Vebesity In Food

This article was to examine how the US government uses dietary guidelines for Americans and how the guidelines were supposed to help us eat and stay healthy. Diet and chronic diseases are sometimes connected. For example, it is proven that nutrient deficiency disease like scurvy can be cured by consuming the lost nutrients. However, it is also shown that some nutrient exposure can cause chronic illness such as energy, fats, sodium dietary fiber, and food exposures, etc. making it difficult to set dietary guidelines. In addition to some nutrient causing chronic diseases, nondietary factors such as stress, lack of exercise, smoking and other environmental factors are linked to causing chronic illnesses (Slavin, 2012).

Over the past few decades, deficiencies of essential nutrients have drastically diminished, many infectious diseases have been reduced, and most of the U.S. population can now foresee a long and productive life. In the meantime, rates of chronic diseases hefty portion of which are identified with poor quality diet and physical activity has increased. About half of all American grown-up have one or more preventable, diet-related chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes, and overweight and obesity.

Herman, D. R., Harrison, G. G., Afifi, A. A., & Jenks, E. (2008, January). Effect of a targeted subsidy on intake of fruits and vegetables among low-income women in the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children. American Journal of Public Health, 98(1), 98-106. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2005.079418

Journalist and novelist Michael Pollan writes about the trials and tribulations surrounding food in North America and raises questions regarding Western diet, which is mostly comprised of refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup and corn in general. He reiterates that chemically generated food is creating disease in North Americans; If we eliminate these factors and adopt the eating habits of less industrialized places in the world will we in our lifetime see rates of heart disease, type two diabetes and obesity decline dramatically? The western diet has evolved drastically in the last sixty years, so much so that people have become codependent on the government, dietitians and food agencies regarding their health and what to consume. The land is suffering from pesticides and singular plant farming, the alternative to this is to buy organic but at a higher price. Media has influenced the consumer to read the label and accept and trust the daily vitamin percentages on the box, as this is what is best for them. Money is the key factor in all of this and the government, scientific research and media know that, therefor the public is in for a shock when they realize that the very labels that are supposed to save them have fooled them.

Understanding the effects of poor and efficient eating habits and how to manage your health is crucial to the existence of a healthy population in the America. To understand these approaches, one has to understand some of the poor eating habits witnessed on most people in the United States. Paula (2015) states that only ten percent of the entire American population follow a daily diet consistent with the federal nutrient recommendations. Other than following the required nutrition, most people prefer meals rich in trans-fats, salt, saturated fat, and sugar and ignore fruits, vegetables, and fiber. The increased preference of poor nutrition contributes a total of four out of six in

In order to change the way the United States food system is operating at the moment, a change needs to be made in the education that people are receiving about the way their food is produced, manufactured, distributed and consumed. The U.S. food system has become increasingly reliant on mass production factories and multinational retail corporations while local farms and family owned food markets diminish. Economies of scale and opportunity costs represent barriers to change of the current food system because of the many different paths available, each creating different outcomes for consumers, sellers, large corporations and small farms, determining their profit, prices, capital and value. Educating the American people about the benefits of local food production and the downsides of large scale food production, such as nutritional value, disease and safety concerns, and economic advantages, will help to move our food system from “point A” to “point B”.

Many people in America believe that we should eat healthier foods. However, a large portion of the advertising created for food in America is focused on unhealthy foods and products, many of which are nutritionally poor and easily accessible to much of the population. This results in a contradictory ideal towards improvement of health, where individuals will constantly eat unhealthy foods and struggle to lose the weight that they will knowingly gain. If people in the modern American society were to focus more on consuming organic foods and products, people would be healthier, reducing high medical costs and improving the overall well-being of Americans. The benefits of organic foods should also be introduced to children in schools so they

Adding local foods to people’s diets can be a small step to big change, for local foods have many nutritional and flavorful benefits. If fruits and vegetables are given more time to ripen, they can absorb more nutrients.The nutritional value of a food decreases over time. Farmer’s markets have the food picked within 24 hours allowing the food to have its potential nutrition (Source A). Cynthia Sass, a dietitian, mentions in Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon’s book Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally that phytochemicals and really powerful disease-fighting substances can “never get as high” when “a food never really reaches

