I completely agree that the food choices Americans are making are detrimental not only to themselves, but to the environment. Our foods are processed and changed so much that when they arrive at our plates they are practically unrecognizable. Not only are our foods replete with hormones and preservatives, but the petroleum used to transport these foods is adding to the world’s problems with pollution and emissions. A good alternative is to buy locally grown fruits and vegetables, which are usually grown under healthier conditions and assures you the food on your plate hasn’t left behind a big cloud of pollution. Cooking, which for some reason has gone out of style, is another great option. Americans have grown to need instant gratification, which explains the need for food to be fast, easy to find, and cheap. Sadly, what we don’t pay for in cash, we pay for in health. Diabetes, obesity, cholesterol and heart disease are among the health deficiencies that are becoming more prevalent. By reducing the frequency in which we indulge in fast food, we decrease our sodium intake, cholesterol, and chances of being a victim of our own food choices. If parents make the right choices, namely choosing vegetables over fries, their children will follow in their example and ask for fresh tomatoes instead of a greasy chicken McNugget.
Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary (in the form of food) to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet. On the other hand, a poor diet can have an injurious impact on health, causing deficiency diseases and health-threatening conditions like obesity and metabolic syndrome; and such common chronic systemic diseases as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Back in the day, grandparents and great grandparents used to grow their food in their backyards and use organic food to feed their families. This is why it was very usual to see people die at their late 90’s. Now a day, we keep on seeing people dying at early ages because of their bad eating habits. Everything in life is about making the right choices. You need to decide whether you want your life to last or not. If you do, then you need to follow a healthy diet, but if you don’t care, then keep eating McDonalds every day. I am not against McDonald’s food, if you are going to eat it once in a while. Because let’s face it, we all live in a fast pace and we barely have time to cook our own meals, but everything needs to be balanced.
Good nutrition is very important for the human body.I believe that most Americans are obese because not every body have time to cook their own food and love vegetables.In my homeland ,my family members harvest their own food to feed themselves.They love natural food instead of fast food.Here in America so many people are overweight because when they 're getting out from work,they do not have enough time to cook and Burger king ,Mack Donald are always the best choices to them.I agree with the fact that we can choose what to eat or not, but when someone is really starving,he have to eat the fast food any how in order to get some energy.
Comment on Blog: “Cheap Food? High Price” I agree with this post and I think it’s important for us to get involved and informed about the things we eat and where they come from. Learning how to eat healthy or at least avoid those things that are bad for our bodies, can help boycott food factories and exclude ourselves from the obesity epidemic statistics for generations to come. Not only this is bad for our health it is also bad for the animals and the environment. Animals living under those conditions suffer inhumane torture; they are injected with hormones and antibiotics, and are forced to live in their own feces. These animal’s genetics have been deformed to the point when we can’t even call them animals anymore, so what are we actually eating? It is outrageous to allow them to make more profit on things that are “a fundamental necessity” as food. Justine Pezet
I had a recent experience with eating cheap food and paying a high price for it. I paid was being hospitalized, weight loss, and use of antibiotics. I completely agree with this post about America and obesity. It is sad that we see obesity everywhere, even walking in the mall. Excuses shouldn’t be made about being educated with how to eat healthy, or that they don’t have time. If people really cared about their well being, then they would find a way to gain the knowledge they need to know about the foods they should and should not be eating. Also, I believe that they can make time to pack something healthy for themselves. It is very important that we get in touch with how our food is handled. I can completely understand why people choose to be vegetarians due to the way animals are handled. It has been shown that we belong in a life cycle, it is natural for those who consume meat, to consume it. Those that consume it should be careful and learn how our meat is handled. I make sure to read the packaging, on everything on buy, and I try to help those around me do the same.
A plate of salad cost more than a cheese burger at McDonald. Why that while meat is at the top of the food pyramid? I don’t believe this happen because the meat they serve/sell at the fast food restaurants is that unhealthy because from an animal, you don’t only get the meat. In comparing a cow and broccoli. From the broccoli, all you get is a plate of broccoli but from the cow, you get meat, milk, the dairy products, the skin can be useful for many of your clothing supplies, such as coats, belts, a piece of art , etc. . These things can and sometime are very costly. I conclude that our “Cheap food? High Price” topic doesn’t necessarily mean the meats we eat are unhealthy but an animal can be useful in many different ways to make money so they average it out and make our meat less expensive since the meat can rot faster than the other uses of the animal.
I agree with this post because the bottom line is that if we want have a life without obesity, heart diseases and diabetes we have to make the right choice to eat healthy, and stop eating at fast food places. Also, in these places the food it’s really expensive and the worst thing is that this meat has more hormones than anything in this world. In order to stay healthy we have to go back in time where food was prepared in our homes with fresh spices, meats and all kinds of vegetables, where oils and greasy food wasn’t our first choice. The more vegetables we eat the better for our health. We have to change where and how we eat, food is not only what we eat is also what makes the difference in our health.
Sadly in this society, nutrition is the least of worries. People rather spend 2 dollars on a burger vs. 5 on one that’s home-made. Fast food industries contain cheap food for cheap people. Manufactures know that the economy is low on money. They constantly find plans to bump up their latest deal or item. Making them irrestiable in the eye of money strugglers. Many wake up every day wondering about their next task, rather than their next meal. A Simple on the go bag for less than 7 dollars, fulfills an empty stomach for a while. How can you turn down such a deal?! The fast food corporations, FDA, and the government know exactly what kind of health problems garbage food creates. So why do they still exist? I personally can only think of three reasons; 1. Cheap food is one of the fastest ways to make money. 2. There has to be a way to get rid of waste meat. 3. Fast food places are design to kill off the population, exactly why their food create diseases and sickness. Everyone knows the facts but not many care. Victoria Huertas phi2010 tues and thurs 950-1105
I totally agree with this post. I never really took the time to think about how innocent animals are being harmed because of our hunger. Today’s generation eating habit is not very healthy and is causing a plethora amount of health problems throughout the body. Instead of buying a burger and fries from a fast food restaurant, why not buy a salad or a nutritional meal. There is a great amount of young children that’s growing older whose eating habits are nasty because their parents are not cutting back on unhealthy foods. Seventy-five out of one hundred children between the ages 3-10 will have a health issue. I say it’s time we clean out our refrigerators and throw away the bad food and buy more healthier yet nutritional tasty foods. Besides most cheap foods can cause you to get sick because the quality isn’t good. It’s time we take a stand. Rochelle Brown
Eating cheap food means that you are ingesting processed food, in terms of nutrition than means that you are eating high amounts of sodium, fat, complex carbohydrates and cholesterol that would cause you in the end cardiovascular diseases, strokes, diabetes and obesity, other than that, because of the demand of these cheap foods are high the farmers are using chemicals such antibiotics and hormones to growth faster the products. Is well known that these amounts of chemicals act like drugs and make us dependent of cheap food likewise the lack of time explain the percentage of obesity in the country. We have to improve our diet; a good way to avoid all these chemicals is buying organic products and cook at home, your body is going to appreciate. Healthy bodies, healthy minds, happy people.
I completely agree with this post because most Americans are overweight due to their laziness and their poor eating habits. Americans are known to be lazy so they eat fast food all the time because it’s a quick way to get nourishment. The fast food industries in America are sickening because the animals that they kill to produce their hamburgers and chicken nuggets aren’t raised in a healthy environment. About a year ago I watched a documentary called “Food, Inc.” written and directed by Robert Kenner; in this documentary Kenner goes to industrial farms to see how they operate, he observed pigs being killed, cows being fed corn (cows are supposed to eat grass), and chickens living in cages half their sizes. A couple of families spoke about their eating habits which involved fast food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and after a few years of feeding their children fast food, one of their daughters got diabetes. After watching this documentary I completely cut out fast food from my life. People don’t realize that by eating fast food all the time there will be consequences. It’s a known fact the food in America is the worst in the world because Americans are all about money and having successful businesses even though their products can be deadly.
