Tracey Thorn’s article visits her daily life at home as she tried to lead an active lifestyle. With the many studies about the mass amount of people living obese, Thorn tried to bring her family to a more active life style. In the process of becoming active, she had the realization she was giving her family the equivalent to crystal meth. Her vegetable-allergic son had constantly ate low-fat yogurts and smoothies, and at a doctors appointment, she got the news the her son a enamel damage on his teeth. As she did with obesity, she researched the things her family had been eating, and found out that a mass amount of sugar was the cause. From Kitkats to Honey Nut Clusters and even to the smoothies, Thorn’s family was ingesting way too much sugar.
The issue of obesity in America is one that has been debated heavily over the years as health professionals advise people to count caloric intake and exercise, in order to maintain optimal weight. The documentary by Stephanie Soechtig named “Fed Up” contradicts these sentiments and gets to the root of the obesity issue in America. Although the documentary focuses on the the amount of sugar and unhealthy substances that are added into our food without the public’s discretion, the documentary reveals something so much larger about America’s industries and government as a whole.
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
In his essay “How Junk Food Can End Obesity” David H. Freedman asserts that the cure to America’s growing obesity problem does not lie with the “wholesome” food movement, but with utilizing modern technology to food that is low in fat and sugar, alongside of being cheap and accessible to almost every American. Mr. Freedman backs supports his assertion by citing many different sources, such as the Wall Street Journal, and the British Medical Journal, alongside of his own personal experience with the world of foods “under construction”. Freedman’s purpose in writing the article was both to expose the wholesome food movement as failing to accomplish the goals that it set out to do, and to educate people on how modern technology has the capability
Thousands of children around America are increasingly joining the obesity epidemic and are struggling to get out of it. In the documentary, Fed Up, by Stephanie Soechtig, she creates a documentary that targets young teenagers and parents to uncover the truth of the epidemic and reveal how the food industry is hurting the children 's diet by making them become addicted to sugar. It explains how it is beyond people 's willpower and exercise alone that solves the epidemic, rather it is the food industries ' fault for the nfood they produce. Soechtig uses pathos, ethos and logos by documenting personal stories from young obese teenagers, providing a numerous amount of credible sources from a wide range of experts, and having evidence for the epidemic.
In this article, “The Extraordinary Science Of Addictive Junk Food”, written by Michael Moss there are several sources used to try and prove that the junk foods that we consume on a daily basis aren’t healthy for us and have become addictive. Moss tackles the argument in a way of using rhetorical devices and figurative language to get his audience, which would be the consumers, to understand that the big companies that we’re giving our money to don’t care about our health, just whether or not we’re still eating their products. Moss’ association when dealing with diet and nutrition is his prime topic. According to the New York Times, Moss is the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book Salt, Sugar, Fat and also a Pulitzer-Prize winner investigative reporter. When I read this article Moss really had me drawn in because of his credibility.
In the documentary film “Fed Up”, sugar and the sweeteners in our food or beverages is featured to be the prime ingredient that is making the most of our adolescents obese. It tells of a few families struggling with obesity, and how these families have been trying to do everything they can to help their children lose weight. It shows what kind of food that they are eating at home and the weight problem that most of the family is struggling with. The food that is being served at schools and also the thousands of products that contain sugar, everywhere groceries are bought; sugar is the main cause for obesity. It tells that low wage earners have no choice, but to buy unhealthy food, because healthier food cost more. “The bottom line: cheap, unhealthy foods mixed with a sedentary lifestyle has made obesity the new normal in America. There is no single, simple answer to explain the obesity patterns in America, says Walter Willett, who chairs the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health” article in the U. S. News. Although it does cost more, a school of public health wrote in an article, “While healthier diets did cost more, the difference was smaller than many people might have expected. Over the course of a year, $1.50/day more for eating a healthy diet would increase food costs for one person by about $550 per year. On the other hand, this price difference is very small in comparison to the economic costs of diet-related chronic diseases, which would be
In the article “Eating too much added sugar may be killing you,” Nanci Hellmich announces that excessive amounts of added sugar consumption can lead to many detrimental health issues . Hellmich says that the average consumption of sugar for Americans surpasses the recommended amount, which has been linked to obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. She supports her claim by showing an experiment performed by Quanhe Yang and others, then citing Frank Hu, as he describes some of the risks of this cause, and finally stating from Rachael Johnson a spokeswoman from the American Heart Association. Hellmich writes in a solemn tone to the article viewers of USA Today. In order to show how dangerous eating excessive amounts of sugar to the viewers, Hellmich shows links to several deaths due to this cause. For example, she
In “Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food” by Michael Moss is about the rising numbers of obesity in both adults and children throughout the United States. On the Evening of April 8, 1999, some of the biggest food industries CEO’s ad company presidents come together for a rare, private meeting. Discussing the emerging obesity epidemic and how they should deal with it. Big time companies food is lacking the nutrients that a person needs and is more concentrated on how to make it more desired. Keeping the customers coming for more. While the industries are gaining a profit, the customers are gaining a big belly.
