Unhealthy Fast food and Weapons of Mass Consumption

In the journal article "Weapons of Mass Consumption," L.J. Farer writes about how unhealthy fast-food can be. The biggest contributor to obesity in children is the amount of unhealthy foods they intake, and the fast-food industry is the top culprit. A traditional meal at Burger King consisting of a Whopper, medium fries, and a large chocolate shake contains 1,910 calories, 87 grams of fat, 35 grams of saturated fat, 2,280 milligrams of sodium and 136 grams of sugar. In one meal, you have reached or exceeded the recommended daily values of all these things, based on a 2000 calorie-a-day diet (Farer, 2006). Even the salads offered at fast-food joints are not very good for your health. "The California Cobb Salad with crispy chicken and ranch dressing at McDonalds's has about 700 more milligrams of sodium than a Big Mac, and has about the same fat and calorie content," (Farer, 2006).

But kids are kids. They do not have the ultimate decision on what and where to eat. They do not cook meals for themselves at home or at school. Much of the blame, therefore, has to be put on parents and schools. As far as parents go, many of them are obese as well, and, consequently, choose unhealthy lifestyles that their kids imitate. They eat out too much, purchase too many unhealthy foods at the grocery store, allow their kids to fall into unhealthy eating habits, and, perhaps most importantly, let children stay inside watching TV, playing video games, etc., and not getting them outside and active. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) says that nearly half of adolescents watch more than two hours of television a day. The Mayo Clinic recommends limiting a child's recreation screen time to just two hours per day.

School's can also be blamed for obesity, although, as will be divulged later, they have probably done the most to fight the problem. Having candy and pop machines in halls and cafeterias promotes unhealthy eating habits. Government lunches provided for children are normally loaded with a lot more pizza, burgers, fries, and cookies, than salad, corn, green beans, and carrots. According to Eileen Vogel (personal communication, March 26, 2006), lunch room server for the Sioux City Community Schools, and an employee of Weight Watchers, "the lunches provided rarely meet what Weight Watchers would consider healthy standards for children." She added that the amount of desserts is usually greater than the amount of fruits and vegetables available for the kids.

Schools can certainly take some of the blame for the sedentary lifestyles of many kids today as well. According to C. Arnst and D. Kiley in their journal article, "The Kids Are Not All Right," School districts across the country have been phasing out physical education programs for years. "Only 8% of elementary schools, 6.4% of middle schools, and 5.8% of high schools nationwide provide daily physical education." If kids aren't getting exercise at school, they certainly won't be getting it at home with television, computers, and video games to consume their time.

How to reverse the trend of childhood obesity is not a difficult thing to figure out. To actually implement practices and to change people's ways of life, however, will prove to be a very tough thing to do. It has to start in the homes. Kids, at least the majority of them, listen to and imitate their parents' behaviors. If they see dad munching on a bag of chips as a midnight snack, they will do the same. If they see him grab an apple from the fridge instead of those chips, they will most likely follow suit. When kids are at the grocery story with their mom, she can suggest some bananas or baby carrots instead of the ho-hos or candy bars.

Other ways for parents to get involved, according to the USDHHS, include cutting down the amount of fat and calories in family meals, eating together as a family more often, drinking water instead of drinks with added calories and sugar, and stocking the fridge with fruits and vegetables and low-fat milk and dairy products. Other suggestions would be going to Subway instead of McDonald's if you have to eat on the run, and always searching for lower fat and calorie containing products, such as vegetable cooking oil instead of corn or canola oil, and low-fat margarine instead of butter.

Parents should also be concerned about their child's physical activity. The USDHHS recommends that American children should accumulate at least sixty minutes of physical activity most days of the week (surgeongeneral.gov, n.d.). Parents need to start shutting the television off and getting their kids outside, and it would work a lot better if the parents took the time to go outside and play with them. It certainly doesn't have to be hitting the road and running a mile, it can be as simple as playing tag, or shooting some hoops.

Arnst and Kiley believe that schools are certainly another entity that can do a lot to curb childhood obesity, and that they are the one that is doing the most. Los Angeles and Philadelphia have banned the sale of all junk food and soda in their public schools (Arnst and Kiley, 2004). New York City has the nation's largest schools system, and therefore has a lot of say in what kind of food they receive. David Berkowitz, who runs NYC's school lunch program, said "We serve 860,000 meals a day. Because we're so large, we can ask manufacturers to reduce the fat and sodium content." In 2003, they reduced the fat content of school lunches by 30%, and offered free breakfasts to every student, making sure they start the day off right (Arnst and Kiley, 2004). Another good way for parents to get involved would be by going to PTA meetings and pressuring the school board to implement healthy lunch programs in their districts.

Many schools have taken steps to develop healthy eating habits in kids. Now it's time to do the same for physical education. A period needs to be put in if not every day, every other day, for physical education class. Here, kids could learn about different ways to exercise that are not only fun, but have a big benefit on their bodies. A week long or so unit should also be implemented in normal science classes that teach kids what is good and what is not good to eat, as well as portraying the downfalls of being overweight. Once again, parents need to bring things like this up at local PTA meetings.

Another faction that is trying to take steps to better the problem is the food industry. The fast-food industry has introduced new, healthier options to their menus. McDonald's would seem to be the biggest one with their line of salads and premium chicken sandwiches. One of Subway's slogans has always been "Seven subs with six grams of fat or less." Fast-food, however, is one thing that will never be made healthy. Even with healthy items, people are still going to be tempted to buy Big Macs and Whoppers.

According to A. Carter in his journal article "Slimmer Kids, Fatter Profits," The grocery industry is the place that has been doing the most work that could have a huge impact on childhood obesity. Lunchables, a staple of elementary sack lunches, is a product of the Kraft Foods Company. Over past few years, Kraft chemists have been devising ways to lower the fat and sodium content of the popular lunch item. These chemists have altered the cheese, crackers, and other main contents, as well as replacing soda with fruit juice, and chocolate desserts with other fruit products. When you average all 41 Lunchables varieties together, the team has cut calories by 10%, fat by 24%, and sodium by 20%. Kraft has also made advances in the nutritional value of snack foods. Its 100 calorie snack packs of foods such as Wheat Thins and Cheez-Its came into the market a few years ago as tasty, yet nutritious snack options. The company even went as far as saying it would stop advertising junk foods in the media to kids under 12 (Carter, 2005).