Take into consideration a $5 20 piece chicken mcnugget special from McDonald's, $5 worth of a meal feeds roughly 3-4 children in one setting. "And that's that" says the parent, "McDonald's took care of my 4 kids in a matter of less than 15 minutes". What saddens me most is that the majority of people that tend to indulge in these unhealthy habits are lower class citizens with poor education that cannot afford a better quality of life for themselves and children, or even worse, having no knowledge of the effect these poor nutritional choices have on their loved ones. Americans should start supporting the foundation of more outreach programs that promote the importance of health education and as a result, this would allow more people to become aware of their poor eating habits and eventually stop of buying into cheap marketing schemes that practically do nothing to satisfy the proper nutrition your body needs. In conclusion, wise nutritional choices go hand in hand with having the proper knowledge of knowing good from bad choices of nutritional value.
What an interesting article. What we are doing is not at all healthy. It is not healthy for us human beings, for our livestock as well as the earth we live in. I personally made a choice with my family about 5 years ago to become vegetarians. Becoming vegetarians benefited us greatly. We recently decided to introduce meat into our diets but at the cost of a limit. We limit our intake of meat to about 2-3 servings a week and make it a point when we do eat meat to eat good quality. I think we Americans consume very high portions of meat that is in fact horrible quality due to the nutrition in the animals in which we get it from. Making a small change in your diet by limiting your intake of meat can make all the difference.
Wow, what an interesting article. We live in a world today where everything we want that has to do with food, is preferred to be fast and cheap. Sadly to say , just because something taste good and is cheaper than healthy goods, does not always mean it is good for you. I have never thought about what these animals have to go just to satisfy our hunger. In the past, the most common thing to do was cooking your own food, but as our society has progressed, getting food that cut the waiting time as if you were cooking has taken the dominant approach. I’m pretty sure that everyone knows what eating meat can do to our body but yet, it is ignored until something crucial happens to either us or a loved one. All it takes is being determined to take the more nutritional approach and decrease the daily intake of meat to live healthier lives.
Loretta Thompkins-Williamson Prof. Perez- Triff Phi 2010 8 September, 2012
Cheap Food? High Price
I am a mother with four adult children and a four year old granddaughter. Generally speaking I am from the old school where there was always a hot slow cooked meal. Either by my mother or grandma’s home-style cooking. But in today’s society everyone is living faster than ever, fast cars and most of all fast food, this is ridicules. The traditional way of living and raising our children has turned out to be a big rush. Americans society is not spending as much time in the kitchen preparing slow cooked meals as before. People are being persuaded by the low prices at fast food restaurant such as KFC’s hot meals to go with all the sides and a desert or McDonald’s biggie size value meals. Therefore, most American rather run into one of these fast food restaurants grab something quick at a low price to feed their families, instead of going into grocery store and buying food at high prices. Furthermore, American’s families have been challenge with health problems such as obesity or high blood pressure due to deficiency of appropriate nutritional diets as a result of fast foods and improper preparation of food. Consequently, there have been questions on whether or not we are truly eating real meat from these fast food places. Finally, some of these factory farms has placed animals such as pigs, chickens and cows in shocking conditions before they are slaughtered or fed them provender that causes them to grow faster than standard time, which later these chemicals goes inside of our bodies. Then we consume the meat and as a result lead to health problems.
Bottom line it’s a money thing. Why would fast food companies change any procedures as far as how they handle meat or the quality of food when drug companies are making a killing off of insulin sales and blood pressure reducing medicines the Ceo’s of Fast Food chains and pharmaceuticals companies are playing golf and laughing at the people lobbying for organic food and healthy alternatives so whether you spending three dollars on an apple or three hundred dollars on insulin medications the powers that be are going to get your money one way or another . Face it if America suddenly wakes up and starts eating healthy and growing their own food the age to become eligible for social security will go up the rich will remain rich the poor will just die if you don’t want junk food throw your television out because no matter what channel you watch you’ll see a commercial enticing you or your children to crave junk food not to mention the constant rat race we as people living in America face causing us to drink coffee and sugar filled drinks to keep us going the only way we are going to see change is we the people grow and produce our own food and refuse to eat any meat or animal products
Mariana Racovita Prof. Perez-Triff Tue/ Thurs 9.50
Cheap Food? High Price
Obesity is the biggest health problem in the U.S. More than 40% of the population is overweight from which 17% of these are teenagers. Having such a high percentage of obese teenagers we have to realize that the problem starts in the family, and we have to understand that the food that you are used to eat when you are a child, that’s what you are going to love to eat for the rest of your life. The way you are raised that is how you are going to raise your children and so on. It is a chain that is hard to be broken. Mothers do not cook as much as they used to do it back in the days; and the worst thing is that the choices that the parents are making when they eat out are the worst. What happen with the cooking? Are we really too busy to cook and have a great family time at home? I work in a restaurant and I have to share something that I see it daily. We have a kids menu and there are very good and very bad options, we have fried chicken and also grilled chicken. Only 5% percent of the parents are choosing the grilled chicken. If the child says that wants water to drink the mother is asking so many times if they don’t want soda, until the child will say that wants soda, and on top of that they want few refills. They really do not realize that a can of coke has 40g of sugar, which is the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar in only one glass. All these incidents make me think that fast food is the biggest addiction, even bigger than drugs. Regarding the way the animals are raised it is an issue that comes along with the increase of the population. 100 years ago we were only 1.5 billion people and now we are 7 billion, but our planet’s resources or surface din not changed. Having these animals doped with hormones and antibiotics it is a way for the U.S. government to keep the low price of food. Not too long ago I have seen a show “Food Ink by Michel More” The chickens were getting so much hormones that when they were a month old they could not walk anymore because of their weight that could not be supported by their undeveloped/ small bones The processed and the fast food is an addiction that cannot be easily stopped. I never thought that American Dream is to have an overweight population that induces to so many health problems: diabetes, cardiovascular problems and so many others. Lets not forget that everything starts in our family and that our health is the most important one. If we are healthy we can achieve the rest.
Lorena Paniagua Fast food is an epidemic that causes many people to purchase these’s kinds of food due to low prices. Even though there should be less advertisements promoting these food that cause health problem, society still will not pay attention and continue to eat these foods. I believe there should be I higher increase in prices in fast foods and lower prices in vegetables in order for society to see the actual change and change their habit of eating unwell. People need to see how animals are getting mistreated in order to make sells higher, even if it is an animal no living thing should be treated the way this animals do. Fast food and confined pen farms should be banned or at least be put in very high demands with mistreatment and healthier eating and less chemicals in food products.
Fast food is an epidemic that causes many people to purchase these’s kinds of food due to low prices. Even though there should be less advertisements promoting these food that cause health problem, society still will not pay attention and continue to eat these foods. I believe there should be I higher increase in prices in fast foods and lower prices in vegetables in order for society to see the actual change and change their habit of eating unwell. People need to see how animals are getting mistreated in order to make sells higher, even if it is an animal no living thing should be treated the way this animals do. Fast food and confined pen farms should be banned or at least be put in very high demands with mistreatment and healthier eating and less chemicals in food products.
