Junk Food Free Essays

The argument as to whether or not schools should be able to sell junk food is a highly controversial topic. To begin with, there is the problem to defining junk foods. Are we talking about potato chips, soda, and Twinkies? What about fried chicken fingers, cheeseburgers, and pizza-foods many schools serve? Most cases, when faced with the decision, a child will no doubt choose what is offered without knowing it is a health issue. We will write a custom essay sample on Junk Food or any similar topic only for you Order Now What would a change in the availability of these snacks teach children? Some argue that removing these snacks from schools takes away rights. Although the selling of unhealthy foods serves as a source for additional revenue for schools, school administrators should ban the sale of items that promote an unhealthy lifestyle. Not only does junk food cause unhealthy eating habits that lead to child hood obesity, but it also contributes to health issues such as diabetes, heart disease. Fast food or junk food has had a big effect on the community that many people don’t realize. The industry markets foods to kids often advertizing to them on their way home from school and during programming watched after school. A lot of the food Is high in sugar and fat. Public opinion on the issue is varied. Poor eating habits developed at an early age can lead to a lifetime of health issues. School is where children spend most of their time, and it’s where we lay the foundation of healthy habits. In an online poll 40% of parents stated that their child doesn’t eat breakfast on a regular basis. That means 20 to 50 percent of these students total daily calories are coming from these unhealthy lunches and vending machines at school. This can be a can of soda, perhaps washing down a chocolate bar followed by a bag of potato chips. Students may be junk food junkies but the schools are hooked as well and have become increasingly dependent on the revenue that soda and candy machines bring in each year. While soda sales may help supplement the school’s bottom line, health experts are increasingly worried that soft drinks are contributing to a student’s poor health. t was concluded that teen-aged boys’ soda consumption has tripled in the last 20 years and doubled for girls. Teens now drink twice as much soda as milk. On the other hand, children are taught in the classroom about good nutrition and the value of a healthy lifestyle, but we continue to make the junk food available to them. Our children’s eating habits are engrained in them from a young age, so what are we teaching our children? At what cost is it ok for junk food to be available o them at school? For the first time, the government is proposing broad standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are healthier. Under the Agriculture Department proposed on 2/1/2013, food like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would be taken out of lunch and vending machines, to be replaced by baked chips, trial mix, and diet soda. Food sold through vending machines has never before been federally regulated. How to cite Junk Food, Papers Junk Food Free Essays The New Drug The introduction of prohibition in the United States meant people could not manufacture or consume alcohol. Alcohol was banned by the government for obvious reasons, alcohol harms the body. Use of drugs without prescription is illegal and harms one’s health. We will write a custom essay sample on Junk Food or any similar topic only for you Order Now Junk foods and soda pop are harmful as well. Yet we have never had prohibition on these food and soda items even though these food items affect public health. According to Yale University professor of psychology and public health, Kelly Brownell, â€Å"As a culture, we’ve become upset by the tobacco companies advertising to children, but we sit idly by while the food companies do the very same thing. And we could make a claim that the toll taken on the public health by a poor diet rivals that taken by tobacco†. In the year 1999, a meeting took place at the Minneapolis headquarters of Pillsbury. The guest list of the meeting included CEO’s and presidents of America’s largest food companies like Nestle, Kraft, Nabisco, General Mills, Procter Gamble, Coca-Cola and Mars. The CEO’s and company presidents came together to discuss the issue of America’s emerging obesity problem and how to deal with the problem. They came to a conclusion that people were blaming their products for the obesity epidemic in the country. The salt, sugar and fat content in their products were way too high and were causing Obesity-related conditions like heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. These conditions are some of the leading causes of preventable death. According to the article, â€Å"The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food† in the New York Times, â€Å"More than half of American adults were now considered overweight, with nearly one-quarter of the adult population — 40 million people — clinically defined as obese. Among children, the rates had more than doubled since 1980, and the number of kids considered obese had shot past 12 million†. The presidents were not able to come to a conclusion and some of them were not ready to change the formula of their products. Instead head of general mills, Stephen Sanger was caught quoting, â€Å"Don’t talk to me about nutrition, Talk to me about taste, and if this stuff tastes better, don’t run around trying to sell stuff that doesn’t taste good. † That meeting took place in 1999, now the obesity population has grown even more. According to the 2011 data of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, â€Å"More than one-third of U. S. adults (35. 7%) are obese, approximately 17% (or 12. million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese. Since 1980, obesity prevalence among children and adolescents has almost tripled†. This is a serious problem for the nation as a whole. The obesity rate is increasing at an alarming rate, the consumers should realize that these food products is not good for them. The companies have a moral obligation to provide foods that are healthier, food that contains less salt, sugar and fat. The companies are entitled to profits but they should not earn those profits at the expenses of the consumers. Works cited http://www. cdc. gov/obesity/data/adult. html http://www. nytimes. com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food. html? pagewanted=all#2 http://www. preventioninstitute. org/focus-areas/supporting-healthy-food-a-activity/supporting-healthy-food-and-activity-environments-advocacy/get-involved-were-not-buying-it/735-were-not-buying-it-the-facts-on-junk-food-marketing-and-kids. html How to cite Junk Food, Essay examples