...Processed Foods in the American Diet DeVry University Processed Foods in the American Diet According to the New York Coalitions for Healthy School Food, approximately 62 percent of American’s daily caloric intake come from processed foods. If you consider that twelve percent, in addition to that, comes from the “Plant Food” category, and even up to half of that may still be considered “processed” due to preservatives and freezing; that makes the food we consume to be up to 74 percent processed. Before processed foods, Americans had no choice but to eat whole, natural, raw foods. As our technology advanced, our need for food to not spoil grew as quickly. Though as preservatives, additives, and processed foods increased in our diet, the integrity of food declined. With our new abilities to package and preserve food, food came to have more and more preservatives and contain fewer nutrients. Processed foods should usually be avoided because, over time, they contribute to obesity and can lead to disease; in order to help avoid these problems, the public needs to be educated on the negative effects of most processed foods and they need to be made more aware of affordable healthy alternatives. Obesity is a problem in the United States. According to the Center for Disease Control, 35.7% of adults are considered to be obese. The CDC also reports that obesity-related diseases or conditions are the second leading cause of death; some of these include: type 2 diabetes, heart...
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...typical American diet, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine infers that by 2030, 42 percent of Americans will be obese and 11 percent will be critically obese or 100 pounds above the healthful weight (Marlow). With increasing numbers on obesity and diet related health problems, many citizens have called for the regulation of the American diet (Marlow). Reducing Americans’ excessive sodium consumption requires establishing new federal standards for the amount of salt that food manufacturers, restaurants, and food service companies put in their products (National Academy of Sciences). Public-health advocates attending a conference backed by representatives in the pharmaceutical industry, says that the government should classify...
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...adults has steadily increased and more than doubled in size (Frequently). For the millions of American adults who are overweight, obesity is now regarded as a chronic medical disease with serious health implications causing an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. Obesity leads to various medical conditions, contributing to 300, 000 deaths each year that could be prevented (Frequently). Lazy habits and unhealthy eating styles provide the reasons for these statistical numbers to increase. Americans look towards the “easy way outs” of most problems, such as obesity and weight loss. When it comes to these subjects, citizens can be swayed easily by marketers and companies to try popular “fad” diets. In 2003, a weight loss trend known as The Atkins Diet became the most popular of its kind. This notarized diet is used by many Americans and has been known to help increase weight loss when its guidelines are followed, but some say it is not a healthy path to take. Although The Atkins Diet has been shown effective at times, do the pros outweigh the cons? The Atkins Diet was founded by Robert C. Atkins, M.D., a Cornell University graduate and founder of the Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine. This specific diet was formulated over thirty years ago in 1972, when obesity was down considerably, but still an issue. It advocates a high protein, high fat diet, restricting a significant amount of carbohydrates. Dr. Atkins says by eliminating carbohydrates...
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...every year on Americans. So why are so many Americans continuing to gain weight at increasing numbers? Could it be diets and weight loss supplements are detrimental to the overall health of so many Americans? The unhealthy reliance on appetite suppressants and the restrictions of certain food groups generally don’t work in the long term and can even be dangerous. The low cost of diets and the promise of fast results can certainly encourage many Americans to diet. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention more than 20 million Americans use dietary supplements, including multivitamins, minerals and herbs. The rise of diet supplements from 42% in 2006 to 62% in 2010 has only fueled the growth of dietary supplements and diet plans to a multimillion dollar industry (Center for Disease Control, 2011). The weight loss industry encourages individuals to improve their overall health by dieting. The industry approach suggest people can eat poorly and just take a diet supplement and have the same results of someone who eats well, exercise and takes care of their health by getting regular checkups. This is farthest from the truth according to a CNN report. Dr. Roberta Anding, a registered dietitian and director of sports nutrition at Texas Children Hospital, stated “while some supplements can be helpful in losing weight they are not match to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. “ Studies haven’t shown any significant difference between people who diet and take supplements...
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...Killing Us Softly The nutritional dietary consumption of carbohydrates is between 55-75% for the vast majority of the global population as their main source of food intake and energy. And the general populous continues to be misinformed by government agencies regarding what a normal, healthy diet, should be, as well as what a balanced diet looks like. Eating a low-carb high-fat, or ketogenic, diet of high fat, adequate protein and low carbohydrates can provide many health benefits as compared to the alternative of an unhealthy diet. Research suggests that a ketogenic diet builds a healthier body than other diets because it will lead to weight loss, improved blood pressure, and reduce appetites. The ketogenic diet is the foundation for a healthy life. As noted by Dr. Eenfeldt (2014), The ketogenic diet has been referred to by different names, such as: the keto diet, low carb diet, low carb high fat (LCHF), and to some degree the Adkins Diet. The ketogenic diet is a well known diet for being associated with consuming a low amount of carbohydrates, a moderate amount of protein and high amount of fat, where the body produces ketones in the liver to be used as energy (Taubes, 2008). With a diet high in carbohydrates your body will produce glucose and insulin. Glucose is the easiest molecule for your body to convert and use as energy, so it will be chosen over other energy sources. The insulin is produced in order to process the glucose in your bloodstream (Taubes, 2008, p.167)....
