The Controversy Between Chocolate And Vanilla

As kids just about everybody enjoyed that sweet tasting drink, chocolate milk. Today even adults enjoy the drink. Why do so many people of all ages appreciate the taste? Probably because its chocolate and milk combined, so whats not to like! Chocolate milk has been around since the early 1700s when it first saw the light of day in Jamaica, but Purity’s brand has been around since 1946 with its headquarters being in Nashville Tennessee. The time between the 1700s to 2016 the taste has not changed very much, but the products ingredients have changed. Although Purity's chocolate milk is a tasty drink, the ingredients in the packaging as well as the milk itself may raise suspicion, or concern, if one is following Michael Pollan’s food rules

I grew up playing the game “Candyland”, and I dreamed of finding the golden ticket and living in Willie Wonka’s factory. I was also given a Gatorade after every sporting event I ever played in so what could be so bad about sugar? Sugar, real and artificial, can be found in almost every product we consume and although sugar is a simple carbohydrate that the body uses for energy, its impact on our body is far from simple. The consumption of sugar has been linked to a host of chronic health problems, including obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The addictive nature of sugar is also a significant problem that leads to the other detrimental effects listed above. Sugar has also been useful to help preserve goods, fuel fermentation, balance acidity, and add flavor to other foods. Whether it’s cereal, spaghetti sauce, or yogurt, sugar is everywhere and has become unavoidable in our daily diets. As Americans, we have become accustomed to the sweet addictive taste of sugar, and our dependence on excessive amounts of sugar in its different forms has become alarming to many health experts. In analyzing preference and dependency with sugar, I will trace the addictive nature and major risks sugar has placed on society.

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.

The number of overweight people in the United States has placed the United States twenty-seventh in a ranking of the countries with the most prevalent case of an obesity epidemic. In the United States, “two out of three adults and one of three children are overweight or obese (_____). Researchers have seen the overall rate of obesity increases with the influx of advertisements showcasing unhealthy products, such as sugary drinks. Sugary drinks are “silent killers” that cause many fatalities, and health concerns for the consumer due to the deleterious ingredients they contain. A health study at Tufts University revealed that sugar drinks cause about 100 deaths per day and about 184, 000 deaths per year (____). The American Heart

Improving the health conditions of the American population ensures the increased quality of life. People eat for various reasons with the fundamental reason being for survival purposes. However, the issue of eating to live and living to eat affects people in different manners as most people develop poor eating habits that affect the body’s nutritional intake and affects their health. Being healthy involves careful considerations of what one is eating and engaging in activities that contribute to better healthy lives that do not imply daily prescriptions or

“Unhappy Meals” written by Michael Pollan covers the unknown links between diet and our health. When reading the text, paragraphs 40 through 44 affected me the most. It had me think about how some surveys could be unreliable to due unrealistic questions used in the given survey. Previous to reading the article, I had assumed that information given to me about diets, especially the Western types, was correct. While reading the article I began to suspect that my previous assumptions were wrong. The results of this realization had lead me to be more open minded about new information. I began to take in that maybe surveys were not one size fits all. Pollan wrote this article to be persuasive. However, in my opinion, Pollan could benefit from changing

The statement made earlier in this paper, “high levels of dietary cholesterol is the leading cause of heart disease and obesity” is troubling. Primarily due to what a statement of such simplicity represents. If dietary choices were so simple obesity and heart disease would not have gone unchecked for a generation of American’s who increased their consumption of both sugar, and unsaturated fats. Indeed, strict scientific review, and contextualized in-depth analysis are the only way to tease out accurate understandings in helping people make more informed decisions about what they

Nowadays, undergoing weight loss is one of the major controversial issues facing America. Many believe that what you consume is more important than how much you consume. While others argue that in order to lose weight you must lose more calories than the calories you consume. Although both sides may be true, after reviewing the sources provided I have concluded that what you consume can be more important when trying to undergo weight loss.

