Junk Food and Obesity

Journalist and business and technology specialist, David H. Freeman’s wrote, “How Junk Food Can End Obesity”. The article was published in the July 2013 edition of the Atlantic. Freeman addresses his major concerns in regards to major whole-foods advocates, and how their stance may be degrading to the overall movement to end obesity. Major media and promotion have been dedicated to demonizing all processed food. Journalist, Michael Pollan suggests that “It is one of the reasons that we have the obesity and diabetes epidemic 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 as much as they possibly can...They will push those buttons until we scream or die.” While Pollan’s idea seems entirely plausible to the elite and upper class, who have $7.95 to blow on an organic smoothie resourced from local farms. Freeman explains this idea is unrealistic for a majority of obese people, and gradual change through the fast and processed food industries and education is more likely to have a lasting impact on the obese population.

In David Freedman’s article, “How Junk Food Can End Obesity” (2013), he begins by discussing his endeavors to search for wholesome food. He continues to come across food items that claim to be healthy and void of processed junk, but all he finds are items high in calories or the expense is too much for an average American. He argues that wholesome foods are actually just as bad, if not even worse, than junk food and that the Big Food industry has the technology available to make food healthier, but still retain its appeal. Freedman mentions continuously throughout his article that Americans who are most at risk of becoming obese are those who cannot afford healthy foods, completely defeating the purpose of the wholefoods movement. He

“Studies have shown school organic gardens,salad bars and healthy lunches improve the health and academic performance of young people.”,stated cummins in his text. Andrew P p. Morris, in his article “ Bad-food taxes will clog our economic arteries beyond repair”, states that “ it is no ones business but yours what you eat.” There might be some truth to this but it is shocking on how many people overeat junk food. When advertisements promote healthy food like vegetables and fruits instead of greasy hamburgers and flimsy fries people want to eat healthy . We have let junk food brainwash youths and even adults into thinking that it's okay to eat outside of their home

Judging from the title of David Freedman’s “How Junk Food Can End Obesity” published in The Atlantic, Freeman's audience, the upper middle class of America, conjures up an image of a crazy Freedman throwing away every piece of scientific data that shows junk food is hazardous to your health. However, this is not the case. Freedman brings to light a more compromising approach to solving America’s obesity problem. His opinion is that by manufacturing healthier fast food we can solve America’s obesity issue and that his method would be able to be established nation-wide in a cheaper, fast and more effortless way than some other methods proposed. Not all, but the majority of The Atlantic’s audience cares about

Fast food eateries are one of the main, if not the primary, reason behind obesity in the United States. Fast food, what many people for the most part view as a speedy approach to get some nourishment, is really killing a large number of individuals than you may suspect. In this current time, nearly everybody realizes that fast food isn 't especially the best thing for you to eat, yet that won 't verge on preventing us from eating it. Diverse things play a component with respect to why we as a whole eat fast food. It could be a money related circumstance, a little or extensive depending on the oily stuff, or only a requirement for snappy sustenance.

One in three Americans kids are obese or over weight which is a staggering and alarming rate at the same time. So looking 20 years into the future that number could double if nothing is said and done about what we are eating. The public school food in school lunches are unhealthy for many alarming reasons, but not much can be done immediately due to strict guidelines and budgets that schools must follow. A lot of it goes to kids not exercising, and more time watching TV, or playing on the computer. And now days more families have less time to make nutritious home made meals. So they tend to eat School cafeteria lunches that have minimal nutrition’s and harmful calories. To prevent your kid from being over weight mean adapting what you eat, and having to exercise at least 60 minutes a day. If the changes are made to change school lunches, it can help them from being obese, children can improve their lifestyle choices, and lastly it prevents them from getting harmful diseases.

Because of parents using food as a reward, many children learn that being good means eating unhealthy. Combined with the advertising techniques used by the fast food industry, children begin to make a correlation between fast food and a reward. Ellen Gustafson further confirms that fast food contains “more refined grains, fats and oils and sugars than the 1980’s.” All of these components of fast food make it appealing to children. Furthermore, many parents do not have time to make healthy meals for their children because of our fast-paced society. As David Zinczenko relates in Don’t Blame the Eater, “lunch and dinner, for me, was a daily choice between McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken or Pizza Hut. Then, as now, these were the only available options for an American kid to get an affordable meal.” This is not a rare situation. Many parents work long hours and therefore encourage their kids to eat fast food instead of taking the time to teach healthy habits. This has the ripple effect of overeating and lack of exercise. Without exercise, many kids gain weight, become obese or are at risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and asthma. (Childhood Obesity) Today, type 2 diabetes exists in 30% of childhood obesity. (Zinczenko 154) Gustafson further states in her presentation “1/3 of American children are overweight and obese.” When a child has obesity, their ability to participate in everyday activities like sports and play is inhibited, which means

