Utilizing Strategic Initiatives to Curb the Quick Fix Food Epidemic

Krystalle Swasey

Utilizing Strategic Initiatives to Curb the Quick Fix Food Epidemic Krystalle Swasey Intro to Writing/English 1010-096 Salt Lake Community College

Krystalle Swasey
4341 South 5710 West West Valley City, UT 84128 801-833-2231 krystalleswasey@gmail.com. ______________________________________________________________________ December 9, 2013 Ronald Bohannon, MA SLCC Department of English 4600 South Redwood Road Taylorsville, UT 84123 To whom this may concern: Many Americans are turning to easy meals, such as processed and fast foods, which is causing a major obesity epidemic in our country. The satisfaction from these foods only last a short amount of time before youre craving more. These eating habits we have obtained are causing diseases that include heart disease, colon cancer, and diabetes. Americans need to start thinking about the long term effects of fast food instead of looking for a quick fix. A big key to significantly improve our health is by changing the way we eat and by eating in moderation alongside with frequent exercise. The use of these strategic initiatives can help us become a healthier country.

Sincerely,

Krystalle Swasey

Utilizing Strategic Initiatives to Curb the Quick Fix Food Epidemic Many Americans are turning to easy meals, such as processed and fast foods, which doctors say are causing a major obesity epidemic in our country. The satisfaction from these foods only last a short amount of time before youre craving more. These eating habits we have obtained are causing diseases that include heart disease, colon cancer, and diabetes. Americans need to start thinking about the long term effects of fast food instead of looking for a quick fix. A big key to significantly improve our health is by changing the way we eat and by eating in moderation alongside with frequent exercise. The use of these strategic initiatives can help us become a healthier country. In America many types of foods that are eaten are unhealthy such as processed and industrialized foods. Many of these specific foods lack an efficient amount of micronutrients and omega-3 fatty acids. They tend to be packaged and ready to go meals which have little to no nutrients and are full of simple carbohydrates that only satisfy our hunger for a short amount of time. Michael Pollan, the author of Escaping the Western diet says, We should be avoiding any food that has been processed to such an extent that its more the product of industry than of nature. The foods we are eating are processed to such an extent that you can barely even call them food anymore. We need to start making better decisions about the foods we chose to eat because they are causing diseases that are could be prevented if we could just change our diets. There are many adverse health effects that can arise from eating fast food. Some of these diseases include high cholesterol, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, but diabetes especially has gone up 25% in just 19 years. Many of these diseases are caused by items that fast food establishments offer. These foods are often low in fiber and high in fat, sodium, cholesterol and simple carbohydrates, which can contribute to obesity and diseases. This is especially true when

fast food is consumed in the extra-large portion sizes that are common in the American diet. This is leading to the obesity of two-thirds of the adults in America and 17% of children. There are four industries that are benefiting from our confusion about how to eat right. The first is the medical industry which is receiving a lot of money from the many different surgeries people are buying into. Americans are paying for these surgeries because they dont like the way their body looks from the foods they have chosen to eat. The second is the drug industry which has also received a lot of money from people who need medications to treat food related conditions like high cholesterol, blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. The third is the food industry which is making a lot of money from the advertisements of their fatty unhealthy products. The food industry is always using some type of ad to promote a new product they try to pass off as food, which American people end up buying and loving. Some Americans believe that the food industry is gaining too much control over us through the ads they are using. A lot of these advertisements are focused towards children who end up eating their so called food and contracting type 2 diabetes. Only 5% of children had type 2 diabetes in 1994 and by 2013 it has gone up to 30% or higher according to the National Institutes of Health. Since the rise in type 2 diabetes, the money used to treat this condition used to be an estimated $2.6 billion in 1969 and has gone all the way up to $100 billion in 2013. The fourth and last is the diet industry which is earning its money from the advertisements used in magazines, on the radio, and even on TV. The diet industries main focus is to put an unrealistic image out there for women to judge themselves upon and by telling them they need to lose weight in order to look like a model on the cover of a magazine. The diet columns in magazines thrive off of womens insecurities by creating a selfimage that women need to look a certain way in order to be liked and known within society. It is wrong for the diet industry to be targeting women in such a big way and that it needs to become

