Creating A Healthier America

Ashley Kattermann

AP Literature and Composition

Mrs. Morton
4 November 2016

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Creating a Healthier America

A recent study has found that in adults twenty years and older, thirty-four point two
percent are overweight, thirty-three point eight percent are obese and five point seven percent are
extremely obese. Contributing factors in the United States leading to obesity are a lack of
physical activity and poor eating habits (Linck 1). In order to create a healthier America, citizens
must take action to prevent the food industry marketing schemes from influencing their food
decisions, understand the food pyramids, and the health risks associated with bad eating habits.
Americans also need to understand the Standard American Diet to avoid this unhealthy eating
style to ensure a longer and healthier lifespan. In order to understand fully, Americans must also
comprehend the benefits of a vegetarian diet and have knowledge about the Lets Move
Campaign.
Food is needed in everyday life in order to function. Eating the right food has long lasting
benefits including allowing a human to live better and longer. Willet claims that by eating the
right food we can avoid some of the penalties of getting older. By drinking and eating dairy
products we can help prevent osteoporosis a disease that can be harmful as humans age. A
healthy diet along with regular exercise and not smoking can eliminate eighty percent of heart
disease and the majority of cancer cases (Willett et al 11, 18). By maintaining a balanced diet
Americans can avoid the risks associated with aging.
There are many health risks associated with unhealthy eating habits. Making the wrong
food choices can increases the chances of developing cancer, heart disease and diabetes; while
also leading to digestive disorders and age related loss of vision and can influence Alzheimers
disease in being prevalent (Willett et al 11). The rate of diabetes is soaring; one third of all
Americans either have diabetes or are pre-diabetic, most have Type two diabetes which is the

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kind associated with bad eating habits (Bittman 3). As body mass indexes increase so do the
risks of heart disease, high blood pressure, gallstones and type two diabetes (Willett et al 35).
One third of Americans are overweight, and obesity among children is rapidly increasing (Willet
et al 361). Our nation spends more than ninety billion dollars on medical care for obese related
expenses (Willett et al 36). In the last thirty years the percentage of obese adults has doubled and
the percentage of obese children has more than tripled (Bittman 4). The rapid increase of obesity
in the United States needs to be reversed.
Americans are also eating more animal products than they did a generation ago (Bittman
4). When fat and carbohydrates are cut out of a diet it does little to help and can actually cause
harm to peoples bodies. Saturated fats should be replaced with unsaturated fats in order to
maintain a safe, proven and delicious way to slash the risk of heart disease. As body mass
indexes increase, the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, gallstones and type two diabetes
increase (Willett et al 35, 81). As Americans increase in size, so do the health risks associated
with being obese. American are also consuming products that are unnecessary to human
development and are only meant to harm humans bodies.
When marketing food, children are the primary targets, and the food manipulation to
children is working. The fast food industry alone spent more than four billion dollars on
marketing in 2009 (Bittman 4). The food marketing industry totals an estimated ten billion
dollars annually, with the support of kids foods (Nestle 2). Children are the main targets in
manipulative advertising strategies to sell unhealthy food products. The Institute of Medicine
claims that food marketing targets children who are too young to distinguish advertising from
truth and induces them to eat high-calorie, low-nutrient, junk foods (Nestle 1). According to
Bittman eighty-six percent of food ads now seen by children are for foods high in sugar, fat or

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sodium (6). The food industry targets children and has been linked to the increase of childhood
obesity (Impact of Food Advertising 1). A childs exposure to unhealthy television ads are a
risk factor for obesity; manipulating the child into wanting high-calorie, low-nutrient snacks, fast
foods, and sweetened drinks (Impact of Food Advertising 1). It has been found that obesity
increases in young children due to the more hours of television they watch (Impact of Food
Advertising 1). A recent study found that children who watch more than three hours of
television a day are fifty percent more likely to be obese than children who watch less
television. Television may be the most manipulative way to convince a child into wanting an
unhealthy snack to eat, all the money invested in advertising works and has led to the increase in
childhood obesity. There is also a prevalence of commercialism in Americas schools. Much of a
childs time is spent in school, where mandatory attendance makes it very difficult to avoid
marketing and advertising exposure (Impact of Food Advertising 2). There are many different
forms of marketing and advertising in schools including: direct advertising in school classrooms,
indirect advertising, product sales, and school based corporate marketing (Impact of Food
Advertising 3). School should be a place for learning, not a place for marketing unhealthy
foods. Children are directly affected the most by food marketing.
Along with advertising children are being fed the wrong types of food. Nestle claims that
the diets of American children are in need of improvement, at least thirty percent of the
calories in the average childs diet derive from sweets, soft drinks, salty snacks and fast food (1).
However federal and state budgets have cut back on funds for physical activity in schools and
Americans are not provided with a safe place to exercise. This early obesity leads to diabetes and
cardiovascular disease at a young age (Willett et a 36l). The childhood obesity epidemic is a
nationwide health problem that is increasing morbidity, mortality, and brings a long term