Growing up you would always see the McDonald and Burger King commercials advertising the coolest toy that you would receive in your kids meal. In today's fast paced world it is very rare for your family to sit down and have a home cooked meal, better yet it was impossible for them to find the time to think let alone cook. To be able to buy a juicy looking burger, golden crispy fries, a milk shake and soft drinks all under $5 is probably one of the greatest things there is. I certainly thought so for many years and had such unhealthy eating habits until three years ago when I started to get sick and becoming an active teenager started to become a chore. I started to look more into what I ate, my favorite thing in the world was McDonald crispy nuggets until i found out some of the ingredients. Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, TBHQ, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, and believe me so much more were jam packed into them. Those chemicals went into my body and til this day I wonder to what extent my internal organs must have suffered enjoying those quick, cheap and easily accessible meals all those years. It is no surprise these fast food companies continue to grow and expand all over the world, all the consumer see are those beautiful pictures and dazzling commercials with special deals and prizes. They do not think for a second the chemicals, the animal cruelty and horrendous conditions in which their food is made. Can you blame them? Yes we can, if we just take the time to actually eat the right foods, grocery shop, make our own meals more often then maybe we can start to see change in the way things are. However, that at the moments is just a dream because after all it is cheap food.
-Esperanta Jean-Charles Prof. Perez-Triff Tue/ Thurs 9:50
As I read this article I found many reputable points, I also found many debatable points. The usage of fast food in America has grown increasingly far too much and has attributed to more cases of obesity within youth 11-19 years of age. Frankly, children are consuming far to many processed food and other inorganic substances. That point is this day in age is a reputable point. The point, however on the mistreatment of animals is highly debatable. Since the beginning of time there has been an established hierarchy, humans first and animals last. In more simpler terms, "bless it and eat it" I say to myself. Overall this article gives an interesting view on the correlation of animals slaughter and increasing fast food consumption. In that same token it also poses a lot of questions. Do we cut out fast food out of diets forever? And If we do will little piggy have a life to frolic and roll around in the muck? I don't know.
Why do we eat meat? Why do we eat fast food? We eat these things for the same reason, they are easy, and taste good. From where I stand the increase in meat consumption, and the increase in the number of fast food franchises go hand in hand. Easy, how? I spend hours preparing my meat, and cooking it to perfection. Chances are, if you eat meat, you don’t have to ask yourself everyday, where is the protein? Is this a complete protein, how can I complete this protein? (Questions healthy vegetarians, and vegans ask themselves everyday.) Sounds much easier to just eat an already complete protein, meat, and not have to ask those questions, the ease of meat and reason for its popularity. When I stopped purchasing meat, my grocery bill cut in half, I found myself with a surplus of money and only a slight increase in my electricity bill (because I stopped eating out and started cooking). In addition it doesn’t take as long to prepare meals as it used to. Raw beans and grains don’t go bad, and are easy to buy in bulk. Cooking at home seems natural to me, I know what is going into my food, I know what is going into my body, and when I cook, I tend not to eat, as much and I would have eating out. All these things I think about everyday making it hard for me to understand how other people eat, almost mindlessly. Chewing without thinking, tasting or enjoying, inhaling their food, and not exploiting the wonderful senses we have as humans to enjoy everything presented to us. As humans we have cravings for fat, sugar and salt, things traditionally hard to find in nature, hence why it is natural to crave these things. These things are very useful to keep us alert, alive and warm. These things we need, but not in the surplus that we are now allowed to receive them, in the grocery stores, and fast food restaurants. I’ll end with these thoughts, and this question: What does it mean to be a human today, lazy, mindless, and/or obese? Or, can we change and become more, become mindful, active, and aware?
In today’s world, people refuse to have time to consume healthier food. People rather run behind their schedule and get fast-food on the way over the effort of waking up even 15 minutes earlier to make oneself breakfast and etc. Do we choose to consume fast food because it is easily accessible? Yes, but so are the vegetables that takes only the effort of cutting and throwing everything together to make delicious meal. I believe that one may choose the excuse and blame the government that they do not imply the correct regulations on food that is in the restaurants, but I strongly stand by my believes that all of us have a right to choose what the nutritionally valuable is for us. The government or the big corporations such as McDonald’s are not forcing us to consume their food because they only make it easily accessible for the lazy people. The discussion of fast food versus healthy food boils down not to the cost of it and not to the time it takes to make it, but to the one’s desires. Each of us has at least two options of what to eat, and it is all up to us to make the correct decision.
A huge factor that has to be considered in the obesity among adults and children is physical activity. Physical activity can be the best thing for anybody it’s great for your physical health and mental health. There should be a decrease in the amount of fast food we eat and an increase in our physical activity. Also the way we eat at home says a lot about the choices we make while we're eating out. I think America needs to learn to eat healthy and avoid fast food completely and that starts at home. In short, fast food restaurants are only interested in making a profit. Most Americans in the US can agree that we should definitely put our health first. Most people in America need to be more aware of the quality of food they’re eating and the amount of daily food intake.
Today’s world is fast-paced and convenience is chosen above health. Fast foods have been called a slaw poison and can send you to the grave faster than nature intended you to go. Drive through window at McDonald’s has been introduced in 1975, and the obesity rate in America had climbed to 15% (now it is about 40%!!). At my job (I work at fine-dining Italian restaurant) I constantly serving pops and sides of French fries that customers requesting over rice and beans or vegetables while our international guests tends to make a healthy choices favoring bottled water, unsweet tea, and sides of veggies to complement their dinner. So what makes Americans so loyal to clearly unhealthy greasy sugary loaded with calories fast foods options? Media certainly plays giant role in what we and especially our children “want” to eat. An average person sees about 40,000 ads a year promoting candy, soda, and unhealthy snacks. Family also has an unquestionable influence on our eating habits from early childhood till later in life (Thanks to South Florida WIC and Healthy Start programs that provides parents, and expecting mothers with necessary information about nutrition as well as the opportunity to purchase “good for you” foods with WIC checks at no cost to you). So if you love your families (and yourself) take an extra time to cook “slaw” healthy food at home by baking and steaming over broiling and deep-frying, pack yourself a lunch, and avoid another Big Mac. Your body will be surely thankful! Stay healthy America! Marina Varivoda
There’s a reason why fast food chains are so wealthy because people love it. Either because they like the taste or because its fast and you don’t have to cook it and make sense for someone who is constantly busy. But the question is, is it worth it at the end. Because later on you see what this “junk food” is doing to you basically can kill you if you eat so much. I work at a whole foods market where basically they sell everything organic or natural. Now let me tell you its not cheap at all, and there’s a little slogan whole foods equals whole pay check. But I was talking to a customer one day and basically I love what she said, she said in a way its not expensive at all because if I would just buy cheap food later on I got to spend a fortune on doctors. And she is an older lady and since she been eating healthy she hasn’t had to go to a doctor, and if you don’t have insurance its going be a lot of money. So in general America does have do a better job in dieting and exercise and educate the young generation of healthy eating.
Cheap food! High price? …Definitely!! Many Americans know at some point that fast food is not healthy, but continue to purchase it because it is cheap! Fast food is making Americans lazier meaning more generations rely on fast food because we grow up not learning how to properly cook a healthy meal. Recently, I’ve tried to give up on fast food and started to learn how to cook healthy foods and I’m amazed how different my body feels and how content I feel. At the beginning of my journey, I remember giving in and buying a Mc’Chicken and what a world of difference, it tasted stale, the texture of the meat was so different compared to the home cooked chicken. I think many of us don’t recognize all these things when we become so accustomed to the taste of fast food. It’s definitely sad to know that some of us make the decision to eat at these fast food chains giving them more money to maintain these poor nutrition food around leading to obesity and all kind of health issues. Linda Baez
The American diet has become a milestone to its parallel marketing industry, in which whoever invests the most in advertising receives its reward in profits. Its biggest issue has clearly been defined as the unhealthy defying of the essentials of the food pyramid, leading to an increase in chronic health problems such as morbid obesity and its derivatives. I do, though, accept that when in need, it solves the necessity of having a fast, relatively complete meal as our bodies require so. The issue is, that as most other industries now a days, they're fed by consumerism, which also derives from the same entity. To me, this is an issue that is seen as very underrated and as such, the government does not take action in order to repress its incontrollable outrage that is consequently leading to a variety of health issues that may even result in deaths or permanent diseases. Hopefully, there will be new campaigns supporting this anti-fast-food movement that will reinforce this mentality in people in general, which should almost be targeting parents, the peers to every child that is exposed to this problem.
