Peer review # 2

August 16, 2016

Running head: A PROBLEM EXISTS: REVISED

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Food changes start with our youth

When we look at our society we can see that there is a problem with obesity in our county. Many Americans appear to be struggling with weight gain. On average, American men and women are up to 15 pounds heavier than they were 20 years ago. I believe this is in direct correlation to the foods that they are eating. Poor eating habits is a learned behavior which starts at a young age. It is a common site to witness obese children walking around the streets and malls eating junk food or drinking a soda. These habits can be significant contributing factors in creating the nation's obesity problem. If not curtailed, the extra weight can increase substantially over time. The foods being consumed can become addicting. Studies on the eating habits of Americans have linked sugar to physiological brain activities, similar to the effects that drugs like cocaine can have on the brain. When children consume these foods, it can lead to addictive behavior, which, in turn, can be eventually passed on to their children, creating a sustainable and widespread health problem.

A PROBLEM EXISTS: REVISED

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Recognizing the problem is only the beginning. In order to have a positive impact on this national epidemic, action needs to be taken in society to combat this problem; however, people will not change if they are not educated. In comparison, the obesity epidemic is similar to the addictive use of tobacco. In this county's recent history, it was not uncommon to see people smoking cigarettes in public places as they went about their daily tasks; in fact, it was considered to be a healthy habit. Advertisements appeared in magazines and newspapers showing physicians endorsing certain cigarette brands. Those who smoked did not think that they were harming their bodies. Over time, researchers found that consuming tobacco was, in fact, not healthy, even considered harmful. Shortly after these discoveries, advertising campaigns touting the harmful nature of smoking appeared. These ads were specifically aimed at young consumers in the hopes

of changing established habits. Because of these successful public education campaigns, cigarette usage has been reduced significantly. The problem of smoking is far from becoming a thing of the past, but progress has been made in creating a healthier society.

The foods being consumed by Americans must be treated the same way. Educating youth about the foods they are putting into their bodies can prove to be beneficial to their long-term health status. Similar to what occurred with the problems surrounding cigarettes, educating young consumers about nutrition may have a potentially positive impact and help move towards accomplishing this monumental task. By simply having the public school system serve a more well-balanced diet with nutritional foods in school lunches, as well as helping teach our children the correct way to eat, progress can be made towards ending this pandemic.

Taking a look back at the history of food in the American culture, it is evident that there have been significant changes. Before there were grocery stores, fast food restaurants, and food processing plants, the average person had to either obtain or grow their own foo, or barter an item of value in exchange for food in order to eat. At first this consisted of hunting and gathering food; such as finding nuts, berries, and fruits, or killing wild animals to consume. Later, a trade system emerged, where a craftsman would barter their product for a farmer's produce. Farmers and ranchers would also trade fruits of their labors with each other to round out their diets. Ranchers who raised livestock might trade an animal to be slaughtered for meat to a farmer in exchange for some of his harvested crops.

Once the grocery store was introduced, money became the key factor of trade. Trading money for consumable foods became the norm for Americans. The grocery store allowed people to focus their time on other things in life, such as their careers, or their families. This allowed

them to focus more time on goals, such as advancing their careers, growing their families, and spending more time on leisure activities, all of which, helped to advance the American way of life. However, their ancestors may have lived a simpler and healthier way of life. Consuming fruits, vegetables, nuts, and meats appear to follow a more natural path meant for humans inhabiting the Earth. The human body is physiologically designed to chase down an animal, slaughter it, cook it, and serve it to their clan. Collecting and growing foods to consume is also ingrained in human nature. It does not appear that the human body was designed to consume and metabolize foods which are mass-produced on an assembly line. Unlike foods which are naturally obtained, the digestive system is not designed to process these manufactured foods correctly.