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economic and social cost. An estimated twenty percent of youth are overweight (Impact of Food
Advertising 1). This childhood obesity epidemic needs to be prevented.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently ran a study where they looked at
many types of children and how much physical activity they were getting and found that as their
age increases they get less exercise, seen in the graph above. (Physical Activity and Health 1).
With the physical education systems in schools being cut, obesity is on the rise nationwide.
There have been efforts to try and put an end to childhood obesity. One notable campaign is the
Lets Move Campaign. On February ninth of two-thousand ten, first lady Michelle Obama
unveiled her Lets Move Campaign to fight childhood obesity. The main focus of this
campaign is to prevent obesity while giving power to parents and consumers by redesigning
nutritional labeling of products by the United States Department of Agriculture, improving
nutritional standards of the National School Lunch Program, increasing physical education
opportunities for children and improving access to high quality foods in all areas of the United

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States (Wojcicki and Heyman 1). Michelle Obamas national goal includes helping parents make
healthy family choices, serving healthier food in schools, ability to access healthy, affordable
food, increase physical activity, and a partnership for a healthier America (First Lady Michelle
Obama 1) This campaign has the potential to alter the childhood obesity crisis by changing the
country's approach to eating, nutrition, and physical activity while targeting individuals
neighborhoods, and larger communities. In order for this campaign to be fully effective, the
Lets Move Campaign must stimulate prevention efforts targeting the youngest Americanspreschoolers and those two years and younger. This age group is in a prime state for obesity to be
prevalent, with recent budget cuts of physical education classes in schools, not giving young
children the proper exercise needed. The Lets Move Campaign believes that taking
preventative measures will have the longest lasting effect on the obesity epidemic in the United
States (Wojcicki and Heyman 1). This Lets Move Campaign could have a major impact on
reversing childhood obesity and promoting nutrition and physical activity for a lifetime. The best
way that parents can help their children maintain a healthy lifestyle is to allow moderate
television viewing, monitor the media that children consume, encourage healthy eating habits,
and promote physical activity (The Impact of Food Advertising 3). If these guidelines are
abided by parents, this will set their children up to already have proper knowledge on how to live
a healthy lifestyle. These guidelines also prevent the amount of media exposure that children will
get, a tool to avoid food marketing manipulation.
The food pyramid is a classic tool that teaches Americans how to have proper nutrition.
However, the redesigned pyramid is the farthest thing from suggesting a healthy meal. The
redesigned food pyramid, MyPyramid, is a new take on the classic food pyramid, which was
taught to Americans growing up, this new pyramid is a missed opportunity to try and provide

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health suggestions to many people. This pyramid provides a lack of information that leads to
obesity, poor health and unnecessary early deaths. MyPyramid also does not warn about the bad
food or discourage from eating foods that are not beneficial in a healthy diet including trans fats,
rapidly digested carbohydrates, and sugars. MyPyramid also focuses on exercise and physical
activity as a healthy eating strategy, but Americans are becoming less physically active due to
budget cuts and unsafe conditions. A newer more healthy option of a pyramid has been designed
with a healthy diet in mind. This new Healthy Eating Pyramid is composed of evidence compiled
from forty years of research done at Harvard and worldwide studies. The New Healthy Eating
Pyramid tries to edge people towards eating the most familiar foods that have been shown to
improve health and reduce the risk of chronic disease. This New Healthy Eating Pyramid
encourages food from the lower section to be chosen like whole grains, healthy oils, vegetables,
and to increase legumes otherwise known as plants and seeds (Willett et al 12-14). Overall, the
New Healthy Eating Pyramid is supposed to be a better guide for making healthy food choices
when compared to MyPyramid which does not try and sway Americans to make healthy food
choices.
Even state nutrition programs do not provide enough nutrition. All federal nutrition
programs standards are set by Dietary Guideline, including food stamps, school lunch programs
and federal programs. These guidelines determine what foods and products Americans buy
(Willett et al 16). However, federal and state budgets have cut back on funds for physical activity
in schools and Americans are not provided with a safe place to exercise (Willett et al 16).
Through the Dietary Guidelines the Food and Drug Administration is already setting people up to
not live a healthy lifestyle.

