The U.s. Of Excess?

Shifts in the “Food Marketplace” have greatly affected our food choices and habits in the last 40-50 years. As one woman stated in the film The Weight of the Nation, “It’s so hard to combat with what the tv is telling you to feed your kids”. Advertising has come to a whole new level in our generation; you can’t turn on the television without seeing an advertisement for fast food or something equally as unhealthy. As another woman put it, “you are taught that you can eat anywhere, anytime of day, and that eating is a glorious thing”. Another shift that has occurred is an economic one. If you go into a poor neighborhood corner store like they did in the film, you would see chips, sugar, sweets, etc. All of these unhealthy foods are cheap, incredibly cheaper than fresh fruits and vegetables. Obesity rates in these poor areas are much higher than in areas with a higher average income. Culturally, our country is changing to one that is always moving; we don’t have time to prepare a meal for the whole family. It’s much quicker to buy unhealthy fast food that you know your family will enjoy than to prepare a healthy meal that they will grudgingly consume. The film mentioned that our bodies were originally built for scarcity. We are wired to react to things that are sweet and contain a lot of fat because when an animal was killed we had to be able to eat as much of it as possible. The signals telling us to stop eating had to be overridden. Now, we consume so much fat and sugar not

To start, we Americans are living unhealthy lifestyles. We are becoming too lazy, like the Romans relying too much on their slaves. We also eat too much junk food and not enough healthy foods like fruits, and vegetables. Studies have shown that about 40% of women in the U.S. are overweight, and most teens are starting to become obese. Today, almost everyone is always watching T.V. or YouTube, and are barely exercising.

Why does America have an obesity problem? Do we blame it on ourselves, the government, or the supermarket? It is obviously and individual’s responsibility to keep one’s self healthy, but are there ways the government can strive for an overall healthier diet for Americans? Can we change the manipulative ways of Super Markets and persuade them to look past profit? The American government should put in effort to provide a better dietary path for American citizens by working on motivating individuals to make better choices in their diet, pushing Super markets and industries to work together to lower prices of healthier foods, and placing policies and banning unhealthy ingredients in junk foods. It may not be the governments fault, but obesity is such a big issue in American culture that we need to make some major changes and the government is the only one who can make that happen.

Americans today are no strangers to stretching every dollar earned in an attempt to live the American dream. Most people work long hours and eat on the fly with very little thought to what, or where, the food they have purchased came from. The reason food is so inexpensive has not been a concern to the average American, but the article written by Michael Pollan “The Food Movement Rising” attempts to convince the people that it is time to remove the blinders and take an accounting of the situation that America finds itself in. With obesity at epic proportions, and preventable diseases like

After reading chapters 15 and 21 in our Current Issues and Enduring Questions book and viewing Forks Over Knives, I am afraid I do not see this worrisome food issue in America improving in the near future. Obesity is a known epidemic and it is widespread throughout the entire country. According to the documentary film, Forks Over Knives, “We spend $2.2 trillion a year on healthcare: over five times more than the defense budget.” This quote reveals the issue regarding the state of health and by maintaining a healthier diet not only do people benefit, but the government does as well. The current relationship between food and health industries brings an uncertainty that should be seen as a critical concern to the eyes of the public. Too many people

In the article, “Goodbye Big Soda: New York Becomes First City to Ban Large-Sized Soft Drinks,” “...two-thirds of American adults now considered obese… and nearly 40% of the city’s [New York] public elementary and middle school students…” (Park). The harsh reality of today is that America is fat, and it is embarrassing. This is partly due to the fact that some people have no self control when it comes to food and it has gotten out of hand. Society is so quick to blame the fast food restaurants for obesity, but it really is not their fault. People choose where and what they do and do not eat; they do not have to eat fast food but they do anyway. Even if as the government takes action and takes away some of the more tasty, unhealthy foods and replace them with less tasty, healthier foods, people will eventually get used to it, They will adapt and it will just become normal, like a habit or everyday

As we all know America is obese. Americans are getting fatter and faster. Once it was considered obesity happened with high-income countries, but now it shows it is rising with the low and middle class countries. The reason for this is because our food supply and lifestyle are changing. Not only are food expensive, but we live in a very busy world. We have gotten used to buying food that are fast and cheap, which usually means unhealthy. We all cannot afford locally grown food which are healthier, so we turn to fast and cheap food which are usually fast food. Food that are there to serve and make us gain weight fast. Then add in our unhealthy lifestyle of sitting in front of the couch most of the time watching tv and probably eating, instead

In the United States the society needs to work on controlling this problem known as obesity. It is a problem that if does not get controlled sooner than later, will spiral out of hand even more. Before this spirals out of control society needs to take action to reducing the cost of healthy food amongst middle-low class citizens so they can eat the

Obesity in America is a growing problem. There are too many fast food restaurants and many Americans aren’t physically active. Food advertising is targeting children for high calorie, high fat snacks and sugary drinks. Americans are exposed to oversized food portions in restaurants, fast food places, gas stations, movie theaters, super markets, and etc. Some Americans even have a lack of access to healthy foods. If the government had a say in our diets, problems like these would be prevented.