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...During the past few years, Americans have become increasingly health conscious. Study after study have been showing the link between animal foods such as meat and dairy triggering obesity, raising cholesterol levels, and eventually leading to diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and various types of cancer. Documentaries such as Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, Planeat, and What the Health have inspired millions of Americans to adopt a plant-based diet, ditching the meat and dairy. But, what is a plant-based diet? A plant-based diet is commonly referred to as the “vegan diet” with vegan defined by Merriam-Webster as, “a strict vegetarian who consumes no food (such as meat, eggs, or dairy products) that comes from animals”. A person following a plant-based or vegan diet...
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...High Glycemic Foods: Affects on Obesity & Disease Are high glycemic diets a cause of obesity and disease in America today? Obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease are at an all time high in the United States; studies link a high glycemic diet with obesity and chronic disease. The Worldwide Health Organization (WHO) reports that there are more than 1 billion overweight adults globally” (WHO, 2010). According to a 2005-2006 CDC study of the United States population, 34% of adults are obese. In addition, the International Diabetes Federation announced in 2006 that diabetes is becoming the epidemic of the 21st century with 246 million people affected worldwide (Lefebvre, 2006). Diabetes currently affects 23.5 million adults and 2 million adolescents in the United States with 1.6 million new cases diagnosed each year (American Diabetes Association, 2007). The WHO also reports that heart disease is the top cause of death in the world and in high-income countries like the United States (WHO, 2004). In 2006 the American Heart Association estimated that 81,100,000 million people in the United States have some form of Heart Disease (American Heart Association, 2006). Despite the fact that high glycemic foods do not affect all people the same way, high glycemic diets are killing Americans because they increase the risk of obesity and disease. High glycemic diets are prevalent in America today. Due to the rise of coronary heart disease in the 1970’s...
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...Education of different cultures allows the nurse to make critical judgments in evaluating a patient, for example a nurse will have more awareness in identifying any predisposing factors a cultural group may have. While there are a variety of cultures that each has their own specific nursing care characteristics, I’ll be focusing on the Native American culture. Native Americans enjoy a rich culture filled with elaborate traditions and spiritual ceremonies that make this particular culture stand out from the rest of the North...
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...so far as to suggest that the government is perpetrating a fraud against the unsuspecting American people by setting weight standards that are unreasonable and not founded on any scientific fact. He points out rather convincingly that these standards “not coincidentally, serve the interests of America’s $50 billion per year diet industry” (207). It is his belief that the obsession with dieting in this country is caused by a series of intricate “lies” propelled by “the dishonesty of the propaganda war that the diet industry, with eager cooperation of our government, is carrying out against the American people” (207). Campos contends that it is not the government’s concern for our health but greed that influenced the stringent standards released that define someone as overweight or clinically obese. Campos confers that if Americans were lead to believe they were overweight they would flock to the market to purchase some of the thousands of dietary products provided by the industry. By providing quotes from the editors of extremely credible sources such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Campos exposes the weak link between being overweight and our overall health. In fact, Campos shows that there is little to no solid scientific basis to support the benefits of dieting at all. By doing so, Campos successfully creates an image of doubtful integrity on behalf of the government and the diet industry. Campos was himself defined as overweight by these standards despite...
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...Why do Americans love fast food so much? Is it the greasy smell and taste that excite their senses, is it the connivence of fast food restaurants or is it the price of fast food that draws American into eating a lot of fast food. Approximately 11% (27 million) adults in the United States of America were diagnosed with some form of heart disease in 2016. Unfortunately, obesity and obesity related disease and illness have become a major concern. Many Americans turn to exercise, food diets, diet pills and even weight loss surgery to loose weight or to combat the increase and risk of obesity-related diseases. For years many question whether a vegetarian diet is preferable than a vegan diet. The research presented in this paper will differentiate...
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...Student: Sbraletta Matosinhos, Bruno Why a western diet is unhealthy and what people should eat to be healthy In recent years, the concern for health is increasing. The main factors contributing to the declining levels of health in the Western world are a lack of physical exercise, paired with an unhealthy diet. Although this sounds like a simple problem to fix, the vast majority of people are not actually aware of the dangers of a poor diet. This essay will explain why a western diet is unhealthy and suggest ways that people can maintain a healthy lifestyle. There are several health disadvantages that a Western diet can cause. First and foremost is that the consumption of excessive calories often leads to obesity Agarwal (2008) reports that the USA has the highest daily consumption of calories per capita in the world, with 3770 calories consumed per person per day. According to Kemp, Paul and Segal (2001-10), a western diet contains a lot of sugar, which of course means more calories. To illustrate, 10 teaspoons of sugar are found in one cup of concentrated fruit juice. The typical diet in the USA has lead to sixty-five percent of people twenty years and older being obese, and this number is increasing (Agarwal 2008). Secondly, a typical Western diet is often high in unhealthy fats. Many standard Western foods such as red meat and dairy products contain a large amount of saturated fats. On top of this, processed foods such as margarines, candy and cookies are high in trans-fats...