a small, if not none existent, part of womens lives. I believe if women can start saying no to fitting in with societys self-image of telling women what they have to look like in order to be happy, they can build their own self-image of what they want to look like and in turn creating their own happiness. The recent statistics on how much type 2 diabetes is affecting children lead the government wanting some amount of control over the foods children eat. Michelle Obama has created a new program called, Lets Move which is organized to help children to be more active and to promote healthier eating. A way that she wants to control healthier eating is by changing the food in school lunches. Mrs. Obama has made it so that children have to have a fruit or vegetable with their meal and has also changed the portion sizes of the food to manage childrens calorie intake. Some people dont like the idea of the government being able to control what their child eats, but Michelle Obama says this program will help improve childrens health for the furture. I think that this Lets Move campaign is a step in the right direction because some of us need a little guidance to help with healthier eating in one way or another. Responsibility is a big key in living a healthier life style. Some people think that we should be blaming fast food establishments for the rise of obesity. Some go to such an extent that they are suing these establishments for causing them to become obese, which is like saying guns kill people. Its not right that some people are blaming their problems on others and making them pay for it. We need to start taking accountability for our own actions by realizing that people are the problem and put more thought into the food we put in our mouths. Other people believe we shouldnt be blaming the people for what they are eating, but blame fast food restaurants for attacking their customers by excessively advertising and not talking about the hazards their foods can potentially cause. Some believe that we should be blaming the food industry for selling such

unhealthy and processed foods. I believe that there is someone we need to blame, but that someone is ourselves. We need to start using our common sense about the foods we are eating and ask ourselves if its going to benefit our bodies and if not, dont eat it. There are some changes that we need to make in our lives in order to become healthier country. The first thing we need to do is change is the way we think about food. In fast food commercials food is always being glorified and portrayed to look wonderfully tasty, but doesnt show the adverse health effects that come with it. We have to stop making fast food sound like such a good thing and start thinking about how its going to affect us later on in life, rather than looking for a quick fix. We need to change our negative thoughts about healthy food and turn them into self-reinforcing ideas. I think that in order to do this we need to stop thinking about healthy foods as something unappetizing or gross and start thinking about the benefits that it can give us. Judith Warner, author of Junking Junk Food says, We cant change specific eating behaviors without addressing our way of life and changing our culture of food. We have to start presenting healthful eating as a new, desirable, freely chosen expression of the American way. I agree changing our food habits is going to affect our culture, but its a change that needs to happen whether the choice is freely chosen or decided for you. The second thing we need to do is start eating in moderation. Many of the meal Americans are eating are a lot larger than what the My Pyramid calls for. The meat suggestions for how much the portion should be is the size of a playing deck of card or the size of a mans wallet. Many of us dont follow this suggestion because we feel that it isnt enough to satisfy our hunger when in actuality its all the body needs. A lot of the fixed portion size meals we order from restaurants also tend to be on the larger side of giving more food than the body really needs, which ends up causing us to over eat and accumulate fat. A way that we can change this

is by eating more home-cooked meals so that we can control how much food we eat and also by making sure most of the foods eaten are vegetables and fruits. Along with eating healthy we have to keep in mind that our bodies only need a certain amount of each food group and to not exceed the recommended amount. People in American need to make healthier eating habits a part of their life style by following the My Pyramid along with the recommended foods we are supposed to eat in order to nurture our bodies, that way we could become a healthier country. The third and last thing that needs to change is our daily amount of exercise. Its recommended that you get anywhere from 30-60 minutes of exercise every day. A lot of Americans dont include exercise as a part of their daily life, which is one of the contributors to why we have such a high obesity rate. There are many things you can do in order to fulfill the recommended exercising amount; some of those things involve going to the park, taking a physical fitness class at your local gym, walking around your neighborhood, running around the local high school track, putting together a basketball team, walking the dogs, and even parking in the back of a parking lot to make you walk a little bit further. There are so many different things that you can do in order to get your body in shape while also shedding some unwanted pounds. A lot of us like to use excuses for why we cant exercise as much as we should. We have to put those excuses aside and realize that exercising isnt just there to help keep people in shape, but also allow us to prevent diseases that would be more common if you didnt exercise. By adding exercise to our daily routine we can improve our health and also promote living longer and fuller lives. Our eating habits are effecting our lives greatly, but not in a positive way. A lot of us think what we eat doesnt matter and wont affect us long term, but the realization of the situation is that it does matter because if we eat the wrong foods it can potentially lead to disease

that could have possibly been prevented. Even though there are many advertisements provoking us to eat unhealthy foods, we need to take responsibility for the foods we chose to eat and know that there are consequences for unhealthy eating. Some of these consequences include; high cholesterol, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. There are many different things that we can do in order to become healthier and some of those include; changing the way we think about food by making healthy food seem more appealing and unhealthy food seem hazardous to our health, by eating the right foods in moderation and by eating more home-cooked meals, and lastly by including exercise into our daily routine. If we could start changing these aspects of our lives by implementing these strategic initiatives, I believe that we could eventually become a healthier country once again.

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