Definitely. We pay a high price health wise if we choose to make cost and convenience our highest priorities. The fact is that we are partly in this situation because our desire to save time and money coincided with someone else's desire to make more money in less time. All of the other "priorities" were put to the wayside, especially the ingredients. The original post mentions "human self-destruction" as a construct to our continued actions. While this may seem extreme, our preoccupation with the perception of things (as opposed to what's actually happening) hinders our ability to properly determine the effect of want over need. We are shortsighted! Well, most of us are anyway. We need to change our own culture, but we must begin from within. It starts by reevaluating our priorities. We must begin to show better wisdom and decide to think of long term, holistic solutions for feeding our population. Ignorance is our biggest enemy in this and most every social dilemma. Knowledge is power. We start by educating the world on how our actions affect the rest of the world and the rest of our lives.
Nutrition is one of the most important things a human being should have in his/her live. Basically what it is is eating healthy, meaning having the main nutriments such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and so on. Without these we can barely live. I totally agree with this post because nowadays human beings are not making the right choices to weather what to eat or not. I believe they just rather spend $7.00 at any fast food restaurant than actually going to any supermarket and taking their time to buy the right food. I know we all live basically in a hurry; most of the people don’t have enough time to be deciding what their bodies needs, but if they actually care they will do so. It is easier to just go to a drive through and buy a burger than getting home and start to cook. All these habits are what drive people to obesity. It is sad to see how human beings don’t even care about their bodies and what it actually needs. Children are one of the highest percent that have obesity. Why? Simple. Just because they eat a lot of fast food and don’t exercise at all, they just rather stay home playing Xbox. I completely believe these habits should be eliminated somehow and always keep in mind. “One must eat to live, not live to eat”
Nutrition is one of the most important things a human being should have in his/her live. Basically what it is is eating healthy, meaning having the main nutriments such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and so on. Without these we can barely live. I totally agree with this post because nowadays human beings are not making the right choices to weather what to eat or not. I believe they just rather spend $7.00 at any fast food restaurant than actually going to any supermarket and taking their time to buy the right food. I know we all live basically in a hurry; most of the people don’t have enough time to be deciding what their bodies needs, but if they actually care they will do so. It is easier to just go to a drive through and buy a burger than getting home and start to cook. All these habits are what drive people to obesity. It is sad to see how human beings don’t even care about their bodies and what it actually needs. Children are one of the highest percent that have obesity. Why? Simple. Just because they eat a lot of fast food and don’t exercise at all, they just rather stay home playing Xbox. I completely believe these habits should be eliminated somehow and always keep in mind. “One must eat to live, not live to eat” Sheila Barcelo
Eliana Arita said… The issue on American food processing is one of a massive scale. In order to understand the whole issue not only do we have to evaluate how the food is being processed and the dangers we are exposing ourselves to in terms of our health such as diabetes, cholesterol as well as diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Research is showing changes occurring to our DNA because of current poisonous methods of food production. However this issue is not just about nutrition and making the right food choices, it’s much bigger than that; we have to look at our lifestyles and the current model of living. We as conscious human beings must take the time to reflect on our current mode of thinking, because our thoughts lead to our actions, and whether we like it or not we are all part of a collective whole. We should avoid fragmenting life as often as we do now. We can’t expect to keep the same model of business that gives birth to large corporations if we even want to fathom the idea of saving the environment, because our current model of profit makes that implausible. Our growing population also plays a part in why we accept these current methods of industrial agriculture. It’s getting difficult to meet the criteria; the supply needs to meet the demands. Low income usually leads to poor quality of food intake. We have to make the realization that poverty is very much part of our current reality even though we are not highly exposed to it in the United States , not in the degree that you can encounter in third world countries. There are a whole lot of other variables that come into play, but what is important is that we continue to stay aware and make the connections. We also need to accept that in order to achieve change especially with the large issues that we face in terms of the environment and the 7 billion people residing on planet earth, we will have to give up certain behaviors, materials, conveniences, and step away from current comfort zones we have build for ourselves. We must take responsibility and act upon what we advocate in order for our words to have any substance. As Bohm once said we as individuals are formed out of society, but together the individuals form society. -Eliana Arita
The fact that animals such as cows, chickens, and pigs are raised in mass production should be an alarming wake up call to the general public. It’s just not natural. Unfortunately, whether it’s natural or not, some people just can’t afford to care and I mean that literally. Yes, perhaps majority of the people that pay taxes are also paying for the grain that the cows, chickens and pigs are eating. These same people are giving the O.K. to companies such as McDonalds, and Burger King by continuously buying food from them. This group of people should be called The Idiots, because can afford healthier foods. Especially if they live near any grocery stores. The Idiots, despite the label assigned here, can most certainly buy better foods and learn to cook them. Unlike The Idiots, there happens to be another group that does not get the option between grocery stores, and cheap ‘nutrition’, let’s call them the Nomads. Nomads live in urban areas, maybe they’re homeless, maybe it’s a single mother of five, maybe it’s a teen on the streets barely scraping by for whatever reason; Nomads live in ‘urban food deserts’. Nomads probably are not going to be heading to the nearest McDonalds, considering the locations they live in, they would most likely be heading to a small diner that also receives shipments of the same flash freeze veggies and mass produced meat as McDonalds does versus buying and selling fresh veggies and free range chicken meat. I mean, why else would the food in urban food deserts be any different than the Big Mac in some person’s hand? Certainly not because it’s better. I believe that there does need to be a change in how foods are produced for the benefit of ourselves. That change should most certainly start at home buy cooking one’s own food with quality ingredients (because the quality is the whole basis of the argument). People must also learn how to exercise control, if they want a bag of chips they should get one small bag, or if they want a burger, they should learn to settle on a kid’s meal at McDonald’s. My final idea is that we as the consumers should push for much healthier foods, not just for ourselves and our families, but for those who really have no other choice but to eat nutritionally deficient foods that end up harming them in the long run.
Fast food, cheap prices Maybe we should say: Cheap food, fast death. In America today, millions of Americans are dying each year as a result of poor diet, lack of exercise, and bio-chemicals in what they eat. Due to non-regulated portion control, Americans eat two the amounts in portion sizes over European countries. Saturated fat and cholesterole are some of the prime factor in the death toll each year. Companies like McDonald are capitalizing on their profit each year because most Americans don't make time to follow a balanced diet due to comfort of saving time and money, so they say. The economy has been struggling for the past seven years and companies across America are staying innovative to capture the attention of working individuals on the run. Espicially those families with two or more children, eating right seems almost impossible. So these big companies capitalize on the commercial slogans "EYES SEE, EYES WANT". We can find hundreds of theory of what can be done to avoid these critical issues in our country, but America has to take a stand and educate themself about what right for the body. Wilfred Ostanne
34 comments:
I completely agree that the food choices Americans are making are detrimental not only to themselves, but to the environment. Our foods are processed and changed so much that when they arrive at our plates they are practically unrecognizable. Not only are our foods replete with hormones and preservatives, but the petroleum used to transport these foods is adding to the world’s problems with pollution and emissions. A good alternative is to buy locally grown fruits and vegetables, which are usually grown under healthier conditions and assures you the food on your plate hasn’t left behind a big cloud of pollution. Cooking, which for some reason has gone out of style, is another great option. Americans have grown to need instant gratification, which explains the need for food to be fast, easy to find, and cheap. Sadly, what we don’t pay for in cash, we pay for in health. Diabetes, obesity, cholesterol and heart disease are among the health deficiencies that are becoming more prevalent. By reducing the frequency in which we indulge in fast food, we decrease our sodium intake, cholesterol, and chances of being a victim of our own food choices. If parents make the right choices, namely choosing vegetables over fries, their children will follow in their example and ask for fresh tomatoes instead of a greasy chicken McNugget.
