Awful Writing Style failure...

Eng. 101-17 - Persuasive Research Paper - 16 April 2004

I’m not sure how I feel about this one, the introduction is just a bit sticky sounding, for some reason this instructor was not as stringent as those I had written for prior. The result is what I consider an unacceptable kitchy-colloquial writing style.

Stars, Stripes and Saddlebags

(And a Spare Tire with the Junk in the Trunk)

Over the past century, Americans have advanced and grew beyond all expectation. We have broadened our knowledge of both the earthly and the cosmic. We have solved problems once thought impossible and mapped everything from the stars to the human genome. America has grew and expanded in population, cultivated it’s understanding and fattened its…waistline? Wait a minute, just because there are more obese people in America today doesn’t indicate that America is on the fast track to fat camp, right? There exist more people total in the United States today, not just obese people, right? Wrong! Not only have we as a nation become fatter than we used to be, the problem is steadily rising and rising at an alarming rate. The problem is so staggering that James O. Hill, a physiologist with University of Colorado Health Sciences Center recently stated: “If obesity is left unchecked, almost all Americans will be overweight by 2050” (Critser 5).

When looking at the numbers on this one, such a statement doesn’t seem so outlandish. According to the latest statistics, over fifty-eight million Americans are overweight, which poses enough of a health risk as it is (Obesity Statistics 1). But on top of that it seems that 40 million, quite a large chunk, is obese; additionally, still another 3 million are morbidly obese (1). The term ‘morbidly obese’ is used to suggest that unless a subject takes radical steps to reverse their condition, then the excess weight will strain body structures until the point of failure and death. While staggering already, these statistics, experts say, are growing at an alarming rate; to the point where obesity will very soon be everybody’s problem because virtually everybody will be obese (Hellmich 2). This thought is scary to most citizens and downright traumatizing to health experts. If we as a nation, as a people, are to reverse this alarming trend, awareness must be raised. By understanding the problem of obesity, the behaviors that cause and contribute to it, and raising awareness of the issue, reducing the threat of obesity can become a possibility.

Why is being overweight such a big deal to everybody? If people want to smoke, let them smoke right? If it is what makes them happy then let them go. Why should a little overeating be an issue? Well, the fact of the matter is that a little casual overeating is one thing, but over time, pound after pound begin to add up to some serious health risks. In the year 2000, poor diet and lack of physical activity accounted for, or was directly related to 400,000 deaths (16.6% of all deaths in America) (Hellmich 2). This figure was comparable to the 435,000 deaths (18.1%) caused by lifelong tobacco use (2). Now what is really getting experts jittery is the decreasing trend of tobacco-related deaths and the increase in obesity in America (2). Statisticians say that by the year 2005, obesity may overtake smoking as the single leading cause of preventable death (2).

Obesity alone does not kill necessarily, rather obesity is the cause of a smorgasbord of dangerous health problems that reduce quality of life and ultimately can and will lead to premature death. One health problem which is really on the rise is the nefarious type-2 diabetes. Type-2 diabetes is usually most prevalent in adults and is a condition which a person develops or can sometimes be born with. Type-2 diabetes can appear after a pregnancy or a significant change of weight. Sometimes this condition can be improved or even reversed, other times it gets worse and worse, as with the case of type-2 diabetes caused by excessive bodily fat. A body that is overweight begins to develop a super-tolerance to a bodily substance called insulin, which is used in the breakdown of starches and sugars. In order to balance out this resistance, the body produces more and more insulin, the extraneous insulin turns around and instructs already bloated fat cells to store more fat, and the cycle gets worse and worse. This type of diabetes leads to blood clotting, hardening of the arteries and can lead eventually to death (Critser 10).

