W. Atwater's Estimation

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

As a culture and as individuals, we no longer seem to know what we should and should not eat. When the old guides of culture and national cuisine and our mothers’ advice no longer seem to operate, the omnivore’s dilemma returns and you find yourself where we do today—utterly bewildered and conflicted about one of the most basic questions of human life: What should I eat? We’re buffeted by contradictory dietary advice: cut down on fats one decade, cut down on carbs the next. Every day’s newspaper brings news of another ideal diet, wonder-nutrient, or poison in the food chain. Hydrogenated vegetable oils go from being the modern alternatives to butter to a public health threat, just like that. Food marketers bombard us with messages that this or that food is “heart healthy” or is “part of a nutritious meal”. Without a stable culture of food to guide us, the omnivore’s dilemma has returned with a vengeance. We listen to scientists, to government guidelines, to package labels—to anything but our common sense and traditions. The most pleasurable of activities—eating—has become heavy with anxiety. The irony is, the more we worry about what we eat, the less healthy and fatter we seem to become.

Weight is a part of every human beings life. Every one weights something. In society, it is commonly found that people mistakenly judge their health based on their weight. America has thousands of health experts and nutritionist who claim themselves as protectors of health, “helping a nation stricken with heart disease, diabetes, and cancer” (Maxville 443). They believe that eating is simply for fueling the body and you should eat mostly plants, but not too much. Maxville uses the vast theory of health experts to tie in the point that, “each of these maladies is tied to our diet and essentially our weight. As a culture we no longer discuss healthy eating without also discussing unhealthy weights” (Maxville 444). While Maxville believes that the bigger issue is not weight, but linking nutrition and body type. While, Pollan warns readers of eating too much, he never mentions that it is equally as fatal to eat too little. Pollan states in his essay that overeating is the “greatest threat” to our survival. Maxville uses Pollan’s statements on the topic of weight to prove that being unhealthy should not be tied solely to being overweight, because being under weight is equally unhealthy. To further discredit the claims Pollan makes linking weight to health, Maxville states, “A growing group of academics who

Long ago, the ancestors of humans lived in unpredictable times in which meals were not guaranteed. Now in the 21st century, data suggests, as mentioned in Fed Up, that there will be more deaths caused directly or indirectly by obesity than by starvation. The documentary Fed Up focuses on the terrifying issue that plagues the United States and the world: obesity. It delves into the components that contribute to this menacing epidemic that only continues to get worse. The documentary builds on the stories of four young American children from all over the country that are severely obese. One of the kids, at 14 years of age, weighs over 400 pounds. Fed Up tries to answer one simple question with a complex and scary answer. How did the world get here? There are several different issues the documentary tried to address to answer this question. In the documentary, several misconceptions about food were dissected. In addition to debunking myths about food, the documentary discussed how it is possible to eat healthy for less money than eating unhealthy. Those were a few of the aspects that can have an impact on individuals, but the documentary did not stop there. It also attacked the huge food industry for their misleading advertisements and selling techniques, as well as condemning their focus of selling to younger people. Furthermore, the documentary explained how the food industry is so rich and powerful in the country’s capital that it has thwarted the many attempts in trying

Most people know him as an 11 time NBA Champion, 5 time MVP, 12-time All-Star and he were the centerpieces of the Celtics dynasty during his 13-year career. Bill Russell ended up as the most successful player in the history of the NBA and formed the centerpiece of the greatest dynasty in the history of the league. For his accomplishments in the Civil Rights Movement on and off the court, Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. Bill was outstanding at everything he ever put his mind to. For all that he accomplished on and off the field, Bill Russell is definitely one of the all-time great players of Basketball.

According to the USDA, at the start of century 21st American people have increased their daily caloric intake by consuming five hundred calories more than in 1970. As cited by Whitney & Rolfes (2011), there are many recognized causes of obesity such as genetics, environment, culture, socioeconomic, and metabolism among others; but the cause most evident

When tourist come to America they see the bigger food portions on our plates than what they would see in other countries throughout the world. In the U.S. obesity is a one of the major problems we have because people are free to buy and eat what they want without anyone to tell them differently. The cost of healthier foods are also more expensive than buying fast food or anything else that’s not healthy. As the obesity issue becomes a bigger problem new problems start to rise. For example health issues are increasing for the obese.

When it comes to the topic of obesity, most will readily agree that it is a growing dilemma. This argument has many writers bringing different responses. Two explanations are debated in What You Eat is Your Business by Radley Balko and Don’t Blame the Eater by David Zinczenko. Both pieces create a good stance on the topic of obesity. Balko’s piece, however, has a better all around flow, organization and consistency.

However, “ weight loss and prevention of excess gain have largely been failure and have influenced preduice agians fat people.(Firth, J. (2012).. The constant tug of war between food and drink industy and legal polices to make healthier choices in soceity,In which the latter mosl likey wins. “ the food industry powerful motications to downlplay and distance themselves from concersn about excess weight.”( firth,J (2012). Whereas media and food industlries are taking great advantage on promoting unhealtheir food,The pharamcertical and weigh loss companies with health professions are promoting techniques to Reduce obesity in more strict manner, such as with bariratric surgery, Lipo suction and other Rigid weight loss programs.Wheras when the role of status plays, simply the society with higher statuts can affor theese regimans for their interest, while others with lower status use's more unexpensive methoods.