Rhina M. Lara
Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary (in the form of food) to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet. On the other hand, a poor diet can have an injurious impact on health, causing deficiency diseases and health-threatening conditions like obesity and metabolic syndrome; and such common chronic systemic diseases as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Back in the day, grandparents and great grandparents used to grow their food in their backyards and use organic food to feed their families. This is why it was very usual to see people die at their late 90’s. Now a day, we keep on seeing people dying at early ages because of their bad eating habits. Everything in life is about making the right choices. You need to decide whether you want your life to last or not. If you do, then you need to follow a healthy diet, but if you don’t care, then keep eating McDonalds every day. I am not against McDonald’s food, if you are going to eat it once in a while. Because let’s face it, we all live in a fast pace and we barely have time to cook our own meals, but everything needs to be balanced.
Jennifer Claussen
Good nutrition is very important for the human body.I believe that most Americans are obese because not every body have time to cook their own food and love vegetables.In my homeland ,my family members harvest their own food to feed themselves.They love natural food instead of fast food.Here in America so many people are overweight because when they 're getting out from work,they do not have enough time to cook and Burger king ,Mack Donald are always the best choices to them.I agree with the fact that we can choose what to eat or not, but when someone is really starving,he have to eat the fast food any how in order to get some energy.
Comment on Blog: “Cheap Food? High Price”
I agree with this post and I think it’s important for us to get involved and informed about the things we eat and where they come from. Learning how to eat healthy or at least avoid those things that are bad for our bodies, can help boycott food factories and exclude ourselves from the obesity epidemic statistics for generations to come. Not only this is bad for our health it is also bad for the animals and the environment. Animals living under those conditions suffer inhumane torture; they are injected with hormones and antibiotics, and are forced to live in their own feces. These animal’s genetics have been deformed to the point when we can’t even call them animals anymore, so what are we actually eating? It is outrageous to allow them to make more profit on things that are “a fundamental necessity” as food.
Justine Pezet
I had a recent experience with eating cheap food and paying a high price for it. I paid was being hospitalized, weight loss, and use of antibiotics. I completely agree with this post about America and obesity. It is sad that we see obesity everywhere, even walking in the mall. Excuses shouldn’t be made about being educated with how to eat healthy, or that they don’t have time. If people really cared about their well being, then they would find a way to gain the knowledge they need to know about the foods they should and should not be eating. Also, I believe that they can make time to pack something healthy for themselves. It is very important that we get in touch with how our food is handled. I can completely understand why people choose to be vegetarians due to the way animals are handled. It has been shown that we belong in a life cycle, it is natural for those who consume meat, to consume it. Those that consume it should be careful and learn how our meat is handled. I make sure to read the packaging, on everything on buy, and I try to help those around me do the same.
-Karly Sandoval
A plate of salad cost more than a cheese burger at McDonald. Why that while meat is at the top of the food pyramid? I don’t believe this happen because the meat they serve/sell at the fast food restaurants is that unhealthy because from an animal, you don’t only get the meat. In comparing a cow and broccoli. From the broccoli, all you get is a plate of broccoli but from the cow, you get meat, milk, the dairy products, the skin can be useful for many of your clothing supplies, such as coats, belts, a piece of art , etc. . These things can and sometime are very costly. I conclude that our “Cheap food? High Price” topic doesn’t necessarily mean the meats we eat are unhealthy but an animal can be useful in many different ways to make money so they average it out and make our meat less expensive since the meat can rot faster than the other uses of the animal.
Roberto Joseph
I agree with this post because the bottom line is that if we want have a life without obesity, heart diseases and diabetes we have to make the right choice to eat healthy, and stop eating at fast food places. Also, in these places the food it’s really expensive and the worst thing is that this meat has more hormones than anything in this world. In order to stay healthy we have to go back in time where food was prepared in our homes with fresh spices, meats and all kinds of vegetables, where oils and greasy food wasn’t our first choice. The more vegetables we eat the better for our health. We have to change where and how we eat, food is not only what we eat is also what makes the difference in our health.
Cindy Castro
Sadly in this society, nutrition is the least of worries. People rather spend 2 dollars on a burger vs. 5 on one that’s home-made. Fast food industries contain cheap food for cheap people. Manufactures know that the economy is low on money. They constantly find plans to bump up their latest deal or item. Making them irrestiable in the eye of money strugglers. Many wake up every day wondering about their next task, rather than their next meal. A Simple on the go bag for less than 7 dollars, fulfills an empty stomach for a while. How can you turn down such a deal?! The fast food corporations, FDA, and the government know exactly what kind of health problems garbage food creates. So why do they still exist? I personally can only think of three reasons; 1. Cheap food is one of the fastest ways to make money. 2. There has to be a way to get rid of waste meat. 3. Fast food places are design to kill off the population, exactly why their food create diseases and sickness. Everyone knows the facts but not many care.
Victoria Huertas phi2010 tues and thurs 950-1105
I totally agree with this post. I never really took the time to think about how innocent animals are being harmed because of our hunger. Today’s generation eating habit is not very healthy and is causing a plethora amount of health problems throughout the body. Instead of buying a burger and fries from a fast food restaurant, why not buy a salad or a nutritional meal. There is a great amount of young children that’s growing older whose eating habits are nasty because their parents are not cutting back on unhealthy foods. Seventy-five out of one hundred children between the ages 3-10 will have a health issue. I say it’s time we clean out our refrigerators and throw away the bad food and buy more healthier yet nutritional tasty foods. Besides most cheap foods can cause you to get sick because the quality isn’t good. It’s time we take a stand.
Rochelle Brown
Eating cheap food means that you are ingesting processed food, in terms of nutrition than means that you are eating high amounts of sodium, fat, complex carbohydrates and cholesterol that would cause you in the end cardiovascular diseases, strokes, diabetes and obesity, other than that, because of the demand of these cheap foods are high the farmers are using chemicals such antibiotics and hormones to growth faster the products. Is well known that these amounts of chemicals act like drugs and make us dependent of cheap food likewise the lack of time explain the percentage of obesity in the country. We have to improve our diet; a good way to avoid all these chemicals is buying organic products and cook at home, your body is going to appreciate. Healthy bodies, healthy minds, happy people.
I completely agree with this post because most Americans are overweight due to their laziness and their poor eating habits. Americans are known to be lazy so they eat fast food all the time because it’s a quick way to get nourishment. The fast food industries in America are sickening because the animals that they kill to produce their hamburgers and chicken nuggets aren’t raised in a healthy environment. About a year ago I watched a documentary called “Food, Inc.” written and directed by Robert Kenner; in this documentary Kenner goes to industrial farms to see how they operate, he observed pigs being killed, cows being fed corn (cows are supposed to eat grass), and chickens living in cages half their sizes. A couple of families spoke about their eating habits which involved fast food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and after a few years of feeding their children fast food, one of their daughters got diabetes. After watching this documentary I completely cut out fast food from my life. People don’t realize that by eating fast food all the time there will be consequences. It’s a known fact the food in America is the worst in the world because Americans are all about money and having successful businesses even though their products can be deadly.
