In "Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America", I covered the first four chapters, pages 1-58. The book first starts out by talking about the problem our nation has encountered with the tobacco industry. Everyone now knows that smoking kills, and the tobacco industry has been slapped with countless lawsuits for lying to the public about the health effects of smoking. Smoking has ceased to being the leading cause of preventable death in America. We are now uncovering a new problem: overconsumption of food and the rise of obesity.
"The United States is the fattest nation on earth. 65% of American adults are overweight, 30% are obese." Not only are adults suffering with weight gain, but they are impacting their children too. "Obesity rates in children have doubled in children and tripled in adolescents and teens in the last twenty years. 16% of American kids are now overweight or obese" Keep in mind that these statistics were from September 2004, at the rate our nation is going just think what the numbers are today! In today's society, fast food is everywhere. From the moment we walk out our front door, to that car drive (notice no one is walking anymore) to work, to ads on tv and the internet... fast food is surrounding us. Everything about our lifestyle is centered around food. Portion sizes have tremendously increased and that's playing a huge toll on our waistline. Not only are we "getting more bang for our buck" by supersizing our meals or getting that all-you-can-eat buffet, we are training our bodies to eat more along the way. The more fat-induced meals we consume throughout the day, the more our body craves them. Making us eating bigger caloric meals, more often.
Not only are we consuming more high-fat meals, we are also exercising less often. "Studies show that almost 60% of Americans exercise rarely or never". That is astounding! Since the new era of technology has dawned, we are spending more time in front of our computers and less time moving around. Kids are consumed by video games and tv shows rather than playing outside or shooting hoops with their neighborhood friends.
To top it off, our major health organizations, American Heart, American Lung, American Cancer, etc are all focused on selling you medications to "cure" your already developed symptoms due to a lifestyle of unhealthy habits. What ever happened to promoting healthy habits to prevent these illnesses and diseases from happening? Well, money is the answer to that one. Our population is spending billions of dollars on pills and medications each year. Just think how much money we would save if we would put more time and effort into educating healthy lifestyles and preventitive measures instead of trying to cure them once they've escalated.
Until next time, here's a challenge for you. Pass up that fast food joint and add an extra day onto your life. Trust me, you'd be doing yourself and this country a favor by not funding the "Fat Food" corporations.
This book sounds really interesting Katie! I couldn't agree more with the "kids playing video games" comment, when I was little my parents had to drag me inside the house and now my little cousins will not even leave the house because of their video games.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was little it was a treat to get fast food, cause we did it so very little. Now kids are eating it all the time, and it's become a regular dinner! I think parents need to be careful what they are feeding their kids and make them play outside.
ReplyDeleteWOW. It's honestly painful to hear those statistics. And it's all so true. No one bothers taking the time in their busy American lifestyles to walk to work or school let alone take the time to work out!
ReplyDeleteAlso, shame on our organizations that push medications on people instead of just healthier lifestyles! People all too easily would rather take a pill than sweat a little bit.
Focusing on curative medicine instead of preventative medicine in America is obviously a serious problem. Another problem is that we only focus on the physical aspects of our bodies instead of holistically which can contribute to some of the statistics you read. I think this sounds like a great book and I'm looking forward to reading more about it.
ReplyDeleteI love your challenge. We should all really do this. I think we are a very over medicated society. This is not to say that all medication is bad, but there are so many of us who would rather take the magical pill than put in the effort. Why are all of the crazy diet pills so popular? It is just easier to sit on the couch and take a pill than to get out and go for a jog. I can't wait to read more.
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting part of this for me was the bit about major health associations focusing on curative rather than preventative medicine. I think this is another prime example of how lazy we can be as a society- taking the easy route and curing a few symptoms after they appear instead of making the time to plan ahead and prevent things from happening in the first place. I like your challenge and I'll have you know I drove right past Taco Bell and ate a sandwich instead. Thanks!
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