Money and the grocery store is the first problem, associated with poor eating habits. As stated before, trade was the key to food and survival. Grocery stores made this process very easy. Hence, more and more people started utilizing the process of spending their earned money for products. Consumer demand for a wider variety of products forced the grocery stores to seek more items to fill their store shelves. This created more demand on the processing plants, who then needed more employees to process the products and meet this growing consumer demand. The system of supply and demand began to influence the growth of grocery store chains. Increased needs and wants from consumers forced the stores to stock more products on the shelves, increasing the need for additional employees, and, therefore, affecting the growth of the manufacturing companies. Each business entity began to focus on the bottom line, thus, increasing their profit margin became their goal. This business model has developed into a consumer-based society which currently exists in the U.S.

Demand has forced the grocery store chains to carry more products. Manufacturing

companies, therefore, produce more products. Consumers aim to maximize their purchasing power by seeking products which cost less. In order to keep their business competitive, the stores then seek products which are mass-produced to save manufacturing costs. In order to keep customers frequenting the grocery stores, this economic model became a self-sustaining process of increased demand for numerous low-cost food items, which has led to mass production of food items in order to lower costs.

Because the grocery stores needed more product for less money to satisfy a demanding consumer base, a strain has been placed on every business in the chain, including the farmer and the manufacturers. They are forced to either sell the same product for less, or produce more product through the development of more efficient systems to create a higher profit margin. For someone like a farmer, this is not possible. There is no way for a farmer with 100 acres of land to grow more produce or raise more livestock. Their land and their labor are limited resources, and the time it takes to grow produce is finite. Farmers have developed processes with the assistance of machinery and technology to maximize their resources, but these advances can only do so much to increase their yield. Consumer demand has forced farmers to keep up as best as they can. Genetically modified organism, or GMO, is one way in which they have attempted to maintain sufficient production to meet the growing demand. GMO has become a method to scientifically modify the items used for food sources to become more efficient, meaning that produce used for food can grow bigger and faster in the same soil used by farmers. The science behind GMO allows farmers to solve the problem of needing more food in a shorter period of time. Although this appears to be a great problem solver, it does not take into account the body's designed method for processing energy. The natural chemicals that are contained in our non-GMO foods (from animals or plants), get processed into the usable components in the body's digestive system.

As stated earlier, the human body is designed to process natural foods, these man-made chemicals are entering into human bodies and the digestive system does process these as food. When bodies receive items like this, which are lacking nutritional value, systems can shut down, or operate incorrectly, creating a scenario of converting it directly into fat. This process was naturally designed to keep the body from starving.

Society is aware that these issues exist. There are many studies and plans being proposed which are aimed at solving these issues. Many politicians and public figures are supporting these initiatives, including First Lady Michelle Obama. Early into her tenure in the White House, Mrs. Obama decided to create a movement focused on educating youth on healthy foods and change public food programs, to include healthier choices and options for school provided lunches. This plan called for fruits and vegetables to be served with every meal. The idea was seen as a positive move, the solution to the identified problems with nutrition; however, something changed that. The food industry has a significant presence as a corporate sponsor. Many of the larger companies contributed to President Obama's campaign to become president, which potentially caused a conflict of interest between the food industry and the President of the United States. The eventual outcome was a modification of the free lunch programs in schools, including the classification of certain foods. For example, pizza was now considered a vegetable because the sauce is made from tomatoes; while French fries were considered a vegetable simply because they are made from potatoes. The food industry has essentially weakened the campaign initiated by First Lady Obama through a simple technicality. This change has the potential of teaching school children that pizza and French fries are a healthy meal when they are, in fact, the exact opposite. The idea that Michelle Obama had proposed with the intent of making kids healthier, now has created the potential of making the problem worse.