Take into consideration a $5 20 piece chicken mcnugget special from McDonald's, $5 worth of a meal feeds roughly 3-4 children in one setting. "And that's that" says the parent, "McDonald's took care of my 4 kids in a matter of less than 15 minutes". What saddens me most is that the majority of people that tend to indulge in these unhealthy habits are lower class citizens with poor education that cannot afford a better quality of life for themselves and children, or even worse, having no knowledge of the effect these poor nutritional choices have on their loved ones. Americans should start supporting the foundation of more outreach programs that promote the importance of health education and as a result, this would allow more people to become aware of their poor eating habits and eventually stop of buying into cheap marketing schemes that practically do nothing to satisfy the proper nutrition your body needs. In conclusion, wise nutritional choices go hand in hand with having the proper knowledge of knowing good from bad choices of nutritional value.
What an interesting article. What we are doing is not at all healthy. It is not healthy for us human beings, for our livestock as well as the earth we live in. I personally made a choice with my family about 5 years ago to become vegetarians. Becoming vegetarians benefited us greatly. We recently decided to introduce meat into our diets but at the cost of a limit. We limit our intake of meat to about 2-3 servings a week and make it a point when we do eat meat to eat good quality. I think we Americans consume very high portions of meat that is in fact horrible quality due to the nutrition in the animals in which we get it from. Making a small change in your diet by limiting your intake of meat can make all the difference.
-Emma del Rey
Wow, what an interesting article. We live in a world today where everything we want that has to do with food, is preferred to be fast and cheap. Sadly to say , just because something taste good and is cheaper than healthy goods, does not always mean it is good for you. I have never thought about what these animals have to go just to satisfy our hunger. In the past, the most common thing to do was cooking your own food, but as our society has progressed, getting food that cut the waiting time as if you were cooking has taken the dominant approach. I’m pretty sure that everyone knows what eating meat can do to our body but yet, it is ignored until something crucial happens to either us or a loved one. All it takes is being determined to take the more nutritional approach and decrease the daily intake of meat to live healthier lives.
Loretta Thompkins-Williamson
Prof. Perez- Triff
Phi 2010
8 September, 2012
Cheap Food? High Price
I am a mother with four adult children and a four year old granddaughter. Generally speaking I am from the old school where there was always a hot slow cooked meal. Either by my mother or grandma’s home-style cooking. But in today’s society everyone is living faster than ever, fast cars and most of all fast food, this is ridicules. The traditional way of living and raising our children has turned out to be a big rush. Americans society is not spending as much time in the kitchen preparing slow cooked meals as before. People are being persuaded by the low prices at fast food restaurant such as KFC’s hot meals to go with all the sides and a desert or McDonald’s biggie size value meals. Therefore, most American rather run into one of these fast food restaurants grab something quick at a low price to feed their families, instead of going into grocery store and buying food at high prices. Furthermore, American’s families have been challenge with health problems such as obesity or high blood pressure due to deficiency of appropriate nutritional diets as a result of fast foods and improper preparation of food. Consequently, there have been questions on whether or not we are truly eating real meat from these fast food places. Finally, some of these factory farms has placed animals such as pigs, chickens and cows in shocking conditions before they are slaughtered or fed them provender that causes them to grow faster than standard time, which later these chemicals goes inside of our bodies. Then we consume the meat and as a result lead to health problems.
Cheap food? High Price?
Bottom line it’s a money thing. Why would fast food companies change any procedures as far as how they handle meat or the quality of food when drug companies are making a killing off of insulin sales and blood pressure reducing medicines the Ceo’s of Fast Food chains and pharmaceuticals companies are playing golf and laughing at the people lobbying for organic food and healthy alternatives so whether you spending three dollars on an apple or three hundred dollars on insulin medications the powers that be are going to get your money one way or another . Face it if America suddenly wakes up and starts eating healthy and growing their own food the age to become eligible for social security will go up the rich will remain rich the poor will just die if you don’t want junk food throw your television out because no matter what channel you watch you’ll see a commercial enticing you or your children to crave junk food not to mention the constant rat race we as people living in America face causing us to drink coffee and sugar filled drinks to keep us going the only way we are going to see change is we the people grow and produce our own food and refuse to eat any meat or animal products
Mariana Racovita
Prof. Perez-Triff
Tue/ Thurs 9.50
Cheap Food? High Price
Obesity is the biggest health problem in the U.S. More than 40% of the population is overweight from which 17% of these are teenagers.
Having such a high percentage of obese teenagers we have to realize that the problem starts in the family, and we have to understand that the food that you are used to eat when you are a child, that’s what you are going to love to eat for the rest of your life. The way you are raised that is how you are going to raise your children and so on. It is a chain that is hard to be broken. Mothers do not cook as much as they used to do it back in the days; and the worst thing is that the choices that the parents are making when they eat out are the worst. What happen with the cooking? Are we really too busy to cook and have a great family time at home? I work in a restaurant and I have to share something that I see it daily. We have a kids menu and there are very good and very bad options, we have fried chicken and also grilled chicken. Only 5% percent of the parents are choosing the grilled chicken. If the child says that wants water to drink the mother is asking so many times if they don’t want soda, until the child will say that wants soda, and on top of that they want few refills. They really do not realize that a can of coke has 40g of sugar, which is the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar in only one glass. All these incidents make me think that fast food is the biggest addiction, even bigger than drugs.
Regarding the way the animals are raised it is an issue that comes along with the increase of the population. 100 years ago we were only 1.5 billion people and now we are 7 billion, but our planet’s resources or surface din not changed. Having these animals doped with hormones and antibiotics it is a way for the U.S. government to keep the low price of food. Not too long ago I have seen a show “Food Ink by Michel More” The chickens were getting so much hormones that when they were a month old they could not walk anymore because of their weight that could not be supported by their undeveloped/ small bones
The processed and the fast food is an addiction that cannot be easily stopped. I never thought that American Dream is to have an overweight population that induces to so many health problems: diabetes, cardiovascular problems and so many others. Lets not forget that everything starts in our family and that our health is the most important one. If we are healthy we can achieve the rest.
Lorena Paniagua
Fast food is an epidemic that causes many people to purchase these’s kinds of food due to low prices. Even though there should be less advertisements promoting these food that cause health problem, society still will not pay attention and continue to eat these foods. I believe there should be I higher increase in prices in fast foods and lower prices in vegetables in order for society to see the actual change and change their habit of eating unwell. People need to see how animals are getting mistreated in order to make sells higher, even if it is an animal no living thing should be treated the way this animals do. Fast food and confined pen farms should be banned or at least be put in very high demands with mistreatment and healthier eating and less chemicals in food products.
Fast food is an epidemic that causes many people to purchase these’s kinds of food due to low prices. Even though there should be less advertisements promoting these food that cause health problem, society still will not pay attention and continue to eat these foods. I believe there should be I higher increase in prices in fast foods and lower prices in vegetables in order for society to see the actual change and change their habit of eating unwell. People need to see how animals are getting mistreated in order to make sells higher, even if it is an animal no living thing should be treated the way this animals do. Fast food and confined pen farms should be banned or at least be put in very high demands with mistreatment and healthier eating and less chemicals in food products.
