What Can We Do?

In David Freedman’s article, “How Junk Food Can End Obesity” (2013), he begins by discussing his endeavors to search for wholesome food. He continues to come across food items that claim to be healthy and void of processed junk, but all he finds are items high in calories or the expense is too much for an average American. He argues that wholesome foods are actually just as bad, if not even worse, than junk food and that the Big Food industry has the technology available to make food healthier, but still retain its appeal. Freedman mentions continuously throughout his article that Americans who are most at risk of becoming obese are those who cannot afford healthy foods, completely defeating the purpose of the wholefoods movement. He

Like consumers, farmers do not have much choice either. Farmers plant crops that are demanded by the global food market. Essentially, farms are no longer owned by farmers and the farmers become the laborers. Also, it sometimes is all or nothing for farmers. For one, some land can only be used for one crop, for example coffee, and if something goes wrong with the crop, farmers lose everything. Second, unskilled labor jobs are dwindling, so there might not be much else a farmer could do if something were to happen to their land. It seems that when crops do well, farmers should be making a lot of money, however, the food processors and distributors are the ones who make most of the profit. Because of this, farmers are left with pennies compared to what the others make. Farmers and consumers have fought to control the food system, but what other choice do they have than to support it?

In the article “How Junk Food Ends Obesity,” David H. Freedman, an author and writer, discusses the pros and cons that weight engages in people all around the world. Freedman’s purpose is to solve society’s issue with obesity rates increasing by pushing and pressuring more processed food industry to be healthier. He incorporates ways for customers to eat what they like, but in a healthy way. This article, in my eyes, impacts many individuals that do struggle with weight in a time in their life. Freedman originates with a plan that if he can find a way to push healthcare system to eat better, business will expand. Not only will business expand, but more people will become healthy by eating the same food but without it being processed. His plan is to create a wholesome food movement that could work better, reducing the chance of obesity rates increasing.

The world continues to face a wide-scale food crisis. The effects of this crisis reach from the farmers who grow and raise the food to the very system of laws that are in place to govern the system itself. Food giants are reaching deep into their pockets for lobbying in order to take advantage of both the producers and the consumer all in the name of profit. Moreover, farmers are being driven to suicide, and the ecosystem’s livelihood is treading a fine line. Both Michael Pollan and Raj Patel bring to light these problems and offer suggestions to help lessen their severity. Though there are many philosophies on which they both agree, they both have their own ideas to fight back. Pollan seeks to challenge the consumer as an individual while

Judging from the title of David Freedman’s “How Junk Food Can End Obesity” published in The Atlantic, Freeman's audience, the upper middle class of America, conjures up an image of a crazy Freedman throwing away every piece of scientific data that shows junk food is hazardous to your health. However, this is not the case. Freedman brings to light a more compromising approach to solving America’s obesity problem. His opinion is that by manufacturing healthier fast food we can solve America’s obesity issue and that his method would be able to be established nation-wide in a cheaper, fast and more effortless way than some other methods proposed. Not all, but the majority of The Atlantic’s audience cares about

Nonetheless, how are we supposed to do that if everything is now being processed made. Voiland and Haupt state, “More processing means more profits, but typically makes food less healthy.” This matters for the reason that if they keep making processed food, there will be no good nutrients in our food left, food in America will become fake. The food industry is doing this due to the fact that it's the cheapest way to create food.According to Murray fast food cost less than healthier foods. Why is that and why does that stop us from buying healthy food? Many people are having huge money trouble. If you had a family to feed and you only have five dollars. Would you chose between a pound of lettuce and a pound of tomatoes for five dollars or Five burgers for five dollars to feed your family. Which would you chose? You would chose the burgers knowing it will full your family more than lettuce. Over the years money has become a big economic problem especially in America. People have started spending their money wisely. The food may not be healthy but it's the only choice they have to feed their family with satisfaction and for cheap. The food industry is the ones making these foods, they chose if it should have nutrition in it they chose the prices too our foods. Do they even care about our healthy? They say we have to do something about this epidemic of obesity so why can't they start by changing the way our food is

Obesity has dangerously increased over the years. Its consequences can be fatal for the human immune system. Some of the complications of overweight are: heart disease, diabetes, malnutrition, cancer, and even death. However, the cost of healthy food is twice or three times more than the price of junk food. Everywhere healthy options are more expensive, even water costs more than sodas. Making healthier food more affordable, will contribute to having healthier population. I think healthy food options should be more affordable because cheaper prices for junk food promotes obesity and other severe health issues, and families with low income can’t afford the costs of a healthy lifestyle.

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

Obesity is a problem in different areas throughout the world; obesity is a major problem in the United States of America. The food industry in the U.S. has changed. Food is cheaper and easier to access, but food is lower in quality and is massively produced (Kenner, 2008). Food is no longer as hard to come by as it once was and is not as expensive, but healthy food is more expensive and, most of the time, requires trips to the grocery store. In American society today, American are busy and have minimal time to exercise, cooking, or even go to the grocery store. The lower socioeconomic classes are notably affected as a result of individuals and families of lower socioeconomic classes often can’t afford healthy food from local grocery stores

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

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

Obviously since the junk food is cheaper then more people will buy the junk food over healthy food simply because healthy food is too expensive. We can see this is true because according to a CDC statistic, some of the poorest states in America are also the fattest because people who live in poverty simply can't afford healthy food. One thing I admire about what Celente described in this essay is that he wants health to be more of a priority in future American society and I couldn't agree more, and organizations like Feeding America, Fight Hunger, and the United Nations World Food Programme are not only working to help fight hunger issues around the world, but also making sure that no child or adult will ever go hungry again. I've volunteered for Feeding America's branch in my hometown of Detroit, Michigan especially because my brother also works for the company and Focus:Hope. It brings joy to my face whenever I feel that I can make a positive impact on my city that has seen some rough days in the

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.

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.

Improvements to obesity can also be made by cutting the prices of organic food so that more people can afford to buy healthy foods. If there is more demand for organic foods, making them popular, their prices will be much lower. Additionally, grocery stores should be stocked with locally grown food and with less imported food from across the country or world because the shipping affects the product’s price. Farmers markets and local vendors are a nice alternative to grocery stores and a great way to buy foods. Not having to pay stores to sell their products, farmers get the entire price of the product, so they can reduce the selling price. State governments should cooperate with farmers and small businesses so that these markets could stay afloat.