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...countries. Many of today's Americans are malnourished also, but they are inundated with unhealthy foods and require a multidisciplinary approach to nutrition education. What would be the three most important points to include in a public nutrition program? Provide current literature to support your answer and include two nutritional education community resources. The acronym SAD has been used recently to describe what Americans are eating or the ‘Standard American Diet’. Many Americans are hurting their bodies eating this diet which is high in animal fats and other unhealthy saturated & hydrogenated fats, high in processed foods while being low in fiber, complex carbohydrates and plant-based foods. In the article by AGree, they state address the fact that “while eating a healthy diet is the most effective form of preventive health care; obesity and related health issues from overeating reduce individual's’ quality of life and cost the United States billions in unnecessary healthcare costs. On the other side of the spectrum, food insecurity - and its driver, poverty - rob children of healthy development, and impede working age and elderly Americans’ ability to enjoy productive lives, with potentially long-term, and costly, impacts” (AGree, n.d., pg 1). We are lucky to have a free market with freedom of speech for all advertisers, unfortunately it seems to be the poor food choices that get all the air time with little information being presented about healthy diet choices. Even the United...
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...world. People are choosing vegetarian diets over other diets in hope of living a healthier lifestyle. Matthew B. Ruby defines vegetarianism as, “The practice of abstaining from eating meat.” According to recent polls, Ruby indicates, “approximately 8% of Canadians, 9% of Germans, 40% in India, and 3% of the United States identify themselves as vegetarians.” Vegetarians can be separated into four distinct groups. The first is lacto-ovo vegetarians, also known as partial vegetarians. They exclude red meat, fish, and poultry from their diets, but still eat dairy products and eggs. The second is lacto vegetarians which exclude red meat, fish, poultry, and eggs but still include dairy products. The third group is pescetarians. This group avoids red meat and poultry, but eats fish. The last group is vegans and they have the strictest diet as they avoid eating all animal products including red meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy products. There are several reasons why people become vegetarian. Amita Handa expresses that people become vegetarians because “social reasons, political and religious beliefs, and financial problems.” Another notable reason people switch from nonvegetarian is because of their frustration with the cruel and unusual treatment of animals. Vegetarianism is mostly linked with positive effects on physical health as evidenced by lower body mass index, lower blood pressure, and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. A vegetarian diet contributes to a person having a...
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...The Controversial Side of Going Vegan "We spend far more, per capita, on health care than any other society in the world, and yet two-thirds of Americans are overweight, and over 15 million Americans have diabetes, a number that has been rising rapidly. We fall prey to heart disease as often as we did thirty years ago, and the War on Cancer, launched in the 1970s, has been a miserable failure. Half of Americans have a health problem that requires taking a prescription drug every week, and over 100 million Americans have high cholesterol"(Campbell 3). With statistics like that being completely preventable with a vegetable based diet, there are still many people who believe the vegan way of life unhealthy and unsustainable. The prevailing causes behind society’s misunderstanding of this controversial diet are protein and fat soluble nutrients. Protein and fat soluble nutrients are a staple in any healthy diet, and it has been long believed that a vegan lifestyle does not support this. We also live in a culture known for the Standard American Diet (S.A.D). The standard American Diet is known for being high in animal fats, and low on essential plant based nutrients. (Campbell 196) Surprisingly enough this more uniformly accepted as a complete diet by the masses. In 1992 the USDA released a food pyramid as an answer to the growing obesity, and poor health reviews plaguing the nation. “The Food Guide Pyramids were developed by using nutrient profiles for...
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...are suffering from obesity. It has come to be all too normal. The media has latched onto the dangers of this disease, while various diets and weight programs have been released to the public. It is very difficult to understand why America ignores the warnings of countless TV shows, the government, and news. Even the event of a family member’s death doesn’t seem to wake our nation up. The American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery shows that Obesity and overweight issues cost the U. S 117 million dollars in healthcare annually(McCue, 2010). Tobacco is currently the lead cause of preventable death, a statistic that obesity could soon obtain (Lemonick, 2004). Excess weight takes a horrible toll on the body. Various health problems such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and more come from obesity. Michael Limerick’s (2004) “How We Grew So Big,” places the blame on technology stating “We humans have utterly transformed our environment; over the past century especially, technology has almost completely removed physical exercise from the day-to-day lives of most Americans” (p.1). While some may argue that technology has created weight loss supplements, new machines, and surgeries to help keep off the weight; fast food restaurants, and high calorie foods are growing at an alarming rate. The consensus across the nation seems to be that Americans are not active enough. The soaring amounts of calories...
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