-Lorena Paniagua
Cheap Food? High Price
Growing up you would always see the McDonald and Burger King commercials advertising the coolest toy that you would receive in your kids meal. In today's fast paced world it is very rare for your family to sit down and have a home cooked meal, better yet it was impossible for them to find the time to think let alone cook. To be able to buy a juicy looking burger, golden crispy fries, a milk shake and soft drinks all under $5 is probably one of the greatest things there is. I certainly thought so for many years and had such unhealthy eating habits until three years ago when I started to get sick and becoming an active teenager started to become a chore. I started to look more into what I ate, my favorite thing in the world was McDonald crispy nuggets until i found out some of the ingredients. Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, TBHQ, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, and believe me so much more were jam packed into them. Those chemicals went into my body and til this day I wonder to what extent my internal organs must have suffered enjoying those quick, cheap and easily accessible meals all those years. It is no surprise these fast food companies continue to grow and expand all over the world, all the consumer see are those beautiful pictures and dazzling commercials with special deals and prizes. They do not think for a second the chemicals, the animal cruelty and horrendous conditions in which their food is made. Can you blame them? Yes we can, if we just take the time to actually eat the right foods, grocery shop, make our own meals more often then maybe we can start to see change in the way things are. However, that at the moments is just a dream because after all it is cheap food.
-Esperanta Jean-Charles
Prof. Perez-Triff
Tue/ Thurs 9:50
As I read this article I found many reputable points, I also found many debatable points. The usage of fast food in America has grown increasingly far too much and has attributed to more cases of obesity within youth 11-19 years of age. Frankly, children are consuming far to many processed food and other inorganic substances. That point is this day in age is a reputable point. The point, however on the mistreatment of animals is highly debatable. Since the beginning of time there has been an established hierarchy, humans first and animals last. In more simpler terms, "bless it and eat it" I say to myself. Overall this article gives an interesting view on the correlation of animals slaughter and increasing fast food consumption. In that same token it also poses a lot of questions. Do we cut out fast food out of diets forever? And If we do will little piggy have a life to frolic and roll around in the muck? I don't know.
Why do we eat meat? Why do we eat fast food? We eat these things for the same reason, they are easy, and taste good. From where I stand the increase in meat consumption, and the increase in the number of fast food franchises go hand in hand.
Easy, how? I spend hours preparing my meat, and cooking it to perfection.
Chances are, if you eat meat, you don’t have to ask yourself everyday, where is the protein? Is this a complete protein, how can I complete this protein? (Questions healthy vegetarians, and vegans ask themselves everyday.)
Sounds much easier to just eat an already complete protein, meat, and not have to ask those questions, the ease of meat and reason for its popularity.
When I stopped purchasing meat, my grocery bill cut in half, I found myself with a surplus of money and only a slight increase in my electricity bill (because I stopped eating out and started cooking).
In addition it doesn’t take as long to prepare meals as it used to. Raw beans and grains don’t go bad, and are easy to buy in bulk.
Cooking at home seems natural to me, I know what is going into my food, I know what is going into my body, and when I cook, I tend not to eat, as much and I would have eating out.
All these things I think about everyday making it hard for me to understand how other people eat, almost mindlessly. Chewing without thinking, tasting or enjoying, inhaling their food, and not exploiting the wonderful senses we have as humans to enjoy everything presented to us.
As humans we have cravings for fat, sugar and salt, things traditionally hard to find in nature, hence why it is natural to crave these things. These things are very useful to keep us alert, alive and warm. These things we need, but not in the surplus that we are now allowed to receive them, in the grocery stores, and fast food restaurants.
I’ll end with these thoughts, and this question:
What does it mean to be a human today, lazy, mindless, and/or obese?
Or, can we change and become more, become mindful, active, and aware?
In today’s world, people refuse to have time to consume healthier food. People rather run behind their schedule and get fast-food on the way over the effort of waking up even 15 minutes earlier to make oneself breakfast and etc. Do we choose to consume fast food because it is easily accessible? Yes, but so are the vegetables that takes only the effort of cutting and throwing everything together to make delicious meal. I believe that one may choose the excuse and blame the government that they do not imply the correct regulations on food that is in the restaurants, but I strongly stand by my believes that all of us have a right to choose what the nutritionally valuable is for us. The government or the big corporations such as McDonald’s are not forcing us to consume their food because they only make it easily accessible for the lazy people. The discussion of fast food versus healthy food boils down not to the cost of it and not to the time it takes to make it, but to the one’s desires. Each of us has at least two options of what to eat, and it is all up to us to make the correct decision.
A huge factor that has to be considered in the obesity among adults and children is physical activity.
Physical activity can be the best thing for anybody it’s great for your physical health and mental health. There should be a decrease in the amount of fast food we eat and an increase in our physical activity.
Also the way we eat at home says a lot about the choices we make while we're eating out. I think America needs to learn to eat healthy and avoid fast food completely and that starts at home.
In short, fast food restaurants are only interested in making a profit. Most Americans in the US can agree that we should definitely put our health first. Most people in America need to be more aware of the quality of food they’re eating and the amount of daily food intake.
- Nicholle Barquero
Professor Triff 9:50 AM T R
Today’s world is fast-paced and convenience is chosen above health. Fast foods have been called a slaw poison and can send you to the grave faster than nature intended you to go. Drive through window at McDonald’s has been introduced in 1975, and the obesity rate in America had climbed to 15% (now it is about 40%!!). At my job (I work at fine-dining Italian restaurant) I constantly serving pops and sides of French fries that customers requesting over rice and beans or vegetables while our international guests tends to make a healthy choices favoring bottled water, unsweet tea, and sides of veggies to complement their dinner. So what makes Americans so loyal to clearly unhealthy greasy sugary loaded with calories fast foods options? Media certainly plays giant role in what we and especially our children “want” to eat. An average person sees about 40,000 ads a year promoting candy, soda, and unhealthy snacks. Family also has an unquestionable influence on our eating habits from early childhood till later in life (Thanks to South Florida WIC and Healthy Start programs that provides parents, and expecting mothers with necessary information about nutrition as well as the opportunity to purchase “good for you” foods with WIC checks at no cost to you). So if you love your families (and yourself) take an extra time to cook “slaw” healthy food at home by baking and steaming over broiling and deep-frying, pack yourself a lunch, and avoid another Big Mac. Your body will be surely thankful! Stay healthy America!
Marina Varivoda
There’s a reason why fast food chains are so wealthy because people love it. Either because they like the taste or because its fast and you don’t have to cook it and make sense for someone who is constantly busy. But the question is, is it worth it at the end. Because later on you see what this “junk food” is doing to you basically can kill you if you eat so much. I work at a whole foods market where basically they sell everything organic or natural. Now let me tell you its not cheap at all, and there’s a little slogan whole foods equals whole pay check. But I was talking to a customer one day and basically I love what she said, she said in a way its not expensive at all because if I would just buy cheap food later on I got to spend a fortune on doctors. And she is an older lady and since she been eating healthy she hasn’t had to go to a doctor, and if you don’t have insurance its going be a lot of money. So in general America does have do a better job in dieting and exercise and educate the young generation of healthy eating.
Rodolfo Saborio
t/r 9:50-11:05
Cheap food! High price? …Definitely!! Many Americans know at some point that fast food is not healthy, but continue to purchase it because it is cheap! Fast food is making Americans lazier meaning more generations rely on fast food because we grow up not learning how to properly cook a healthy meal. Recently, I’ve tried to give up on fast food and started to learn how to cook healthy foods and I’m amazed how different my body feels and how content I feel. At the beginning of my journey, I remember giving in and buying a Mc’Chicken and what a world of difference, it tasted stale, the texture of the meat was so different compared to the home cooked chicken. I think many of us don’t recognize all these things when we become so accustomed to the taste of fast food. It’s definitely sad to know that some of us make the decision to eat at these fast food chains giving them more money to maintain these poor nutrition food around leading to obesity and all kind of health issues.
