Fed Up Research Paper

The documentary “Fed Up” provides some important and disturbing details of the food industry. The 1977 heart disease and diet study known as the McGovern Report warned that the obesity rate was increasing rapidly due to American diets in fatty meats, saturated fats, cholesterol, and sugar. The food industry vehemently denied these claims, but the American people still demanded lower fat food products. The food manufacturers found that the fat removal made the food bland and unpalatable so to address this they replaced the fat content with sugar. Both the documentary and the Harvard Nutrition Source discuss the role sugar has in health conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. They both link the consumption of sugar as the causality for

According to the WHO (World Health Organization) the health of the people in the United States has not always been the greatest. With an obesity rate of 33.9 percent, which translates into over 106 million obese Americans, this has caused many problems to arise and impact the daily lives of Americans. Many have tried to help in regards to this issue by improving school foods or attempting to encourage more physical activity. Unfortunately, these may have helped but only in a small scale. However, a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists, Mark Bittman believes that he may have a definitive solution. On May 25, 2016, in “Taxing Sugar to Fund a City” New York Times food journalist, Mark Bittman, by using the taxing of sugary beverages in Philadelphia - America’s poorest big city - earnestly

1999). Sugar plays a huge role in the growing obesity levels. The largest source of added sugar in the US diet is sugary drinks. A recent study found that body weight significantly lowered when sugar intake was decreased. While an increased sugar intake led to a similar weight gain. This study also found that children whom consumed sugary drinks had a 55% higher risk of obesity (Hu, 2013). The progression of obesity, added sugar being a main cause, and the billions of US dollars being spent on obesity related healthcare; I believe this act will be supported by the public.

From a consumer aspect, I agree that there is a huge issue with obesity in America; which involves adults and young children. Author of “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food”, Michael Moss argued “Today, one in three adults is considered clinically obese, along with one in five kids, and 24 Americans are afflicted by type 2 diabetes, often caused by poor diet, with another 79 million people have pre-diabetes” (477). This information scared me because it is amazing how much Americas are suffering of poor diet. As a parent this

Explanation: Lynn Kelly speaks to a consumer Joyce, who talks about shopping at a grocery store and not being able to afford the healthy foods. "Joyce pointed, 'Fruit is high. Everything is high vegetable is high. So, it's really expensive when you wan to eat good '." Here, the consumer knows what the healthy foods are such as fruits and vegetables however, since she can not afford it so she does not purchase it. Many American households live on a tight budget, in which the expense of consuming a meal is kept at a minimum thus,this leads to eating at a cheap fast food restaurant. Mcdonald's "Dollar Menu" is attractive to low income communities where they a can achieve a whole meal with a few dollars.

The New York Times’ David Bornstein’s “If Sugar is Harmless, Prove It,” Bornstein recounts his interview with Gary Taubes, a science journalist and recent author of The Case Against Sugar. In this interview, Taubes explains what he feels is a direct link between sugar and insulin resistance and, as a result, America’s widespread epidemic of Obesity. He goes on to talk about the steps he feels are necessary to take in order to end said epidemic.

One in five children in America are obese. How is this possible? In Stephanie Soechtig’s documentary, “Fed Up” (2014), she brings awareness to a few of the causes of obesity and elaborates on the lack of effort people are putting in to end it. Food manufacturing corporations care only about strategic plans to put money in their pocket, not to help make America healthy. Obesity can be traced back to one main cause; sugar. The three things have been addressed through personal stories and physicians that support and increase sugar addictions of adolescents is the amount of added sugar in processed foods, junk food advertisements, and the lack of regulations relating to sugar. Sugar addiction is a real problem and is scientifically proven to be as addicting as cocaine.

We all need food and water to live, don’t we? There are so many options: from a hamburger and soda, to pasta and a glass of water. The choices we make in our diet can boost your metabolism. People make poor choices for their diet every day. Continuing this lifestyle may cause them to become obese. The Fed Up documentary concludes many valid facts on how the rate of obesity is increasing, especially in terms of adolescents. Food industries are giving inadequate suggestions to assist in solving this problem.

One of the biggest medical issues in America today is childhood obesity. A child is considered obese if that child is above the normal weight for their age and height. Childhood obesity is a “national epidemic” problem in America that needs major attention. In the article,”The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food,” by Michael Moss he acknowledges that “Among children, the rates had more than doubled since 1980, and the number of kids considered obese had shot past 12 million”(473). Moss’s point is that the rates of childhood obesity has increased tremendously over the past years. And the number of children that are overweight are at risk of becoming obese keeps growing. In addition, they are at greater risk for serious medical

According to Mr. Jaslow of CBS news the number of children and adults struggling from obesity has skyrocketed, putting them at risk to diabetes and heart diseases at younger ages. This is not what the world was meant for, the more people that eat unhealthy foods and become obese, the more the death rate per year increases. End the madness now and let individuals live longer and enjoy more time with their families. That’s what everyone should want for everybody in the

