Food as Our Guiltiest Pleasure - Research Paper Example

Behind Processed Food Processed foods are a part of everyone’s diet within the United s; and indeed within the entire developed world. However,this processed food is more sinister than we might expect; and is ultimately destroying the health of many individuals in society that regularly ingest it. In fact, the eating of processed food is something that most individuals do every day, something that many of us do without thought or meditation about its purpose or effects on our health. If you went to purchase food in the year 1900, all you would find is very basic items, natural and locally produced; there was little manipulation as to what went into our food and the items consumed every day. The process of chemically treating foods was introduced in 1910, by the 1930s, frozen food became available, and the phenomenon of fast food emerged in the 1940s and became popular quickly. Obviously fast food is chemically treated and not natural and generally unhealthy, in 1994, food became even more manipulated with the introduction of genetically modified organisms (Leite 1)). Now we have huge supermarkets and a lot of the foods available in them is unhealthy processed food. Overweight rates in the world are increasing and the United States are the highest rated country when it comes to this subject, if the obesity being in high rates we need to find a solution to this phenomenon. Processed foods should contain more natural ingredients and the government should be more involved in regulating the ingredients that are put into these foods to maintain the population healthy and so the rate of health issues due to overweight becomes lower. Food is our guiltiest pleasure; food is related to all our festivities, whenever there is a birthday there is a cake, in Christmas family gatherings, when we go out with friends usually there food involved. Food is the most important part of our lives wherever we go there is food and we use it to sustain ourselve (Kim 54). We obviously need food to survive but we do not know is that by consuming these foods we might be killing our self. Processed food is everywhere in our lives and it’s very difficult to out run it. Of course, there are places like Whole Foods which distribute unprocessed, all-natural, healthy food to its customers. Their items are naturally grown and fresh and contain little to none chemicals. No matter where we go we try to buy our food there is always going to be a little bit of some form of chemicals. This is why places like whole foods are convenient, especially for the people that are trying to lead a healthier life which starts with a healthy diet. Nevertheless, there are key drawbacks to eating unprocessed foods; one of the first and most salient of these have to do with the overall cost that this process incurs for the consumer. As the economy faces harder times and individuals find their overall budgets restricted, one of the lower priorities that they have is seeking to provide quality foods; as compared to paying for their rent or ensuring that their children have adequate clothing and supplies for their education. With such choices in mind, it is oftentimes beyond the ability of individuals represented within the low income socio-economic demographic to have the luxury of gaining access to “non processed foods”. This creates an inequality that is noticeable; especially with regard to the fact that certain members of a “free and equal” society will have better access to nutrition as compared to others. This fundamentally goes against the very precepts of equality and rights to life and the pursuit of happiness. However, one of the larger problems with processed food has to do with the fact that not only does it include ingredients that provide little to no nutritional benefit, it can also be detrimental to the overall health of the individual that ingests it regularly. For instance, recent scholarship has indicated that foods containing high levels of high fructose corn syrup dramatically increase the risk of such issues as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and obesity(Baker and Friel 569). For this very reason, it must be understood that processed foods not only represent a danger to the integrity of the food supply, they also represent threats to the overall health of individuals that regularly ingest processed foods. As such, the issue of obesity is a prime case in point that can be illustrated. Currently, the United States ranks as the single most unhealthy country in the entire world. High rates of obesity, and worse yet – childhood obesity, threaten to weaken the health and productivity of future society. Current statistics from 2011-2012 reveal the fact that up to 35% of the adult population can be considered as obese with the rate of children falling into this category equating to nearly 17% (Canella et al. 4). Even a cursory level of analysis reveals the fact that obesity rates within all members of society have risen dramatically over the past several decades. There are of course two distinct reasons for this; at least in the mind of this particular analysis. The first of which is obviously the fact that individuals are less mobile and receive less exercise on a daily basis. However, the secondary, and perhaps the larger issue, has to do with the fact that more and more individuals are getting a higher percentage of processed foods within their daily diets. Once again, changes in society can be blamed for this due to the fact that individuals live an increasingly rushed lifestyle and do not have the available time or energy to prepare foods from scratch; thereby relying upon prepackaged, ready-made foods that are saturated with processed ingredients(Leite 