Concluding, if obesity rates continue to gradually increase, unemployment rates will go through the roof. This being the case, Jessica Bruso provides in her article, “10 Reasons to go on a Diet,” ten main beneficials reasons as to why individuals should pursue diets. She not only lists weight loss as one of the reasons to undergo a diet, but she continues to list out reasons, such as lower blood pressure, lower triglycerides, improves cholesterol ratio, decreases the risk of heart disease, improved survival rates for people with heart disease, lowers blood glucose levels, decreases the risk of diabetes, improves one’s mood, and promotes higher energy levels. These all appear as seemingly beneficial to one’s health and overall well-being; however, the truth behind diets has already been defaced

Nowadays, Americans are facing the danger of being overweight. The article Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables written by Mark Bittman highlights that “one third of all Americans either have diabetes or are pre-diabetic.” The fat in our body cannot be formed in one day or two. Instead, it is the result of constantly unhealthy eating habit. The author of Obesity Epidemic by First Figuring Out Its Cause stated that “Energy intake rose because of environmental push factors, i.e., increasing available, cheap, tasty, highly promoted obesogenic foods.” Additionally, according to Bittman, “The average American consumes 44.7 gallons of soft drink；s annually.” The fact that Americans like soft drinks and food that are high in calories is irreversible, but we can do something to change this situation.

Another research method that is presented is unrepresented bias. Unrepresented bias is when the participants of the study do not represent an accurate population. In the first study, Dr. Sarpal surveyed only cyclists. As a result, most cyclists rewarded themselves by eating chocolate, which increased their motivation to do the task. Being cyclists, they are already considered “good” at the task, therefore they will have better results and most likely they do not need the added incentive of chocolate to improve, though it is not unwelcomed. In the second study, the group was made up of volunteers, most of which were not cyclists, and only half of them were receiving chocolate; this was their major motivator. They had nothing to gain out of performing

Chocolate has been with humanity for a very long time for many purposes, including health and pleasure, but there are many theories of chocolate potentially becoming addictive while vanilla has no research done on.

“The Dark Side of Chocolate” is a documentary that explores the underlying issues prevalent in the cocoa trade. For most first world countries chocolate is seen as an accessible treat, however in third world countries, the production of cocoa creates social issues that must be eliminated. Cocoa trade is one of the largest industries in West African countries, but the issues that arise from such trade do more harm than good. The cocoa plantations are trafficking humans to work on their plantations. Furthermore, most instances suggest that these workers do not receive any compensation for their work and most importantly some of these slave laborers are children. Thus, the three issues that the cocoa companies routinely commit in exchange for lower costs are human trafficking, slave labor, and child labor. These companies are aware of such issues but refuse to actively combat them because they are better off financially. It can be argued that these issues can be mitigated through various social, governmental and political policies aimed at combating these problems. The three main issues will be addressed and the various stakeholders affected by these issues will be analyzed. Then this paper will look at the possible solutions to these issues, whereby through government, social or political means.

Chocolate became “a respected scholarly subject” only in recent decades suffering from “puritanical prohibitions” of discussing food or writing about it that were recognized standards of behavior in the Western world. The reviewed book The True History of Chocolate is a valuable addition to what the public knows or, rather, does not know about chocolate, with an interesting historical background that makes an entertaining and useful reading and extends one’s knowledge of things we use daily, sometimes without realizing their long history of evolution and multiple meanings.

Today, while people around the world are enjoying the chocolate, some children in Ivory Coast and Ghana have to work for the cocoa industry even without pay. These children do not have the ability to accept an education and they are trafficked to do the work. According to the documentary called The Dark Side Of Chocolate, the child labour still exists in cocoa industry. In one scene, the journalist talks to the local officer about what he finds about child labour, nevertheless, the government officer insists there was no child in Ivory Coast. As the government officers, they should search about this issue and take action to save those children. Hence, this phenomenon is unfair to the children since they are denied their rights to study which will affect their lives by the cocoa industry, and people should help them from the dangerous situation.