When most people think about sugar, their first thoughts are not: heart disease, addiction, or slow and painful death; yet, unfortunately, these conditions are very real consequences of the unregulated and excessive consumption of sugar. In Nature’s article, “The Toxic Truth About Sugar” (2012), Robert Lustig, pediatric endocrinologist; Laura Schmidt, Professor of Health Policy at UCSF; and Claire Brindis, Professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy at UCSF, evaluate the world’s ever-increasing and toxic struggle with the substance sugar – also discussing counter measures to promote healthier diets amongst American’s and other societies. Lustig and his colleagues develop their argument using statistical evidence as they address the global impact of sugar, refuting minor oppositions, before dissecting each harmful aspect of the substance – even comparing it to substances more known for their toxicity. Eventually, presenting readers with possible routes of regulation, the authors firmly suggest government intervention in the production and sale of sugary foods. Although the argument is well executed, I remain unconvinced that government intervention is actually necessary.

Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. (“Data & Statistics.” Childhood Obesity in America, childhoodobesityinusa.weebly.com/data--statistics.html). The reasons why the numbers are increasing are because children are eating more empty calories than ever before. Instead of healthy fruits, veggies and nutritious snacks and lunches, parents are packing and serving processed snacks that contains high fructose corn syrup. If this problem is not solved, one third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some time in their lives. (National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, letsmove.obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/learn-facts/epidemic-childhood-obesity). Childhood obesity should be prevented because it is a risk to kids' health, low self-esteem, and they can be bullied because of it.

The film fed up is an examination of America’s obesity epidemic and the food industry’s influence on it. The film Fed Up focused on childhood obesity. This film portrayed many issues that are present in the United States today. Childhood obesity is influenced by the constant advertisements focusing on the high sugar foods; these advertisements are targeting children. Along with targeting children these advertisements use favorite characters and idols to encourage children to want these products that may not be health for them at all. Advertisements are sending out false messages, such as ‘this product is good, your idol loves it so you will too!’. This isn’t fair to children to only show them advertisements of unhealthy, sugary foods. Children follow the examples of their parents, so if a parent not making the healthy choices then the children may follow their decisions healthy or not. The United States original “cure” for obesity is eat less and exercise more. However, this “cure” may not be the true answer to losing weight. In 1977 the obesity epidemic began as well as the low fat foods. The low fat foods were low in fat but in order to make the food palatable they doubled the sugar. Scientists believe that this

The United States is mindful of this deadly disease and the lives it has taken, yet little has been done to spread awareness and decrease the amount of sugar, carbohydrates, and fat in foods sold. In fact, America encourages unhealthy eating by displaying advertisements which convince the audience that the food will not have a negative effect on their health. A majority of these advertisements are directed towards children due to the fact that they are easy to convince. And this is a huge reason behind the increasing obesity rate in the United States because the decisions made as a child reflect those made in adulthood. If a child is constantly eating unhealthy food, rarely exercises, and is unaware of the consequences that come from the lack of living a healthy life, he or she will grow up continuing this lifestyle. O’Connor explains that, according to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, seventeen percent of American children and teenagers between the ages twelve and nineteen years old are overweight (39). Unless the child is taught about the harsh reality of eating so unhealthy, it may be too late before he or she becomes obese. Similar to tobacco and alcohol, food has addictive qualities which are hard to change. Another factor to consider involving the obesity epidemic in the United States is the expense of healthy foods. This high price hinders U.S. citizen’s ability to pay for a healthy diet. One of the many low income mothers in the United States, Maria Gonzalez, comments, “When you only have a dollar to spend and you have two kids to feed, either you go to the market and try to find something that’s cheap or just go straight through a drive thru and get two hamburgers for them and say, ‘Okay, here. Eat this.’ This is what’s going to fill her up, not that one single item at the market”

Obesity is a condition caused in various ways. The number one cause of obesity is above average sugar consumption. According to the health documentary, “Fed Up”, the suggested amount of sugar intake per day is 4-6 tsp.; however, the average American consumes about 41 tsp. A common misconception is that obesity is caused by calories from fats; this is because when looking for a cause of obesity, researchers misconstrued fat caused by sugar to instead be caused by calories. This caused a “less fat” phenomenon and the food industry fooled consumers by putting the term less fat on their product. When that term is put on a food product, it typically means that in order to make the food have its delectable taste, the company adds more sugar. Sugar affects the body because once it gets ingested the sugar, or glucose, travels through the bloodstream until eventually the glucose reaches the pancreas. The human pancreas senses high blood sugar levels, causing it to secrete insulin, which will send the excess sugar back into other cells so that the other cells can use the glucose as energy, but the excess sugar after that process must be stored somewhere so it gets stored inside fat cells thus resulting in weight gain. A main issue with above average sugar consumption is the addictive factor to it. According to Fed Up, sugar is 8x more addictive than cocaine. Extremely large amounts of added sugar are found in carbonated soda beverages and while drinking soda in moderation is all right, drinking these sugary beverages can put one at risk of many health issues. Another cause of obesity is unhealthy lunch options in schools. In World War II potential military recruits had to be turned down for the army because they were malnourished. In response to this issue President Truman