Exceptionalism is neither new, as explained above, nor exclusive to the United States. Several historical actors, such as Great Britain, France and the former Soviet Union claimed exceptionalist ideas (Ignatieff, 2005; Holsti, 2010). The current U.S. President Obama also stresses a similar point by stating that “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism” (Obama, cited in Ceaser, 2012, p.4). However, exceptionalism purposed by the U.S. is different from those of other countries. Firstly, although each countries believe in their own uniqueness (Hoffmann, 2005), no country but the U.S. claims and attempts to discharge its missionary duty in international affairs. Regarding this point, Ignatieff (2005, p.13) states that the U.S.’s “desire for moral leadership is something more than the ordinary narcissism and nationalism that all powerful states display”. Secondly, the U.S. has embraced the exceptionalist ideas from the very outset of its history, while other great powers in history only started to adopt it in order “to justify their acquisition and maintenance of empires” (Davis and Lynn-Jones,1987, p.22). This fact implies that American exceptionalism is not mere political ideology, but national identity, which has strongly inherited among American public. In the U.S., where diversified people live together, it is not common language, religion or culture, but shared

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) more than one third (34.96%) of U.S adults are obese. This proves that people are not taking care of their bodies and being aware of the types of foods that go in their mouths. The issue is that many people are disagreeing with the government regulating what we eat, however if this law is not enforced people will be free to buy excessive amounts of unhealthy sugary foods, leading them to a chronic disease. Even though sugary drinks and foods can have a good taste and be satisfying to many, the government should regulate what we eat because there will be less people with chronic illness, it will be less money wasted on health care for obese people, and there will be less individuals consuming trans fats.

Why it is that America is the richest country in the world but have one of the worst diets and eating habits out of them all? Americans has turned away from their old traditional way of cooking and eating. In the past, Americans cooked almost all of their food at home and ate at a dinner table. Before, there was fast food or processed food American women stayed at home all day cooking dinner for their family; they also enjoyed cooking it was one of their favorite chore. Now, that there are more women in the workforce they do not have time to cook a home cooked meal. Presently, Americans do not really cook that much at home instead they substitute a home cooked meal for processed food or fast food. The most important problem, with the is Americans eat too much food that taste really good but is really unhealthy for you instead of the food that may not taste as good but is healthier. The many problem, with the modern American diet and eating habits are Americans eat too much high fructose corn syrup, processed food and fast food plus Americans super-size everything.

Over the past 50 years, the way we eat has changed more than it had in the previous 10,000. Now, 60% of Americans over the age of 20 are overweight. The fast-food industry is highly responsible for today’s health epidemic. Some people choose to blame the government for not balancing individual rights, and the common good. However, the government is not forcing you to eat. You put yourself at risk of diet related health problems.

United States is the most formidable country in the world, the consequence is that it also owns the most unhealthy people in the world. Fat groups even occupy half proportion of people in that country and American

Wouldn’t it be reasonable to consider that people just might eat healthier if they simply had the money to do so? It would be interesting to consider that the people who usually have bad eating habits, are the ones who actually can’t afford to eat healthy. America has the highest obesity rate in the world, but who knows where we could be if the healthy food was more affordable and the junk food wasn’t reasonably cheap. Illnesses and diseases have become common too in people, many that come from just unhealthy eating that has taken a negative toll on the body. Not to mention, people living in low-income areas where in those areas, the main thing around them are fast food restaurants. The promotion of healthier eating and a healthier lifestyle, though, isn’t completely hidden from the public, though more ads about tasty junk food are on televisions, billboards, and so on, more than food that will benefit your body and general health. These things are all played into the fact that people already have a terrible diet, and the prices of foods that can make someone’s diet healthier are too high for most to even include them in their diet regularly. Healthier foods should cost less because it can help lower the high obesity rate in America, it will promote a healthier lifestyle to people to do things like exercise more, and it can help prevent life-threatening illnesses caused by unhealthy eating.