Not only is diabetes beginning to be more prominent, but obesity is also boosting rates of many diseases and conditions while cutting life expectancies way down. Arthritis, chronic back pain, hypertension, heart disease, all of which are being fed by this growing problem to the point where conditions usually not seen until late in life are beginning to creep up on the young. Hypertension and type-2 diabetes used to be problems that only adults had to think about. Now, medicine is seeing more and more adolescents and preteens with these problems (Leigh 2). Nine percent of adolescents and thirty percent of overweight adolescents developed a syndrome called “metabolic syndrome”, a syndrome caused by inactivity, increased body weight, and characterized by a dangerously high susceptibility to heart disease (3).

In San Antonio about five years ago, one of the most rapidly growing school districts in the nation faced a worrisome problem. A study by a local nonprofit health agency showed that unless serious changes were made, then by the end of a year, the district would house 3000 children with type-2 diabetes in its elementary schools alone (Critser 12). Nearly all of these children had a body mass index higher than 27, which is considered to be middle to upper range overweight (12). Many were over a BMI of 30, which is the clinical cutoff point for obesity. What is the worst part of this scenario? The results of this study pointed to the schools s being at fault, stating that the cafeteria staff had no training in preparing attractive, nutritious meals; moreover, the amount of “junk food” available in the lunchroom far outweighed the availability of more healthful alternatives (13).

What is the point to this particular story? For starters, it is a well-known fact that weight is partially governed by genetics, just as anything else revolving about the human body. But the sudden influx of obesity cases cannot be explained through genetics; the human genome just doesn’t change that quickly. So where does all this extra weight come from? It would seem that as a nation, this one is mostly our faults. Some people may be offended, but the fact of the matter is that Americans just eat way more than they need to.

One of the reasons for this problem could be related to the way we live our lives. Stress is a big factor in weight gain, the chemical signals sent out by the body during times of stress cause the body to store fat more easily. It is thought that this phenomena is due in part to prehistoric signals imbedded in the human genome from a time when survival was a bit harder and food didn’t come in boxes, but rather with claws and ran faster than us.

Another factor is time. Working 40-50 hours a week or more like many Americans do, and then going home to take care of the family and the house, doesn’t leave a lot of time for exercise. Not to mention, who wants to or has the energy for exercise after such a long and strenuous day? The truth is not many people do, and when running about all day like this, nobody has time to go and whip up a nice breast of chicken and sautéed mushrooms. Instead, we run to the vending machine where we pick up a 65 cent 2 pack of Pop-Tarts which fills us up just fine. It should at a whopping 430 calories. Whereas a banana costs about 75 cents, leaves you hungry in 15 minutes, and just doesn’t seem as appetizing to some. In a survey done by Context Marketing, 27% of respondents stated: “I am so busy I eat what I can, when I can”, hence the Pop-Tart example (Dolliver 2). This extraneous intake of simple sugars and lack of physical activity leads to poor insulin function, and poor insulin function leads us right to type-2 diabetes.

The problem is a little complicated because it is not only a fact of massive over consumption per se, a lot of the problem is just a consumption of the wrong types of food (Leigh 1). Grocery stores are much more likely to stock Twinkies than broccoli, sorry but they just sell more (2). The study done by Context Marketing also indicated that 68% of respondents said: “eating is one of the pleasures in life” (Dolliver 2), and I seriously doubt that these people are getting earthly pleasure from eating wheat grass and bean sprouts. Interesting how 61% of America is considered overweight (Critser 4), and 67% find that eating is a pleasure (Dolliver 2), correlation or coincidence?

Of course a lot of the issue really is overeating. People do not always eat when they are hungry. Many people are social gluttons, eating when others eat, hungry or not, and many eat due to emotional factors like stress, depression and fatigue (Holt 2). Sometimes, people just plain eat for no apparent reason, like in the experiment performed by University of Illinois professor Brian Wansink (Researcher…1). Prof. Wansink held a bogus ‘taste-test’ in which participants were given bowls of soup mounted to a counter, half were normal bowls and the other half were self-refilling bowls with tubes to a soup reservoir (1). Those with the regular bowls reported being full after finishing their bowls and some didn’t even finish the entire amount given to them (1). Those with the ‘bottomless’ bowls tended to eat up to 40% more than those with the normal bowls (1). It seems the more people are given, the more they will eat, this is kind of a scary thought in relation to “Super Size” meals and all-you-can eat buffets. The same man did a separate study involving giant and regular sized popcorn buckets at movie theaters. Subjects were given stale or fresh popcorn in one of either size and even though 82% of those with the old popcorn reported it tasted awful, those with the giant buckets ate 33% more than those with the smaller ones (2). Do people just eat because it is there? How do we solve a problem which doesn’t make sense?

