In the third quarter of "Don't Eat This Book" I am now 199 pages into the book and have completed up to 12 chapters. The summaries of these four chapters include the physical effects of consuming fast food, how adults influence the obesity rate in children, school lunch programs and vending machines in schools.
In chapter 9, Morgan Spurlock continues to talk about his month of eating nothing but McDonald's food. He explains that as he got further and further into his experiment he starts to notice changes in his body. First, he noticed zits on his face. Next, was a strange feeling in his chest. He stated that "it felt like someone had stacked weights on my chest". He also started to develop a weird pulsating feeling in his penis. He humorously refers this to "touching a cat's throat when it's purring" as to what it felt like. Other symptoms include, suffering massive headaches, feeling fuzzy, forgetful, tired, and scatterbrained. In fact, "South Carolina researchers say eating trans fat, the kind in many fast foods, impairs memory and learning".
Chapter 10 starts by describing the ploy that marketers use to lure kids into their fast food restaurants, through the use of toys. Genius right? I know it worked for me! What kid doesn't want to get a "Happy Meal" because it has a cool toy from your new favorite movie. "Today, corporations spend over $15 billion every year on marketing, advertising and promotions meant to program kids to consume, consume and consume some more". And the best part about it is that the parents are just letting it happen. Parents are suppose to be their children's role models, showing them healthy life habits. Instead, they are showing them how to eat crappy food and watch tv instead of exercising. "According to Marion Nestle, by the end of the 20th century, American children were getting half their calories from added fat (35%) and sugar (15%). And we wonder why American's children have been labeled as obese.
Chapter 10 also emphasizes the power that McDonald's has over endorsements. They have everybody from Justin Timberlake to Olympic Gold Medalists advertising their products. Now, you can't tell me that an Olympic athlete ever eats McDonald's, even though they claim that they eat their "all the time". Yeah right, we all know you wouldn't stand a chance at the Olympics if you consumed the food from fast food chains.
Chapter 11 and 12 start the debate on school lunch programs and vending machines in schools. School lunches are packed with A la' carte options that often include chips, candy bars, pizza and pop. In addition to offering these extra options, the main offerings are almost worse! From reheated rubber patties, known as hamburgers, to spaghetti from a can there is little to no nutritional value offered to our growing children. The lunch line is lined with artificially flavored mac and cheese, refined breads, nuggets and my favorite tacos (processed meat, full fat cheese, and slimy lettuce...yum). And the nationally known USDA is suppose to be regulating what goes into our kids mouths at lunchtime. It seem's that "The USDA's main job is promoting and supporting agribusinesses; feeding kids if just a convenient sideline".
In addition to horrendous school lunch programs, we offer the option to buy out of vending machines. Vending machines first made an appearance in the 1960s across high school campuses. "In 2003, a study conducted that 85% of vending machines were packed with snacks that were high in sugar and fat content and low in nutritional value. In addition to that only .26% offered a fruit or vegetable." That's not even 1%. Wow.
To wrap up this segment of my Read 'n' Seed, I want to share with you an idea from a college student mentioned in this book. He states, "I think that everyone should adopt the penny per calorie rule. If a calorie cost a penny, then would you really want to spend $3.60 on a candy bar? Or $11-12 on a fast food sandwich? Maybe that would be a way to get the obesity level in America down. Maybe then we could have a more healthy America". It's an interesting concept to think about. So my question to you, if a calorie cost a penny, would you spend $12.30 on an average meal for one at McDonald's? I know I wouldn't.
All the advertising for fast food towards children wouldn't work if parents would be responsible and not feed that food to their kids. Pretty much everyone in the U.S. is aware that we are the most obese nation, yet we are still only offering junk food in schools and vending machines. I would definitely not buy something if a calorie cost a penny. It's a really good idea!
ReplyDeleteThe penny per calorie idea is really creative, I wish something of this nature could be put into place. It would really open peoples eyes to how these "cheap foods" are impacting their health.
ReplyDeleteI like the calorie per penny idea. I think that would really work and people would start to think twice about what they are putting in their bodies. I think it is really disgusting the amount of money that is spent on advertising for unhealthy habits when it could go to somewhere that it's really needed.
ReplyDeleteThe part where you mentioned McDonald's marketing tactics really stood out to me. I know I definitely fell for the happy meal thing as a kid (luckily, I've gotten past that now) and I know the monopoly game gets a lot of adults interested too. They are very clever in devising ways to get people to buy their products.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I want to read your book. It's kind of sickening but totally addicting to read about the ENDLESS effects of fast food! It's unbelievable to think that within a few days and weeks a person can start having noticeable physical effects. I also really like the calorie for a penny, what a great way of looking at the cost of food.You might think to yourself "Oh this package of ramen is only 89 cents, awesome!" But in reality that's around 900 calories, would you pay 9 bucks for that ramen now? Ha, hopefully no one really likes ramen that much..
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