Linda Baez
The American diet has become a milestone to its parallel marketing industry, in which whoever invests the most in advertising receives its reward in profits. Its biggest issue has clearly been defined as the unhealthy defying of the essentials of the food pyramid, leading to an increase in chronic health problems such as morbid obesity and its derivatives.
I do, though, accept that when in need, it solves the necessity of having a fast, relatively complete meal as our bodies require so. The issue is, that as most other industries now a days, they're fed by consumerism, which also derives from the same entity.
To me, this is an issue that is seen as very underrated and as such, the government does not take action in order to repress its incontrollable outrage that is consequently leading to a variety of health issues that may even result in deaths or permanent diseases. Hopefully, there will be new campaigns supporting this anti-fast-food movement that will reinforce this mentality in people in general, which should almost be targeting parents, the peers to every child that is exposed to this problem.
Ana Federica Nava
Cheap Food? HIgh Price.
Definitely. We pay a high price health wise if we choose to make cost and convenience our highest priorities. The fact is that we are partly in this situation because our desire to save time and money coincided with someone else's desire to make more money in less time. All of the other "priorities" were put to the wayside, especially the ingredients. The original post mentions "human self-destruction" as a construct to our continued actions. While this may seem extreme, our preoccupation with the perception of things (as opposed to what's actually happening) hinders our ability to properly determine the effect of want over need. We are shortsighted! Well, most of us are anyway. We need to change our own culture, but we must begin from within. It starts by reevaluating our priorities. We must begin to show better wisdom and decide to think of long term, holistic solutions for feeding our population. Ignorance is our biggest enemy in this and most every social dilemma. Knowledge is power. We start by educating the world on how our actions affect the rest of the world and the rest of our lives.
"Cheap Food? High price?"
Nutrition is one of the most important things a human being should have in his/her live. Basically what it is is eating healthy, meaning having the main nutriments such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and so on. Without these we can barely live. I totally agree with this post because nowadays human beings are not making the right choices to weather what to eat or not. I believe they just rather spend $7.00 at any fast food restaurant than actually going to any supermarket and taking their time to buy the right food. I know we all live basically in a hurry; most of the people don’t have enough time to be deciding what their bodies needs, but if they actually care they will do so. It is easier to just go to a drive through and buy a burger than getting home and start to cook. All these habits are what drive people to obesity. It is sad to see how human beings don’t even care about their bodies and what it actually needs. Children are one of the highest percent that have obesity. Why? Simple. Just because they eat a lot of fast food and don’t exercise at all, they just rather stay home playing Xbox. I completely believe these habits should be eliminated somehow and always keep in mind. “One must eat to live, not live to eat”
Sheila Barcelo
Cheap Food? High price?
Nutrition is one of the most important things a human being should have in his/her live. Basically what it is is eating healthy, meaning having the main nutriments such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and so on. Without these we can barely live. I totally agree with this post because nowadays human beings are not making the right choices to weather what to eat or not. I believe they just rather spend $7.00 at any fast food restaurant than actually going to any supermarket and taking their time to buy the right food. I know we all live basically in a hurry; most of the people don’t have enough time to be deciding what their bodies needs, but if they actually care they will do so. It is easier to just go to a drive through and buy a burger than getting home and start to cook. All these habits are what drive people to obesity. It is sad to see how human beings don’t even care about their bodies and what it actually needs. Children are one of the highest percent that have obesity. Why? Simple. Just because they eat a lot of fast food and don’t exercise at all, they just rather stay home playing Xbox. I completely believe these habits should be eliminated somehow and always keep in mind. “One must eat to live, not live to eat”
Sheila Barcelo
Eliana Arita said…
The issue on American food processing is one of a massive scale. In order to understand the whole issue not only do we have to evaluate how the food is being processed and the dangers we are exposing ourselves to in terms of our health such as diabetes, cholesterol as well as diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Research is showing changes occurring to our DNA because of current poisonous methods of food production. However this issue is not just about nutrition and making the right food choices, it’s much bigger than that; we have to look at our lifestyles and the current model of living. We as conscious human beings must take the time to reflect on our current mode of thinking, because our thoughts lead to our actions, and whether we like it or not we are all part of a collective whole. We should avoid fragmenting life as often as we do now. We can’t expect to keep the same model of business that gives birth to large corporations if we even want to fathom the idea of saving the environment, because our current model of profit makes that implausible. Our growing population also plays a part in why we accept these current methods of industrial agriculture. It’s getting difficult to meet the criteria; the supply needs to meet the demands.
Low income usually leads to poor quality of food intake. We have to make the realization that poverty is very much part of our current reality even though we are not highly exposed to it in the United States , not in the degree that you can encounter in third world countries. There are a whole lot of other variables that come into play, but what is important is that we continue to stay aware and make the connections. We also need to accept that in order to achieve change especially with the large issues that we face in terms of the environment and the 7 billion people residing on planet earth, we will have to give up certain behaviors, materials, conveniences, and step away from current comfort zones we have build for ourselves. We must take responsibility and act upon what we advocate in order for our words to have any substance. As Bohm once said we as individuals are formed out of society, but together the individuals form society.
-Eliana Arita
The fact that animals such as cows, chickens, and pigs are raised in mass production should be an alarming wake up call to the general public. It’s just not natural. Unfortunately, whether it’s natural or not, some people just can’t afford to care and I mean that literally. Yes, perhaps majority of the people that pay taxes are also paying for the grain that the cows, chickens and pigs are eating. These same people are giving the O.K. to companies such as McDonalds, and Burger King by continuously buying food from them. This group of people should be called The Idiots, because can afford healthier foods. Especially if they live near any grocery stores. The Idiots, despite the label assigned here, can most certainly buy better foods and learn to cook them.
Unlike The Idiots, there happens to be another group that does not get the option between grocery stores, and cheap ‘nutrition’, let’s call them the Nomads. Nomads live in urban areas, maybe they’re homeless, maybe it’s a single mother of five, maybe it’s a teen on the streets barely scraping by for whatever reason; Nomads live in ‘urban food deserts’. Nomads probably are not going to be heading to the nearest McDonalds, considering the locations they live in, they would most likely be heading to a small diner that also receives shipments of the same flash freeze veggies and mass produced meat as McDonalds does versus buying and selling fresh veggies and free range chicken meat. I mean, why else would the food in urban food deserts be any different than the Big Mac in some person’s hand? Certainly not because it’s better.
I believe that there does need to be a change in how foods are produced for the benefit of ourselves. That change should most certainly start at home buy cooking one’s own food with quality ingredients (because the quality is the whole basis of the argument). People must also learn how to exercise control, if they want a bag of chips they should get one small bag, or if they want a burger, they should learn to settle on a kid’s meal at McDonald’s. My final idea is that we as the consumers should push for much healthier foods, not just for ourselves and our families, but for those who really have no other choice but to eat nutritionally deficient foods that end up harming them in the long run.
Fast food, cheap prices
Maybe we should say: Cheap food, fast death. In America today, millions of Americans are dying each year as a result of poor diet, lack of exercise, and bio-chemicals in what they eat. Due to non-regulated portion control, Americans eat two the amounts in portion sizes over European countries. Saturated fat and cholesterole are some of the prime factor in the death toll each year. Companies like McDonald are capitalizing on their profit each year because most Americans don't make time to follow a balanced diet due to comfort of saving time and money, so they say. The economy has been struggling for the past seven years and companies across America are staying innovative to capture the attention of working individuals on the run. Espicially those families with two or more children, eating right seems almost impossible. So these big companies capitalize on the commercial slogans "EYES SEE, EYES WANT". We can find hundreds of theory of what can be done to avoid these critical issues in our country, but America has to take a stand and educate themself about what right for the body.
Wilfred Ostanne
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