Fast Food Nation Analysis In Fast Food Nation, a book written by journalist Eric Schlosser, speaks about how America's fast food franchises contribute to the obesity epidemic that more and more Americans have to face everyday. Schlosser’s argument is that our very own fast food nation is crippling our society quicker than we actually think. The effects of Fast Food Nation on American society and politics show that Schlosser's argument is extremely convincing due to large amount of alarming information he found as well as his effective writing style. I am sort of glad Eric Schlosser took the time to put together this book because if not, this fast food plague would most likely have our nation spiraling downward faster than it already is. Schlosser points out that in the year of 2000, Americans spent over $110 billion on fast food alone.
It is considered a chronic disease that health care providers should monitor with frequent visits. The problem of overweight and obesity results from an excessive accumulation of fat that exceeds the body’s skeletal and physical standards. A person gains weight when the number of fat cells in the body increases. These fat cells first increase in size and then increase in numbers. An average size person has about 30-35 billion fat cells.
Combined with a sedentary lifestyle, obesity rises as a problem in America. The United States may not be the fattest country in the world, but the number of overweight individuals is still over the top. A whopping 74.1% of Americans are overweight, having a BMI of 25 or over. One Friday night I got bored and decided to watch a documentary over the effects of consuming fast food. This documentary, “Super-size Me” targeted McDonalds, the leading fast food chain in the World.
David starts by teasing these overweight individuals that are bring a lawsuit against McDonalds, but then later admits that he used to be overweight as a child and was able to change his life around. He made a point to show health concerns with being obese and eating fast food regularly, such as type two diabetes which has risen about twenty-five percent since 1994. This raise in diabetes also requires much funding for the United States to spend to try to find a cure. David explains how there is very few alternatives for the youth of America because those health alternatives are more expensive and harder to find. False advertising is also another unpleasant practice that fast food companies use to lure in costumers.
For example, McDonalds’ philosophy is based on value and price more then on quality, they are providing fast service and affordable prices. However, McDonalds state their goal is quality, service, cleanliness and price value. Everybody knows that McDonalds’ food is frozen and not daily fresh. Their best advantage is a price and fast service. According to Wendy’s philosophy, it is oriented on quality of the food as well, their competitive advantage is fresh non-frozen meat, made to – order hamburgers.
Oscar Mayer Bacon Ad Analysis Over the last decade, the United States as a nation has become obsessed with health. With obesity rates on the rise, healthful eating is a popular trend. As many people are aware, bacon is not “heart healthy” or “low calorie” but quite the opposite. Oscar Mayer fits into a group of food manufacturers who market products that are by no means good for one’s health. Because the Food and Drug Administration regulates the claims made about foodstuffs, these companies are forced to be creative and come up with witty advertising techniques.
Statistics show that today, 2013, more americans can be classified as obese than ever before. This film raises the question of, “how well do we understand what we are consuming when we eat fast food?”. This question remains relevant today. NUTRITION CONCEPTSServing size, sugar consumption and caloric intake are three ideas emphasized in the film. As the title “SuperSize” says, the portions of food being per meal today are a factor in many health related concerns; the obesity epidemic and its impact on health concerns about hypertension (salt consumption), diabetes(sugar consumptions) and high cholesterol just to name a few.
Based on the literature, I found that childhood obesity and low self-esteem are positively correlated. According to the Expert Committee Recommendations on childhood obesity (Expert Committee Recommendations, 2007) individuals from the ages of 2 to 18 years, with a BMI ≥95th percentile, but <95th percentile for age and sex, or BMI exceeding 30 (whichever is smaller), are considered obese. Childhood obesity is a growing problem. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. The percentage of children aged 6-11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980
COMMENTARY The Role of Social Work in the Childhood Obesity Epidemic Elizabeth E. Eliadis C hildhood obesity is growing at alarming rates in the United States. According to the American Obesity Association (AOA), the prevalence of obese children and adolescents has greatly increased in the past three decades. From 1976 to 1980 the prevalence of obesity in children between ages 6 and 11 was 7 percent, and the prevalence of obesity in adolescents between ages 12 and 19 was 5 percent. Between 1999 and 2000, 15.3 percent of children in the United States were considered obese, and 15.5 percent of adolescents were considered obese (AOA, 2002). It is astonishing that obesity has doubled in children and has tripled in adolescents between 1976 and 2000.
The world is on a rising trend of obesity. A search on Google reveals much information and articles addressing rising obesity rates, in particularly United States, where more than one-third of the adult population is obese. These numbers raises eyebrows, and it is not only the Americans that are overweight, there are also trends in other parts of the world depicting the same issue of obesity. While Singapore’s obesity numbers are barely alarming, obesity rates are on the rise, as said by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (Grant, 2012), and as one of the fastest developing countries in the world, rising obesity numbers in coming years seem inevitable, but the numbers will not be as astronomical as the rest of the world. Singapore is renowned for variety of food, from Chinese, Malay, Indian, Japanese, Korean, etc.