The reason for all this mess, perhaps, is the fact that nobody really knows about the potential problem. Sure, everybody knows that people are obese, and that yes it is a problem to those people. But nationwide obesity is not talked about nearly as much as things like AIDS and tobacco companies. You never hear a story about a mob of people in front of a local food distributors headquarters with anti-obesity signs. People just don’t talk about being overweight, mostly because of all of the social stigma and sensitivity involved with being overweight. When asked, a group of baby-boomer parents said that they just don’t talk to their kids about being overweight because it leads to low self-esteem and eating disorders (Critser 22). This is tantamount to avoiding the “sex talk” because it will embarrass youths and make them self-conscious about their sexuality. If we never learn the correct way in the first place, then how will we ever know?

So what do we do? Well for starters, it seems of utmost importance that the parents of today take a little time out to teach their children the right way to eat and exercise so that they can start the right habits early. Just like cleaning behind the ears, children should be taught what to eat and how much is okay. It would be easy if they were raised already eating the right things in the first place.

Also, as for the general population, how many ads a day do you see telling you that the 99 cent cheeseburger has around 400 calories, and that if you eat two of them, then you have half of your calorie intake for the day and enough fat for the next two days? Is it completely unreasonable to think that a few public service announcements with celebrity personalities could save a few people from overfeeding their children at 10:00 at night?

What about foodservice too? Why is it that a can of tomato soup has a label with nutrition facts on it while a cup of deep fried potato strings does not? Perhaps like the nutritional facts that are mandatory on food labels, served food, menus, and little French-fry boxes should be tagged as well. Why not? Is it so difficult to put a few extra digits on a menu board alongside the price?

It may be a bit ridiculous sounding, but if overeating is going to kill nearly as many or more than smoking, should we perhaps put a surgeon-generals warning on certain foods that are especially bad? These things would make the average Joe on the street think a bit longer as to whether that 39 cent upgrade to their meal for another 550 calories is really such a good deal, or are they paying for it in the end? There is something to be said about knowledge.

No matter what, this is a problem that is not going to go away easily. On top of the fact that we are Americans, and we love our food, it is something that we all need to stay alive. When it is cheaper, easier and more desirable to keep around a box of doughnuts than a bundle of grapes, there is a predicament. It is time that the nation took a look at dangerous food and said enough is enough.

Works Cited

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Caloriecounting.com Yahoo. Path: Directory; Health; Nutrition; Calories; Food

calorie counters.

Critser, Greg. Fat Land. New York: Houghton Mifflin. 2003.

Dolliver, Mark. “At Least Our Gluttons Are Eating Humble Pie.” Adweek. 8 March

2004.

Hellmich, Nanci. “Obesity on Track as No. 1 Killer”. USAToday. 10 March 2004.

1 April 2004.

Holt, Stephen. “Low Carbs and Syndrome X”. Better Nutrition. April 2004. 1 April 2004.

Leigh, Suzanne. “Too Much Food, Not Too Little, Plagues U.S. children.” USA Today.

10 Mar. 2004. 1 April 2004.

McVeigh, Gloria. “Your Weight is Aging Your Heart.” Prevention. Apr 2004. 1 Apr

2004.

“Obesity Statistics”. Anne Collins. www.annecollins.com. Path: Diet home;Weight Loss

Articles Index; Questions; Statistics

“Researcher Links Obesity, Food Portions.” The Miami Herald. 3 Jan 2004: Herald.com

Google. 1 Apr. 2004.Keyword: obesity and portions