What You Don 't Know Might Kill You

One of the most unhealthy diets in the world is that of an American. It is made up of processed foods and a good amount of television. America easily has the most fast food restaurants in the entire world. Leave it to McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King or any other fast-food restaurant to serve extremely cheap and even unhealthier food at any time during the day or night. ”It tastes good so why not?” That seems to be the question many people are asking now-a-days. Because it is so easily accessible and processed, it is made to be very tasty and extremely unhealthy. Many Americans find his or herself indulging on the these fatty foods of America on a day-to-day basis. While it may taste good at the time, it has a terrible effect on your body

The American diet is based mostly in processed food which contains enormous amount of sugar. The excessive consumption of sugar can cause diseases such as obesity, heart diseases, alzheimer, liver diseases, diabetes and others. One of the problems with the consumption of sugar is that people get sick progressively without the knowledge that it is caused by sugar. In addition, sugar is an addictive food and life without it is almost impossible. As a result, processed foods are cheaper than healthy food. It is hard to avoid processed food when Americans do not have time to cook because of their life style. Americans need to know the way to change their diet and improve their lifestyles. Americans sometimes forget about the amount of sugar that a soda or flavored drink contains. These drinks are tasty, but it will not satisfy thirst. Sugar is equally dangerous and has the same health effects than smoke cigarettes. Consume sugar in excessive amounts per day have a significant effect in Americans ' daily life. Americans should be aware of the diseases caused by their eating habits, therefore; they should be more conscious of what they eat and change their diet.

Many Americans are concern about the increment of disease and obesity caused by the limited options of healthy food, “since America is saturated with junk food advertising”(Khullar 135). However, in consequence of the absence of an American cuisine, fast food restaurants and foods high in fats offered by supermarkets, has become the first option to Americans. After all, Pollan’s argument that the lack of a stable traditional cuisine is the consequence of America’s national eating disorder and the steady national diet is reasonable since there are many factors that support his claim. For example, Mary Roach, in Liver and Opinions: Why We Eat What We Eat and Despite the Rest, claims that the food we eat is influenced by people’s cultural background; in other words, people are used to eating what their parents feed them when they were kids. “In addition, Americans have a conflict with having a stable eating habit; they tend to change their diet often”(Roach 123). Overall, Pollan’s is comprehensible while he argues that Americans do not have a stable culture of food, which causes an instability in people’s

“Dietary patterns of Americans differ widely, but most Americans eat a diet that could best be described as in need of improvement”. Compared to other countries, the American diet is very different. I have first hand experienced how much different Americans eat from other countries. For a brief, but very beneficial and productive time, I lived in Barcelona, Spain with my host family. Over in Spain, they eat much more fresh, organic food. There was a lot more seafood in the average diet. The meal configuration over there is also different than ours. Lunch is the largest meal eaten every day; different than America, where dinner is the largest.

Diet is a huge concern for many people today who are either trying to control a preventable disease or those people who are trying to lose the excess weight that they are carrying around with them. Not only has our diet as Americans been steadily getting worse but as our population has risen there have been very few attempts to counter the negative effects that over processing our food has done. Every Single American, who has eaten the hot lunches at school remembers and has a first hand knowledge of the taste of preservatives and manufactured flavor of the food they ate during their formative years attending Elementary through High School.

Americans do not eat well. Because of the fast-food restaurants and processed foods, the United States has high rates of obesity. Presently there is only about two-thirds of Americans who are obese or overweight. Frank Hu co-director of program in obesity Epidemiology and Prevention was careful of saying that Americans eat well. Claiming that it’s almost like an American diet report card. The American diet improvement was a balanced rejection of the consumption of trans saturated fats. Even with the improvements, Americans collectively scored under 50 out of 110 on the Alternative Healthy Eating Index, according to the story.

I never doubted the food in America for being unhygienic because of the law enforcement. After moving in the United States few months back, I am amazed with the food culture in American. As diverse as America is in terms of its population, so were the food items. For a while I wanted to try every new dish found here. Most of the foods are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. However I was surprised to see how fresh vegetables were more expensive than other food product like meat. Back in my home country, fresh vegetables were less expensive than that of other food products. After eating foods in America for almost 3 months, I noticed a change in my body structure. I was getting fatter. I ate same food as I used to eat in my home country in the same amount. I thought the change was due to my healthy diet. By chance I watched a documentary called “Food Inc.” which changed my perspective about food culture and prices in America. For example, the FDA approved red dye 40 to be a healthy food coloring in beverages. However, some studies are often linked with hyperactivities in children due to intake of red dye 40. Most of the European countries have banned food coloring dye (CNN) while it’s still valid in America to buy colored food item. So, how healthy is American food? It’s questionable.