Knowing the causes to obesity are important. Some causes of obesity are thought of off the bat. But some causes aren’t all that well known. Researchers have found many causes to the obesity epidemic in the U.S. Two main causes to obesity are added sugars/processed foods and genetics, specifically with one’s parents and grandparents. The last cause of obesity is the American government. Many citizens of the U.S think that all sugar is bad. This statement is not true. As stated in http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/1/13/14219606/sugar-intake-dietary-nutrition-science “ Sugar is in so many of the foods we eat. It’s loaded into our granola and our juice, our BBQ sauce and salad dressing. Some ¾ of packaged foods and drinks in the US now carry caloric or low-calorie sweeteners.” In a healthy diet an American should consume roughly 6-9 teaspoons of added sugars. However the average in America is currently 41 teaspoons! Statistics have found that in the 13th century one pound of sugar would have costed roughly 360 eggs. Nowadays one pound of sugar would cost the same as only two eggs… this is a serious problem. The 1980’s was the national start of making and selling “low fat” products such as milk. In all reality this was also when the lowered the fat levels and raised the sugar levels sky high. As a result of extreme amounts of sugar in products it has given scientists evidence to prove that sugar is 8x more addictive than cocaine. Another cause of obesity is
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”
Summary: This documentary showed how sugar is as addicting as cocaine. By 2050, one in three people will be diagnosed with type two diabetes, where in 1980, there was zero reported cases. Companies know this information and reduced the fat, but doubled the sugar in their product.
The past fifty years has seen a spike in the consumption of sugar, that number totaling a tripling increase. However, sugar is not the only risk factor here, alcohol and tobacco can also be attributed with the spike, albeit not as prevalent as sugar. The biggest question that Lustig et al. poses to its’ readers is this: “What aspects of the Western diet should be the focus of intervention”? (par. 3) The current USDA has been deemed “boogeymen” of diets, as well as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Lustig et al. all believe that our attention should be turned towards “added sugar”, which is a sweetener that has fructose in it. Perhaps the biggest controversy from the past fifty years has been none other than a severe culprit that experts know as high fructose corn syrup or HFCS.
If one continually eats unhealthy foods, they can quickly become overweight. Moreover, this has become such a recurring problem in America that according to the National Institutes of Health, compulsive eating has led to obesity for approximately 35.7% of Americans. This number represents over one-third of the entire U.S population and will continue to grow unless it is addressed. In addition, it is critical that Americans learn to moderate their junk food intake to prevent the contraction of serious health issues. Sweenie states that, “Food high in salt, sugar, fat or calories and low nutrient content...provide suboptimal nutrition with excessive fat, sugar, or sodium per kcal. Such poor diets can slow growth, promote obesity; sow the seeds of diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cardiac problems, and osteoporosis.” These are exceptionally serious diseases that can often result in a severely hindered lifestyle or even death. In order to avoid these exceptionally undesirable outcomes, one must always remain aware of their daily junk food consumption. In Kirkey’s article, Paul Kenny, an associate professor at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida, states that, "It's incumbent upon people to make sure that they're more respectful and aware of what they're eating. Just be aware that there are dangers and risks associated. Enjoy (high-fat) food, but make sure it's occasionally and
Today, despite technological and scientific discoveries of the past century, we live in a country filled with mysterious sicknesses. While America continues to prosper in other ways, our health continues to decline. What has helped to cause this terrible battle? Sugar. Even though it may pack a great taste, sugar has captured and addicted us to it. Our addiction to sugar has negative consequences such as severe chronic disease and obesity. Americans need to reduce sugar consumption to prevent, cure, or limit problems of chronic disease, addiction, and obesity.