Dewey Grantham Jr. agreed with the distinctiveness of the South, like Woodward, but believed Southern nationalization was positive, like Franklin. Grantham posited for a two way exchange of identity and distinctiveness. The nation does not just impact the South, the South impacts the nation, giving the South agency within the national story. Which is an important turn in Southern historiography, and become the prevailing trend in Southern histories: C. Brenden Martin, Karen L. Cox, and James C. Cobb, even though his is a skewed agency, evidence Southerners operating in the construction of their own identities, even if they’re based on inaccurate outside stereotypes. Like Woodward, Grantham thinks experiences are important, thus Southern (poor, rural, agrarian) shaped politics. But, he centers on the white South and politics (not a lot of blacks or women), and, compared to other works, seems to follow a strict definition of what is political. Grantham interprets political as Political, but most other Southern historians support a broader, socio-econo-cultural political, like: Tera Hunter, Mary Hoffschwelle, Thomas Bynum, and Melissa Walker and Rebecca Sharpless, Edward Ayers, Louis Kyriakoudes, and C. Brenden Martin. However, his interpretation is a step backwards, since his work does not include a lot of diversity and Franklin and Woodward had already put race as a main factor years before. Franklin, Bynum, and Pippa Holloway shows there are enough Political and legal

As seen during the eighteenth century, the presence of excess body fat was envied and very rare; seen only in kings, the rich, and the wealthy as a sign of power and prosperity. Once food shortage was no longer relevant, the 20th century re-assessed this “sign of power” as a sign of ill health, and was then documented in medical practices as the chronic disease known as obesity. As we look at the roots of obesity today, causes of the disease cannot be attributed to a single origin. However, there are many daily influences that justify our nations expanding waistlines; the most obvious being an unhealthy diet. The role of food in our society has altered the way Americans perceive nutrition. Meal times are advertised as social events; an instance of mindless eating, with little awareness on stopping when you’re full, and overeating as a result. Portion sizes are much larger than nutritionally necessary, and lack in substantial protein, causing you to

Similar to Cornell, Horne argues that African Americans who migrated in groups to Mexico in the nineteenth-century did so under an understanding that the settlement programs would be a means for blacks to escape white supremacy and prosper economically. Shankman, argued in his article that African Americans in the twentieth century continued to foster the notion that blacks could find success in Mexico. According to the author, the press pointed out the success stories of individuals who prospered socially and economically in Mexico to support the idea that settling in Mexico could provide blacks the opportunity to make money and enjoy life. And according to McBroome, African American aspirations for economic self-sufficiency further fueled

Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and a recent documentary Food, Inc. reveal how the modern day food system actually works. We then come to realize that obesity isn’t caused by laziness; it is caused by the modernization of our country (How Michael Pollan Made Me Want to Eat Cheetos). In Food, Inc., a farmer states “If we put glass walls on all the mega food systems, we would have a different food system.” In other words, consumers have really no idea how their food is produced or even what goes in their everyday meals. This transformation has altered how we produce and distribute food, which has affected the fundamental health of both people and the planet we live on. Stereotypically, obesity is affected to those who exercise less and eat more. However, it is a struggle to define obesity because it is more than that. Obesity is a “disease which is caused by the modernization of the food industry (How Michael Pollan Made Me Want to Eat Cheetos). In the new food industry, cooking is not required. Today, frozen and canned foods make it easy to have a quick dinner. However, many people forget that these canned and frozen foods have an extremely high amount of preservatives, fats, sugars, and sodium (How Michael Pollan Made Me Want to Eat Cheetos). The modernization also allows for longer periods of “TV watching, longer drives to and from work, supermarket product placement… and even clothing designers

While 34 percent people in the United States are obese, almost one out of every six households will find themselves fearful sometime in a year of not having sufficient amount of food to eat. Truly, these problem are not related to any specific one race or gender, and they are not simply due to faults of willpower or personnel discipline. As author mentioned they are symptoms of a broken food system.

Statistical information confirms: obesity and overweight have already turned into an issue of national concern. In 2002, “a National Survey conducted by American Sports Data revealed that 61% of adults in the U.S. felt that they were overweight, 19% admitting that they were ‘considerably’ overweight” (American Sports Data). The major causes of obesity, overweight, and similar nutritional problems included genetics, population trends, hurried lifestyles, high-carbohydrate diets, less demanding workplaces, smoking cessation, and social class aspects (American Sports Data). That hurried lifestyles and a less demanding workplace contribute in the development of obesity trends is clear. But even more importantly, because the number of those who are overweight or obese exceeds one half of the American population, the government must control our diets. The information about the costs of obesity and related diseases is even more compelling.