Introduction The rapid increase of overweight and obese people in the United States has been described as an “epidemic” (U.S. government), but people still do nothing or are not worried enough to stop this up going problem. Morgan Spurlock is an north American cineaste who filmed the documentary “Super Size me”. The documentary daily narrates his 30 day Mc Donald’s diet and the consequences that it had on the health and physical appearance of Spurlock. Furthermore, it also interview people in the streets and experts in order to gain credibility and have a stronger impacts in the viewer opinion. Nevertheless the documentary is extremely biased, it makes the fast food companies looks like enemies and it doesn’t even give a point of view which could go against his ideas.
In response to this demand, major food companies have refocused their best product lines and are selling off/discontinuing products that don’t resonate with consumers or fit into this healthy lifestyle model. Pinnacle Foods Group LLC is a manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of high-quality, branded convenience food items in North America. They had annual net sales of $2.5 billion in fiscal 2012 bringing in $52.5 of that as income. The company’s total assets equal $4.5 billion and liabilities come in at $3.5 billion. Pinnacle brands are leaders in many of their respective categories, holding the #1 or #2 market share position in 10 of the 12 major product categories they compete in.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, obesity rates have tripled in America's youth and adults since 1980 America needs to understand that not the only people getting larger, but so are their children. We are leading children to poor health and a poor understanding of what exercise and being active can do for you. With schools limiting PE classes and sporting budgets, exercise has been something only merely talked about rather than being practiced. Children are being diagnosed with Cardiovascular disease which is one of the leading causes of death in our nation and many other chronic diseases. Because of the significance of fast food chains in America, we feel the urge for an easy meal, Americans, in general, immediately look to the fast food nation for a quick suppression to their hunger.
Ludwig and Nestle states in article Can the Food Industry Play a Constructive Role in the Obesity Epidemic?, “Far greater profits come from highly processed, commodity-derived products-fast food, snack foods, and beverages-primarily composed of refined starch, concentrated sugars, and low quality fats” (1809). I believe that the corporations can if they really want to send the right message to their consumers. Some corporations actually do promote healthy eating habits to their consumers when they come to the fast food corporations. The corporations started to promote healthy eating more after many research have been done to prove how bad fast food has been towards its consumers. Ludwig and Nestle expresses, “Research links frequent consumption of highly processed foods to weight gain and increased risk for diet-related diseases” (1809).
What else can I do with my money? What happens when you eat fast food? One of the first things that fast food does is overloading your body with calories. Between 1971 and 2000 the average American woman’s daily intake of calories rose from 1,542 to 1,877, and the average man’s from 2,450 to 2,618. A single
Health concerns are the major factors driving such behavior, with 64% of consumers who reduced their consumption saying it’s because products in the category are unhealthy/fattening. Staying viable in the marketplace will require continued product innovation, including the development of natural and better-for-you (BFY) lines. PepsiCo dominates category sales of the salty snacks segments. 2.1 Market Summary Doritos is the market leader in its segment. In 2006, it accounted for around 10.5% of the American US$19.5bn savory snack market.
September 22, 2013 What You Eat Is Your Business Obesity has become a huge issue in America, and fast foods are believed to be one of the leading causes, yet many Americans still love fast foods and practically live off of them. Those who deal with obesity usually see it as a problem but realized it too late, and struggle to make things rights. Many blame others or make excuses for their obesity, which is really a result of their own free will. Therefore, in some cases, others pay the consequences of those poor choices. Balko uses logos to explain that the people of America need to start taking responsibility for their own health, particularly with diet and obesity, because those are results of their own choices.
Weight Gain In America America’s weight gain problem is brought on by the fast food industry. According to “If You Pitch It, They Will Eat” by David Barboza and “It’s Portion Distortion that Makes America Fat,” by Shannon Brownlee, each article displays information about how fast food restaurants are apart of the weight gain in America. As the number of fast food restaurants increase across the country, America is becoming the fattest Nation in the World. Shannon Brownlee of the Sacramento Bee educates readers that distortion of food is the incentive to oversized Americans in her article “ It’s Portion Distortion that Makes America Fat.” According to Brownlee, “As early as 1972 McDonalds has introduced its larger sized fries which could be compared to what used to be a McDonalds medium sized size.” She immediately points the finger towards McDonalds while she targets the fast food industry for their contributions to America’s expanding weight problem. Brownlee puts the blame on the fast food industries as she explains that it is their fault for distorting portions sizes.
Many Americans cannot afford to purchase such material, so they have to rely on the abundant diversity of fast food and microwaveable dinners. As seen in Figure 1 the percent of obese people has increased since 1988. So has the production and consumption of unhealthy foods such as fast food restaurants. These unhealthy ways of eating are not helping the obesity rates to decrease, but rather causing more damage to more citizens across the nation. There have been several studies done in order to interpret the correlation between obesity and its alarming increasing rate.
Weight gain has become a prominent enough that, we now face a nationwide crisis that kills up to 400,000 citizens a year, and raises medical costs into the hundred billions. The real question – how did we all become so fat? The food we eat is plagued with fats, salts, sugars, and harmful preservatives that have ultimately deteriorated our society as a whole. A recent study claimed that being overweight isn’t from over consuming, but from eating too little REAL food. This means hearty whole grains and unprocessed fruits and vegetables, opposed to whopping Big Macs and potato chips saturated in salt.