Many Americans are suffering from nutrition issues. There are approximately 12.5 million children and adolescents aged 2-19 years that are obese (CDC). The proper health and nutrition for children is very critical to their growth and development. The media and its promotion of junk food is one way that affects obese children. Within this paper, I will discuss the long and short term

The organization of Debatewise stated that controlling the foods that students consume is important in combating obesity, as the dieting habits that most people form originate from when they were young. This is why it’s so crucial for schools to introduce healthier options in schools. If these unhealthy habits are developed, the students are “at higher risk for having other chronic health conditions and diseases that impact physical health..”, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These conditions can affect them emotionally and physically, including depression and obesity, which are important health issues both linked with the consumption of junk foods. The selling of junk food in schools is not a small problem either, as it concludes from a study by the Institute of Medicine in 2003 that elementary schools earn approximately $442 million annually from junk food sales. The importance of changing the school lunch programs to implement healthier options is high when there is so much money being spent by the students. Although obesity is a real problem due to the selling of junk food, it can lead to other problems that leading a healthier way of living could fix. For instance, the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension states junk foods, due to processing that removes vitamins, minerals, and fiber from the product, are empty calories that are ultimately worthless to the body. This alone contributes to unneeded weight gain and provides no additional sustenances that help the body grow. The Harvard Health Publications describes this to be a serious problem, and acknowledge not only this to be a complication, but mentions the unnecessarily high amounts of sodium levels in the foods, stating that “...the average

What is this food doing to our children? The childhood obesity epidemic has increased because of the contribution of junk food that is being served in public schools. It has been found that children who eat fatty school foods are more likely to become obese than those who brought lunch from home. Why is this we may ask has a lot to do with the above student that I stated brought their lunch from home daily. You can count the intake of calories that is in your lunchbox but you have no idea what is in the food from you school, half of the time you will not even know what the food is. Also, the specials that are provided for students on special food days increases their calorie intake as well such as; pizza day or wing day. On these days children have shown to intake more food because these are the days that they provide greasy foods that taste swell and the children like them so they will gravitate to them because they do not have the proper knowledge to know what this food can do to your body.

Hamburgers, french fries, milkshakes, candy, etc. Junk food we classify it as. It’s satisfying to us, but damaging in the long run. The topic that my senior project will be on is childhood obesity in America. Obese for a child by definition means “ A child severely overweight with a body mass index (BMI) that is equal to or greater than the 95th percentile.”1 Unfortunately, obesity affects “1 and 6 adolescents” living in the United States.2

Many people in today 's generation are constantly are craving junk food. It is patently evident junk food plays a major role in the cause of obesity. According to a study called "Psychological science", Obesity leads to numerous health issues including heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. The treatment of these health issues cost billions of tax health dollars (Physiological science, 2014). Permitting junk food in schools will cause greater chances of obesity. Students will be heading on a venture. Furthermore, obesity is a continuous major problem since the past several years. In 2010, a 4 year old girl named

Junk food, junk food, junk food is around all corners of schools. Chocolate, cookies, soda, potato chips, and Sour Strings may sound delectable to some people, but are they nutritious? Some people wonder if there should be a change. Encouraging exceptional nutrition in schools is essential by reasons of students will consume foods that are better for them, schools will pay less for meals, and fewer students would go hungry.

The age old saying, “You are what you eat” still rings true today. Fresh fruit and vegetables have been replaced by french-fries and hamburgers. Children today do not know how to eat healthy. We, as a nation, spend hours and hours bombarding children with fast food commercials, sugary cereal commercials and cavity causing drink commercials. We than spend a fraction of that time telling kids these things are healthy only in moderation.

Junk food being served in school affects childrens aspects of a healthy life.Children who are uneducated of the affects of junk food to thier life and bodys, junk food plays a big part in the reasons for diabete, and obesity. This aslo affect the emotional health of children when it is used in a way that can be related to emotions.Restrictions should be made against junk food in school in order to decrease the rate of obesity and diabetes, and to prevent children's emotions and accomplishments correlated with food