So you walking around tummy grumbling, with only five dollars in your pocket. The block is filled with nothing but fast food joints. Until you walk down the block and see one salad store. Yummy, something healthy and fulling. You look at the menu and whoa there buddy, seven dollars for some lettuce and dressing. About-face and walk into McDonalds. With you five dollars you buy a McChicken, small fries, sweet tea and an apple pie. You walk out happy and full. It's proven that eating fast food is cheaper than eating something healthy such as a salad or fruits. You save money on your meals but slowly you're killing yourself. According to Mark Bittman, you save money on food now but you pay for it later. All the medical bills you will accumulate in your later years can put you in a bad string of debt. You risk getting type 2 diabetes and obesity. If that was not enough, your family shells out extra $$ to pay for your funeral. The amounts of salts and sugars found in fast foods kill many a year. I think the prices on healthy foods should be lowered. The amount of fast food places on one block alone out weigh the fruit stands and organic food stores. The government also should put limits on the amount of sugars, salts and fats put in the foods.
Evidence
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/statistics-health-risks-eating-fast-food-3290.html
Interview watched with Mark Bittman
http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2013/03/24/study-eating-too-much-salt-is-killing-us-by-the-millions/
As weird of an analogy as this may seem its kind of like a "laugh now cry later" kind of thing. Yes where saving money now but in the long run it's going to cost us a lot of money in health bills (depending on how well your health care covers you) . It won't just hurt your wallet it may also cost you your life. However, lets not forget that ecoli has been found in lettuce and cabbage amongst other things that you would expect to be healthier than something off of a fast food menu . If you want to be real technical no food is really safe for us to consume because the government keeps so much of how food is prepared .They know if they was to reveal how they handle food before it reaches us, they would lose a great deal of their profit.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that the organic food in the country should be lowered so that anyone without much money can have the opportunity to eat healthy and not having to put their health on jeopardy because they lack money. Most of the children today choose to eat McDonalds because of how good it taste with a very cheap price. Children starting from a young age is eating unhealthy and I think this will become a very big problem when the children grow up with diabetes and many of them are in debt because of the medical bills. The government should pass laws to change the relationship between organic and money. The situation in United states is that health comes with a price. But how can the people and the government change the way we consume food so that making organic wouldn't be a long process and corporations would still earn a satisfying amount of money. Yes we can change the world with our food choices, but what are the choices?
ReplyDeleteLINKS:
- http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-204_162-326858.html
- http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/fastfood032103.cfm
Comment Score: 19/20
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ReplyDeleteYou raise an interesting point, Binks. It's quite hard to find a healthier selection of food for a reasonable price. Have you seen the prices at Trader Joe's? I love almonds, but why are they $5 a pack? Whereas a bag of chips can run you as low as 25cents. It's so astonishing. Doesn't it seem like the mass produced food (e.g. chips) should be much more expensive than the organic food? The government is always forcing health campaigns on us, but then shoves cheap (UNHEALTHY) fast food in our faces. That doesn't make much sense at all... Seriously, what do they expect people to do? Burn a hole in their wallet and ruin their credit scores for some healthier food?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-faq/oa-faq5/en/
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/04/14/eat-well-without-spending-more.aspx
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/255148.php
--Joseph
With our country having the highest obesity rate in the world, I am sure our gastronomy been based on the fast food industry have something to do with that. In a world where McDonalds provide burgers, french fries, and soda combo for the same price we get a small ranch salad. There is not much hope for obesity and the health of the citizens when the gastronomy of the country is on fast food industry. The declining health of children and adults alike, is our own gastronomy fault.
ReplyDeletehowever, there are much more problems with eating fast food than just diabetes and dying, high blood pressure, joint problems, cancer, sleep apnea, metabolic syndrome and many more problems with our digestive system.
http://stanfordhospital.org/clinicsmedServices/COE/surgicalServices/generalSurgery/bariatricsurgery/obesity/effects.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/24/mcdonalds-obesity-proposal_n_1543383.html
Comment Score: 19/20
ReplyDeleteIts disgusting how in a couple of years all you going to see is a bunch of fat people munching on some Mickies D's. And the government isn't going to do anything about it. its a fact the poor people are the people with the diabetes how are do expect people to lose weight if the prices are so damn high. Especially, at Trader Joe's. Its sad how the public knows about it and how disgusting it is but yet they can't stop eating it. I don't think its the money I just think they crave it. Its like a drug to them. I think this link will help your article more http://www.livestrong.com/article/92033-disadvantages-eating-fast-foods/
ReplyDeleteComment Score: 17/20
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