Today in America, malnutrition comes in different
ways. As the website e-News states, “malnutrition comes in the form of
"too much" rather than too little - too much saturated fat, too many
hydrogenated fats, too much sodium, too much refined sugar, too many calories.”
As a result, Americans suffer from much higher rates of cancer, diabetes, heart
disease and obesity.
In the modern life, The American
families are forgetting how to live and eat. The three factors that make
America a malnutrition country are time, money and psychological emotions.
Let’s go back forty years ago. It’s another
evening in American household. The door opens around 5:20 p.m. “Hello honey!
I’m home!” This is when dad comes in, really hungry and tired of a long work in the factory.
Mom gives him a kiss and four happy children are waiting in the table to eat a delicious turkey mom made.
From the Census
Bureau in 2008, 61 percent of women with young children now work. Today’s working women and men are commuters. They travel enormous distances
to work and don’t return until dark or they just don’t come home because they are working in
another city.
Both parents are away from home for long hours, so now, who’s is doing
those delicious meals in the kitchen? The answer is nobody. Now, fewer people have
less time to shop and prepare the home style food.
Because parents are not home until dark, they
can’t spend time in the kitchen. So what does the family eat? A quick and
easy fast food meal is the common solution. Therefore,
the consequence of these quickly prepared meals is that families are spending
less time together. The classic
fast food, like hamburgers, French fries
or chicken nuggets are mean to be eaten on the run and not enjoyed at the
dinner table. When customers enter a McDonald's or Burger King, they do not
want to wait long for their food. The time from when they get in line until
they get their food has to be minimum. I know from my own personal experience that if I wait more than five
minutes I am unhappy. For this reason,
families no
longer share the evening meal, and therefore the malnutrition generation knocks
on the door.
As the Palo
Alto Medical Foundation website explains, “With the efficient service, low
prices and casual atmosphere, fast food seems like the ideal
"all-American" choice. In fact, over 25 percent of Americans consume
fast food every day. Fast food does not have to be unhealthy, but most of the
time it is; consumers often order foods with more fat, calories, sugar and
sodium, and less nutrition and vitamins than is necessary.” While we can find
some ways to a well-balanced nutrition lifestyle, the unhealthy option of fast food is more appealing and common in the United States.
“Kids between the ages of 6 and 14 eat fast food 157,000,000 times every
month.” (Palo Alto Medical Foundation, 2012)
Second, money is
a big component that will lead to a nutritional problem in the United States.
In the article 10 Things the Food
Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know, states that, “The food industry and its
nonstop marketing has been tabbed by many experts as a major player in the
obesity epidemic.” (Voiland, 2012). The food industry uses the mercantile
system and advertising, to increase their profit in junk food, and encourages
consumers to eat more. Also, they worry more in the appearance of food than if
it’s healthy or not.
Furthermore,
According to the Federal Trade Commission,
“food makers spend some $1.6 billion annually to reach children through the
traditional media as well the Internet, in store advertising, and sweepstakes.
The bulk of these ads are for unhealthy products high in calories, sugar, fat
and sodium.” In the article, Unhappy
Meals, “a creature’s senses come to recognize foods as suitable by taste
and smell and color, and our bodies learn what to do with these foods after
they pass the test of the senses. Kids are used to color, taste and how the food
looks. If a colorful candy they never taste it, they don’t mind.” (Michael
Pollan, 2007). The problem here is that children are bombarded with commercials
that attract their mind and body. According to the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, “the child sees about
5,500 food commercials a year (or about 15 per day) that advertise high-sugar
breakfast cereals, fast food, soft drinks, candy, and snacks.” On the other hand, fewer than one
hundred TV ads children see for healthy foods, like vegetables and fruits.
In addition,
when we are talking about money, “more processing means more profits, but
typically makes food less healthy.” (Voiland, 2012). Typically, big companies
are looking to make high profits in processed food, but the fresh fruits and
vegetables clearly aren’t. “The big bucks stem from turning
government-subsidized commodity crops-mainly corn, wheat, and soybeans-into
fast food, snack foods, and beverages. High-profits products derived from these
commodity crops are generally high in calories and low in nutritional value.”
The fact is that also processed food, junk food and fast food, most of the time
is cheaper than buying a pound of avocados or apples. For this reason, people
prefer to spend less money when it comes to food, and save other money to pay
the bills or other more “important things.”
Finally, psychological
emotions like depression might lead to a nutritional problem in our life. A
recent study of the Public Health
Nutrition, found out that “people who eat fast food and commercial baked
goods are 51 percent more likely to develop depression than those who eat
little to none.” Food is a pleasure, but sometimes the pleasure goes beyond the
taste, is more about the joy to feel comfortable and satisfied for just a few
moments. The research found that “those people who were depressed were also
more likely to be smokers and work more than 45 hours per week.” (Walters,
2012). Mary Hartley, a registered dietitian in New York City explains that
“people who have poor-quality diets often have subclinical deficiencies of
essential nutrients. The body needs nutrients to make neurotransmitters, and
so, sure, nutrient deficiencies may have a role in some mental and behavioral
disorders.” (Hartley, 2009). The fact is
that adults and children have not been taught good habits, and the virtue of
moderation. The research showed that certain nutrients can help prevent
depression. "Foods rich in the B-vitamins, folic acid,
such as lentils, bean, spinach, oranges, asparagus, avocado, seeds, tomatoes,
and fortified cereals, might help," Hartley says. "And foods high in
vitamin D may help, too. Those include fatty fish, egg yolks, and milk. As well
as the sun itself, the most important source of vitamin D."
The sad part is
that because of bad healthy eating choices, more Americans instead of
exercising prefer surgery as the fast way to a healthy lifestyle. Michael Pollan
states, “Capitalism in itself marvelously adaptive, able to turn the problems
it creates into lucrative business opportunities: diet pills, heart-bypass,
operations, insulin pumps, bariatric surgery. But while fast food may be good
business, for the health-care industry, surely the cost to society –estimated
at more than $200 billion a year in diet-related health care costs – is
unsustainable.”
At the end, this
reminds me of The Paradox of Our Time in
history, which explains that in the
modern life; we are forgetting how to live and how to spend our time wisely. “We
spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses
and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees
but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more
problems, more medicine, but less wellness. These are the times of fast foods
and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow
relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier
houses, but broken homes.” (Bob
Moorehead). At the end, “It is only when we change the way we think that we can
change the way we live…for the better.”
Angelica Romero
Sources:
No comments:
Post a Comment