Did you know that the people with the most illnesses are those who don’t have a healthy eating diet? By maintaining an unhealthy diet, more people become sick and that means medical expenses have a high rise. The government and everyone that lives in the United States are somehow affected by this issue. This issue is prevalent across the entire United States, but is mostly seen in low-income communities other than wealthy communities. If we all ate healthy, this issue wouldn’t be so much of a problem. Medical expenses would be lowered and less people would die or suffer from health illnesses since they are introducing healthy nutrients into their body. Unhealthy eating is not the only choice out there. Ever since eating habits changed over the decades, people don’t have to worry about preparing their own foods, since now most meals

Some of the reasons that people eat and drink all the unhealthy foods is because they are cheaper than buying all the healthy nutrients that you body needs to survive and thrive. Although the government thinks that all the attempts to the solution to taxing unhealthy foods aren’t working, but I think that all the foods that are being taxed are the healthy produce that will go bad in a couple of weeks or even days. One of the solutions to this is that if there are less and less of the unhealthy foods there will be less and less of the unhealthy people in the United States. Some people think that where someone lives is based on what they eat and that can be true, but if we just make less of the unhealthy foods, we will live longer lives and thrive more. All these different attempts to trying to get the government

Americans eat too much fast food which is high in salt, sugar and fat. Scientists say that children born today can die before their parents because of eating unhealthy foods. Why Americans eat that way because they think healthy foods are more expensive than packaged foods and healthy foods take longer time to prepare. How can Americans make their diet better? They can stop eating fast foods and eat healthier foods and also have a piece of fruit for snack during the day.

Everyday in America the average citizen consumes three to five pounds of food each day (Andrew). The question is “What exactly are they eating?” The most common food an American consumes is processed food. At least 70 percent of our calories we intake come from processed foods (Warner, 2013, XV). Yes, processed foods are convenient. However, people tend to overlook how much sugar, sodium, and chemicals are in processed food before putting them into their body. Processed foods are engineered to taste better so Americans too often choose them over nutritional choices. . However, a person is entitled to the right of choice. Ever since the increase of processed food production after World War II, obesity rate in America have climbed exponentially. Adults in America need to be aware of the possible future health risks of consuming processed food, and how early it can start in childhood obesity can start from school lunch programs.

Americans usually think of people who eat healthy negatively and usually criticize them for doing it. Either it’s they think it's ignorant or they just don’t have the time or the money to do it. Some of these people though are on a diet and these don’t actually help as you might think,” Yes, you lose weight, but about 95% of people who lose weight by dieting will regain it in 1-5 years,” say Meg Selig from Psychology Today. After all, the

Why shame a person who eats what they can? Many Americans do not have a choice of eating healthy foods when the majority of processed foods contain a large amount of sugar. Even though people have a choice when buying food, they often do not have the knowledge of what harmful ingredients put into foods that look healthy. Many disadvantages occur to Americans with their health and judgment for the government, along with food industries have power over the nation’s food. Both government and food industries are taking advantage of American citizens by keeping them unaware of harmful ingredients they consume.

“Americans love to talk about their freedoms. Most of the time they mean the familiar ones—speech and press and assembly, as well as the other high-minded things our forefathers made sure to include in the national contract. But there are other freedoms too—the freedom to be loud, the freedom to be large, the freedom to have an appetite for anything at all and then set out to satisfy it.” (Kluger et al., 2015). Published by TIME magazine, the authors of this article intended to expose the harmful nature of American eating habits. Through this quotation, the authors indirectly criticized the choices that American make when eating. Although people have the ability to eat anything they choose, not all foods are healthy and benefiting the body. The majority of these harmful and unhealthy foods are processed foods. The alternative to eating processed foods is to eat organic or natural foods. According to Brittany Chin, a licensed dietician and registered dieticians, organic foods contain more nutrients without additives than processed foods which are mainly just energy dense and do not provide substantial benefits to the body (Chin, 2013). Americans should be eating less processed foods because the processing breaks down the natural nutrients of food while adding dangerous food additives.

Envision a family doing their weekly grocery shopping at the local grocery store. They decide to stop and pick up vegetables for later on that week. They are unsure if they should purchase canned vegetables or if they should walk to the produce department and instead purchase fresh vegetables. The deciding factor in that moment should be the healthier option. Why would they consider consuming the processed foods when the produce is clearly the healthier choice? For most Americans the answer is not that simple. Processed foods are the quick, inexpensive,and enjoyable way to satisfy hunger cravings. The act of processing foods consists of changing or altering a food product before consumption. America is one of the most advanced countries in food production and food preservation. Individuals enjoy going out to eat or stopping by the local fast food restaurant because it is convenient,tasty, and cheap, but the lasting effects can be detrimental to one’s health and lifestyle. These poorly made foods supply little to no nutritional value and increase the chances of health issues such as obesity and heart disease. Although purchasing processed foods is convenient and lasts for a long period of time, processed foods are a catalyst for obesity, diabetes, and heart disease; nutrients are being depleted and replaced with synthetic materials, and financial strain on a person’s income becomes more apparent.