioner) as well as a nutritionist to monitor physical change and gather quantitative data supporting his claim. The film often exhibited

Good nutrition is a critical part of preventing obesity and chronic disease. What people eat is one of the most important determinants of whether they are overweight or obese.

We need to say away from foods that are unnatural because they have a negative effect on our bodies. There are two different kinds of fats. Hydrogenated fat, which is the worst for you, which includes such foods as crackers. Natural plant based fats, which is good for you that include such foods as avocadoes. We humans tend to misread the difference. If it has a name for something that is good for you in the title doesn’t mean that it’s good for you. An example of this would be high fruit corn syrup. The writers told us that it is like smoking cocaine because even cocaine or high fruit corn syrup is made from something so pure at one time is now super unhealthy. Sugar is like drugs and alcohol addicting and sometimes very harmful. It comes in all forms such as therefore carbonates like bread. Even though it is not in a crystalized form it still is sugar. Humans become habituated to the effect of sugar. The facts are absolutely true because each individual person tends to consume 150 lbs. of sugar per year. Our mood can change and chronic disease can occur just because of this everyday “comfort food”.

Journalist and novelist Michael Pollan writes about the trials and tribulations surrounding food in North America and raises questions regarding Western diet, which is mostly comprised of refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup and corn in general. He reiterates that chemically generated food is creating disease in North Americans; If we eliminate these factors and adopt the eating habits of less industrialized places in the world will we in our lifetime see rates of heart disease, type two diabetes and obesity decline dramatically? The western diet has evolved drastically in the last sixty years, so much so that people have become codependent on the government, dietitians and food agencies regarding their health and what to consume. The land is suffering from pesticides and singular plant farming, the alternative to this is to buy organic but at a higher price. Media has influenced the consumer to read the label and accept and trust the daily vitamin percentages on the box, as this is what is best for them. Money is the key factor in all of this and the government, scientific research and media know that, therefor the public is in for a shock when they realize that the very labels that are supposed to save them have fooled them.

Dietary decisions are frequently impressionable and can sway between generations or cultures frequently. Often these shifts in the popular beliefs about diet are fueled by scientific studies or doctors, you can simply examine the impact of Dr. Oz T.V. program or remember the popularity of the Atkins diet to see how quickly these shifts can happen. One such claim that can be found is that, high levels of dietary cholesterol is the leading cause of heart disease and obesity. Katherine Pett of Nutrition Wonk examines a trend within the scientific community in which over simplification and misrepresentation can skew work that has existed for over half of a decade.

The idea of eating healthy however is arbitrary. When we were kids, we were all taught that following the “food pyramid” was the

For the previous couple decades, Americans have been misled by the government and health professionals, who were implementing inaccurate dietary standards that led to the promotion of certain items as “healthy”, has actually resulted in a nationwide obesity epidemic of vast proportions. This unprecedented surge in obesity has affected everybody from children in elementary schools, to retired seniors, and has contributed to the single largest rise in diseases, the world has ever known. Obesity has actually reached the number two cause of preventable death in the United States (Healthaliciousness), thus created the first generation of children ever in history which is predicted to have a shorter lifespan than their parents. The documentaries Fed Up and Forks over Knives are both in support of creating a healthier America for all individuals. Although they both share a similar concept on how fast-food is extremely harmful, but both take quite different approaches to support their claim. In the documentary Fed Up, Stephanie Soechtig allows us to follow the lives of four families who are struggling with a childhood obesity problem. Throughout the film she has various “experts” express their opinions to help combat the epidemic, but their selection of “experts” is mainly through politicians, political leaders, and journalist, but not so much on nutritional scientist. On the other hand,

Obesity is only second to tobacco smoking as the most preventable death in the United States today. In order to publicize the obesity epidemic, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock embarks on a thirty day experiment documented in his film, Super Size Me. Nutritionists, healthy eaters, and unhealthy eaters alike are shown the harmful effects of fast food. In order to emphasize the scale of the epidemic and address a large audience, Spurlock appeals to logos through his use of expert testimony, statistics, anticipating counterarguments, and piling.

As seen during the eighteenth century, the presence of excess body fat was envied and very rare; seen only in kings, the rich, and the wealthy as a sign of power and prosperity. Once food shortage was no longer relevant, the 20th century re-assessed this “sign of power” as a sign of ill health, and was then documented in medical practices as the chronic disease known as obesity. As we look at the roots of obesity today, causes of the disease cannot be attributed to a single origin. However, there are many daily influences that justify our nations expanding waistlines; the most obvious being an unhealthy diet. The role of food in our society has altered the way Americans perceive nutrition. Meal times are advertised as social events; an instance of mindless eating, with little awareness on stopping when you’re full, and overeating as a result. Portion sizes are much larger than nutritionally necessary, and lack in substantial protein, causing you to

Supersize Me is a documentary about a guy named Morgan who went on a 30 day high fat diet. He wanted to see the effects of fast food would have on a person’s health. But little did he or the doctors know the repercussions and the damage of this experiment would do to one’s body. 60% of all US adults are overweight or obsess. America is the fattest nation in the world could fast food be to cause of this, this is what Morgan set out to find out.

I claim that in American culture, a thin body is held as the "original", normal body; whereas obesity is viewed as a `temporary disruption' to the balance of the body. According to our cultural understanding, an obese body is viewed as being in the process of constant transformation. The idea of a permanently fat person is unacceptable and an obese body must be standardized and normalized. The goal is to transform and