1). A result of this is of course a situation in which individuals not only have an overall decrease the level of health, they are also exposed to a variety of different issues relating to obesity. Furthermore, obesity has probably been understood by medical researchers as one of the gateways to many different types of health issues. For this reason alone, the reader can indicate that processed foods serve as one of the main mechanisms by which obesity occurs and by extension one of the main mechanisms that continues to promote high levels of obesity throughout society and in turn impact upon the levels of health related issues concentric upon these factors. Once this particular issue has been understood, it is then the role and responsibility of government to ensure that the nation’s food supply is adequate and does not represent innate levels of our health of individual citizens. Whereas many people might argue that the government has no role with the regulation of individual nutritional standards, the government has played an integral role in improving the nation’s food supply and ensuring that providers of maintain high standards for well over 100 years. Just as within the days of the progressives and the era of John Updike, the government is still responsible for ensuring the quality of ingredients, the health of slaughtered meat, and the overall disease-free nature of imported or domestically produced produce. However, it is the argument of this particular researcher that the government’s role extends beyond this. In fact, the government should play an active part in seeking to reduce the overall level of processed foods and their damaging ingredients that exists within the current supply. This is necessary for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is ethically responsible government engagement. Secondly, by seeking to promote the overall health of the individual citizen of the government said the healthcare industry in reducing the overall rates of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and a litany of other health issues that have already been briefly discussed within this analysis. Furthermore, a nation of individuals that are singly and in overall mental health is not able to realize its full potential (Snowdon et al. 3). Yet, from the information that has thus far been referenced, the action that the government should take as a function of improving the situation that has thus far been detailed are quite simple. First, it is necessary to immediately make a shift away from using processed foods in federal prison facilities, within the United States military, and within the public school system. By such a determined and consistent choice, the government can provide a cultural shift that can be felt long afterwards. As students, former prisoners, and military personnel appreciate and understand the health difference that abstaining from diets high in processed foods can effect, they are more likely to take these lessons with them into later life. Although such a practice would be invariably expensive, the benefits in the long term, specifically those related to increased levels of overall health and longevity would more than pay for whatever types of subsidies or initial up front money that the government might need to front as a means of ensuring that such a program was able to get off the ground. As such, this is another area that the government is uniquely interested in as a potential, efficiency, and strength of the American citizen is an essential component with regard to whether or not the nation will continue to outperform others and experience success in the future. Within the metrics that is been listed, in tandem with damaging impact on health that processed foods have upon the individual, is the strong belief of this particular student that the government to take strong and definitive action towards restricting the level of processed foods that are allowed within the ingredients that are so commonly consumed within the United States. Even minute changes dramatically impact upon the overall health experienced by the individual and raise the incidence of some of the health problems that have been discussed within the analysis thus far. Because of this, the government will not only need to provide for a better and more efficient workforce within the United States, it should also seek to minimize the rate of processed foods that are available and realize that the correlation between health and productivity is profound and meaningful. With a more healthful and robust society, the economic price tag of the aforementioned plan would almost entirely be erased as more and more individuals would be able to engage with the workforce for longer periods of time, manage the health of their own families, and promote a renewed culture of avoiding heavily processed foods in favor of eating more healthfully. Work Cited Baker, P., and S. Friel. "Processed Foods And The Nutrition Transition: Evidence From Asia." Obesity Reviews 15.7 (2014): 564-577. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Aug. 2014. Canella, Daniela Silva, et al. "Ultra-Processed Food Products And Obesity In Brazilian Households (2008–2009)." Plos ONE 9.3 (2014): 1-6. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Aug. 2014. Kim, Evelyn. "The Amazing Multimillion-Year History Of Processed Food." Scientific American 309.3 (2013): 50-55. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Aug. 2014. Leite, David. "100 Years of American Food: 1900 to 1999." Leites Culinaria. N.p., 16 Dec. 1999. Web. 1 Aug. 2014. Snowdon, Wendy, et al. "Processed Foods and Health." Globalization & Health 9.1 (2013): 1-12. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Aug. 2014. Read More