These issues are significant and are negatively affecting the health of Americans. A process of slowly killing the people of the U.S. through their poor dietary habits. I believe that if we can shift the schools' viewpoint on nutrition options, the result will be healthier kids, and, eventually healthier adults. By providing truly healthy options in school meal programs, children will learn healthier behaviors and eating habits. Our schools also need to be teaching our youth about why diet is important and there are some foods that are good, and others bad. Proper education can also help them with the tools to make educated decisions when they arrive at the fridge or cupboard. Of course, parents should also be in control of what their child is provided to eat, along with educating their child on good foods. However, when kids are in school they are spending a majority of their day away from their parent's watchful eye. Because of this, it only makes sense to give them the education on proper diet in a place where they spend most of their day. Another issue with having the parents provide the education is that they were not properly educated at a young age, causing them to be a bad resource most of the time. Starting with the younger members of society will help give kids the tools to make the right choices growing up and then pass that information onto their own children. Through attrition, a majority of the population will learn good eating habits. It may be a very slow process at first; however, it is critical to begin fixing the issue with obesity in America.

Education of our youth on nutrition sets up a future with a renewed focus on good eating habits and healthy bodies. Households with well-balanced meals and a strong commitment to good eating habits can be something that gets passed on from generation to generation. I know that my daughter understands what foods are healthy, and those that are not. She chooses to eat healthier foods most of the time. If she gets a snack for herself she is grabbing carrots, nuts, or fruit over chips nine out of 10 times. My younger son sees big sister making these choices and wants them as well. He is also eating carrots, nuts or fruit for snacks. Conversely, if my wife or I want a cookie, my daughter wants a cookie, then my son wants a cookie. It is a bad trickle-down effect; however, teaching them good habits turns into a good trickle-down effect. This is better for our children which is extremely important to me but it becomes better for generations to come.

When youth become more educated about foods and eating healthier, they will start to lose weight, and become more alert and active. It is a chain reaction that begins with food. Slowly, children will revert a normal weight, or very close to it. If learned behavior can be passed to subsequent generations, the result will be a healthier, less obese society. This domino effect can effectively reduce the obesity issue in this country.

Another issue that the millennial generation is experiencing is the reliance on dining out at a restaurant or fast food establishment too often. Eating healthier choices can also force them to become more creative and prepare foods on their own. Much of this current generation relies mostly on prepared foods from restaurants, and the freezer aisles are filled with foods produced with GMOs. Focusing on eating healthier foods will force this generation, and generations to come, how to cook balanced meals. Cooking is becoming a skill of the past where it used to be a tradition passed on from generation to generation. Cooking and eating together also brings families closer together. There are studies that shows families that eat meals together have stronger bonds, linked to less crime rates from these children. Eating together can bring in a positive family dynamic. Eating at a restaurant can hinder this experience.

In conclusion, this is a never ending loop here where bad foods are forced upon children at such a young age through marketing and a society which tolerates poor eating habits. Kids are taught that these foods are healthy at a young age. They develop poor habits and know only what they are taught, leading to a lifestyle and a potential future of obesity. A good example of this is the marketing of diet sodas. A diet soda is advertised as being “good” for you; however, the chemicals they use to make the soda taste good without the sugars are actually more harmful than sugar to the body. This skewed vision on the foods that Americans consume can create an atmosphere where the word "diet" can make a product appear healthy to the consumer. Education needs to focus on creating eating habits similar to what people ate a few hundred years ago. Finding natural foods to substitute the unhealthy food choices can shift the human body to become what it was supposed to be. This is something that my family practices. I have struggled with being overweight most of my life; through educating myself on proper nutrition, I am the healthiest I have ever been. My children are also eating healthy. My four-year-old daughter knows more about healthy foods than a lot of people in their 40s do, and that speaks volumes of how proper education can create a lifetime of good eating habits and proper nutrition. Children need to be taught about their diet. If this is taught in schools and within the home, the problem with obesity may solve itself.

References:

Gunnars, K. (2014, March 11). 11 Graphs That Show Everything That is Wrong With The Modern Diet. Retrieved August 06, 2016, from https://authoritynutrition.com/11-graphs-that-show-what-is-wrong-with-modern-diet/