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Americans mainly rely on fast food and unhealthy food products to consume. This is a
very unhealthy way to eat and is called the Standard American Diet. The Standard American Diet
or SAD, consists of a diet low in fiber mainly consisting of processed foods, sodium and fats.
Since cheap food can be prepared very easily, frozen meals, fast foods, and other out of the box
meals are designed more for taste than for health. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention
reported that in the United States seventy-five percent of all sodium comes from processed foods
and restaurant meals and that roughly ninety percent of Americans consume too much sodium
(Danovich 1). An intake of insane amounts of sodium are contributing to the obesity epidemic.
The CDC has estimated that roughly one third of the population is obese. The Standard American
Diet comes with risks associated with bad eating habits including heart disease, diabetes and
cancer (Bittman 1). Efforts to shift the national diet have failed because education alone is no
match for the marketing dollars that push the very foods that are the worst for humans (Bittman
4). While living on The Standard American Diet, unhealthy food is consumed leading to major
risks associated with living an unhealthy lifestyle. The Standard American Diet is not only for
food but drinks too.
Soft drinks are what push the Standard American Diet over the edge. Fluids are vital to
carry out basic bodily functions. It is a medical urban legend that you need to consume eight
glasses of water a day. An individuals fluid needs are determined genetically and by diet,
activity and the environment (Willett et al 140,146). However, water is still the recommended
drink to consume, as it is vital to living and free from calories and sugar. The average American
consumes forty four point seven gallons of soft drinks annually. The calories from sugary drinks
provide a less feeling of fullness, when you drink a soda it is not instead of something else, but in
addition to the previous calorie intake (Bittman 2, 5). Bittman, an acclaimed food journalist,

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states that sugary beverages have been linked to not only type two diabetes and increased
obesity but also to cardiovascular diseases and decreased intake of valuable nutrients like
calcium (5). With this link to sugary beverages it was found that the United States has one of
the highest rates of hip fractures in the world, but Americans have the highest calcium intake.
Other countries with half of our calcium have far less osteoporosis (Willett et al 18). This proves
that Americans drink way more sodas even though our country also has a high intake of
calcium, clearly the bad beverages consumed are outweighing the healthy ones. Soft drinks do
not provide any nutritional value and only add to an increase in calories while making humans
feel worse that if we were to drink water and truly contribute to the idea of the Standard
American Diet.
There is one way that has been found to provide a healthy option for living, being a
vegetarian. This diet is beneficial to anyone, regardless what stage of life they are in. A
vegetarian diet is defined by a diet that does not include meat or seafood. The American Dietetic
Association, which plans the vegetarian diets found that eating vegetarian or vegan is healthy,
nutritionally sufficient, and can provide health benefits that can avoid and treat certain diseases.
Many peoples main concern about going vegetarian is a lack of nutrients, however the American
Dietetic Association found that a vegetarian diet can meet the guidelines for the intake of protein,
n-3 fatty acids, iron, zinc, iodine, calcium, vitamin D and B-12 nutrients. Vegetarians even tend
to be healthier and have lower overall cancer rates. This diet can reduce the risk of chronic
diseases due to a lower intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, soy products, fiber and
phytochemicals (Craig and Mangels 1). A vegetarian diet can be used to fight the Standard
American Diet and promote a healthy lifestyle.

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In order to maintain a long healthy life a healthy lifestyle needs to be adapted for adults.
First, a healthy diet should be high in plants and low in animal products and processed foods.
However, many Americans diets are not currently like this and changing them would drastically
improve our health and save many lives (Bittman 1).A recommended diet is full of plenty of
fruits and vegetables, this is a proven diet that can develop smart and healthy nutritional habits
(Willett et al 132). Even though this is the recommended diet according to the Center for Disease
Control and Prevention only about twenty-one percent of adults consume the recommended
amounts of fruits a day, about one-third of adults consume the recommended amounts of
vegetables a day (Linck 1). MyPlate suggests that an adult should have two cup servings of fruit
a day, most people hardly eat this much fruit in one week (All About the Fruit Group 1).
MyPlate also suggest that adults consume between two and three cups of vegetables a day (All
About the Vegetable Group 1). Clearly Americans could live a healthy lifestyle through proper
nutrition, but many may not even realize that they do not have enough intake of healthy foods
like fruits and vegetables.
Living a healthy lifestyle promotes a feeling of well-being and overall happiness. Living
a healthy lifestyle reduces the risk of developing chronic diseases. There are four main factors
that contribute to a healthy lifestyle, not smoking, a body mass index lower than thirty, three and
a half hours a week or more of physical activity, and maintaining healthy diet concepts (lots of
fruits, vegetables, whole grains and a low meat intake). Studies have found that by sticking to
these four factors there is a seventy-eight percent lower risk of developing chronic diseases.
Adhering to these four principles can help prevent cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.
These diseases can be fatal, but are preventable, and healthy lifestyle changes can greatly reduce

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the risk of developing these chronic diseases (Ford et al 1). If theses lifestyle changes are kept
they set Americans up for a longer and healthier life.
To avoid the health complications associated with unhealthy eating it is necessary for
Americans to maintain a healthy lifestyle. If Americans abide by a healthy lifestyle and make
proper food choices, then our country will become healthier. In order to do this Americans must
take action to prevent the food industry marketing schemes from influencing their food
decisions, understanding the food pyramids, and health risks associated with the Standard
American Diet to ensure a longer and healthier lifespan. Americans must also know the benefits
of a vegetarian diet and understand the Lets Move Campaign to create a healthier America.