Many areas in the United States contain an abundance of neighborhoods that function with little to no healthy food sources nearby because of the large number of people in poverty. With the fleeing number of locally owned grocery stores and convenient fast food restaurants sprouting in urban and rural areas, residents do not have an adequate quantity of fruits and vegetables readily available. The City of Baltimore defines a food desert as “an area where the distance to a supermarket is more than one quarter of a mile; the median household income is at or below 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Level; over 30 percent of households have no vehicle available; and the average Healthy Food Availability Index score [convenience stores, corner stores, and supermarkets] is low” (Food Deserts). Baltimore City today “ranks second among similarly sized cities for the number of low-income people living in food insecure areas” (Freishtat, 2014). Leaving eight percent of white Baltimoreans living in food deserts compared to the 35 percent of black Baltimoreans, and 30 percent of children living in food deserts in Baltimore alone (Buczynski, 2015).

Individuals who live in low-income areas have to rely heavily on fast food and cheap food from convenience stores because it is the only food close and affordable to them. People in poor neighborhoods are, “Confronted with a high concentration of poor diet choices” and, “End up eating a less healthy diet” because, “Few markets” offer, “Fresh fruit and vegetables” (Cortright 1). Even if

Although, a lot of the dried fruits in the market today contains a numerous amount of sugars to give it the sweetened taste and preservatives to keep it fresh, which overall defeats the purpose of it. As well as informing his readers about the history of food, Pollan also discusses about the western

The Quad Cities Area adult population generally fails to meet the USDA’s recommended dietary guideline of consuming at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, with only 35.7% reporting meeting these guidelines (Professional Research Consultants, 2015). This policy analysis will review current community efforts within the Quad Cities area that are concentrating on improving fruit and vegetable consumption of area adults. Additional policy options to help increase access, knowledge and skills regarding fruit and vegetable consumption will also be reviewed in terms of strengths, weaknesses, feasibility, and economic impact.

For numerous amounts of people, fruits and vegetables may take a backseat to other foods such as junk food, but for many these healthy food choices are just not options. This is a very widespread issue that has swept the nation and the individual cities that formulate it. In particular, the lack of food security in Columbus, Ohio has had devastating effects for many residents, especially those who live in rural areas and the many underserved communities. These effects include being more prone to chronic diseases and unhealthy Body Mass Index (BMI) measurements. For adults “Twenty-five percent of Franklin County, Ohio, adults say they don’t eat five servings of foods and vegetables each day” (NLC). The residents of Columbus City should be able

Improving the access and availability of high quality fruit and vegetable at retail stores in underserved communities. Underserved communities are communities who have inadequate access and availability of high quality fruit and vegetable. This can be achieved through attracting new food stores to underserved communities through financial incentives, improving public transportation to supermarkets or influencing business owners to provide transportation for customers. In addition encouraging owners of business to update the facilities at existing stores to enable them to increase the supply of shelf space dedicated to high quality and affordable fruit and vegetable at existing

On average, a household spent $235 a month for groceries in 2009. Within this amount, 4.6% of their spending was on fruits. In 2010, the average spent monthly on groceries was $219. Within this amount, 6.2% of their spending was on fruits. Although families were spending less on groceries, they were still getting some fruits within their budget. Vegetable spending grew in total from 5.4% to 6.3%. In both 2009 and 2010, the most purchased vegetables were fresh and canned types (e.g. ketchup and pickles). 60% of vegetable purchases were fresh vegetables. According to Table 1, other vegetables (e.g. celery, mushrooms and olives) accounted for 40% of all purchased vegetables in 2009 for WIC households based on cup-equivalent servings. There was a similar expenditure in 2010 of vegetable purchases among WIC participants. Before WIC’s revisions, WIC had a very limited set of vegetables available.