EsSaY

My name is Hannah McDaniel and I chose to make my topic about fast food. I chose this topic because I’ve always wondered about the effects fast food has on your body. Most people enjoy fast food because of its quick convenience, while others enjoy it for their taste buds. Fast food can be very harmful to your body if you eat too much of it. Stopping by a drive thru every now and then isn’t so bad, but eating it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner can lead to serious problems. Throughout my whole blog I’ve researched the effects of fast food and most all of them are negative. There’s really no nutritional value in eating fast food.

I interviewed Marilyn Eddins, a health teacher at Hewitt Trussville High School. She agreed that fast food can lead to many health problems, but the highest of them all is obesity. Her opinion was people should learn to have self control, know what their eating, and be smart when making food choices. She said that it also made her sad to remember the times when families sat every night to enjoy dinner together. Now a day’s families are taking the quick and easy route by feeding their children fast food. This gives them less time to communicate, and also less nutrition for their bodies.

To make matters more interesting I would go back and do an experiment. I would eat fast food for a week; write down how I felt, my weight, and if my concentration was good or bad. Then I would do the complete opposite, but with healthy food. I would wait until the end to see my results, and to see if what everyone is saying about fast food is true. My favorite part about this topic is that I now have an inside look on what fast food is really like. I feel very well educated in the nutritional department, and I also will have a different outlook on choosing the foods I eat. In my opinion, knowing this information now can help me from suffering from diseases as I get older. I will also be more aware of the food I’m eating. Ill actually think about what I’m eating rather than just eat what’s in front of me. I never said fast food wasn’t delicious, I just that it’s not the best for you. I’m glad that I know all of the secrets about fast food. I wish there was a way people could change fast food menus to more nutritious food that benefits everyone, but until then I’ll just make smart choices and remember what I’ve learned.

Multi-Media 2

Emma Burgess researched the effects of fast food on today’s society. Statistics say that sitting down communicating with one another can improve a child emotionally and physically. She found that families who sat down at dinner to eat healthy cooked meals resulted in lower use of drug, alcohol, early sexual behavior, and suicidal risks. She stated that "everything changed when McDonald’s and Jack In the Box popped up on every corner". It can easily cost a family of four, twenty dollars for one meal at McDonald’s. If you add that up for a weeks worth of meals, that will begin to become very expensive. Food that has been processed is not going to have the same nutrition as food that has not been processed. One order of chicken nuggets adds up to four hundred and sixty calories. Those who try to be healthy and order a McDonald’s salad are being fooled by fake advertisement. Most of McDonald’s salads are double the calories than that of a cheeseburger or a simple hamburger. Eating at fast food restaurants more than eating at home can lead to a huge problem. Fast food has largely increased since the last generation and will continue to do so. Fast food will soon train everyone to become helpless when it comes to cooking; no one will know how to make home cooked meals anymore.

I strongly agree with Burgess because at one time, my family would only eat fast food because of it’s convenience. I was always ordering a salad thinking I was being healthy, but I was actually being tricked. We soon had to stop our bad habit because it was taking a toll on our family’s relationships, our health, and also became an issue with money. At the end of each day is my family’s strongest time to sit and talk to one another during dinner. Over time we began to see a difference in the nights we would grab fast food, compared to the nights we actually sat down at home and enjoyed a home cooked meal. Our relationships grew stronger, and dinner time suddenly became a priority for all of us. Emma’s research shows the truth behind the fast food industry in what you need to know, rather than what they want you to think.

Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZrQEUvXpWk

INTERViEW!!!

For my assignment, I decided to interview Mrs. Marilyn Eddins. Mrs. Eddins is one of the health teachers at Hewitt Trussville High School. She was kind enough to answer my interview questions, and voice her own opinion. The questions I provided for her were topics that I used in my small print sources. Topics such as: fast food effects on children, adult disadvantages, cognitive effects, and what she recommends to those who are "addicted" to fast food. While she agrees fast foods are convenient and tasty, she also recognizes the health hazards. According to her and everyone else, fast food is not very nutritious. My first question was her thoughts on how eating fast food effects family time. When she compared lifestyles from her youth she said that "it made her sad because she can remember the good days when families ate breakfast and dinner together everyday". She believes obesity is a national epidemic, and fast food portion sizes are a problem. She went on to say how fast food is cooked with saturated oils, making the food higher in fat and cholesterol. Just like most of my research, she agreed that weight gain contributes to higher rates of heart disease. She also believes bad nutrition for children and adults have a negative correlation with learning and memory. She thinks people's moods are negatively effected as well. I wanted to know her opinion on the debate that healthy foods are more expensive than fast foods, which gives everyone a reason to buy fast food more often. She did not agree that healthy foods are more expensive. She made her point by saying, "healthy food is cooked at home and there's usually leftovers for other meals. If the pantry is filled with healthy options, many meals can be prepared without additional supplies. People just need to plan". Her advice to those who can't get away from fast food is that people should keep a food and exercise log. They should be aware of what their eating, and should be encouraged to set short term goals before trying to conquer a long term goal and failing.

In response, I believe Mrs. Eddins was a great person to interview. She knew what she was talking about, and was very descriptive with her answers. I love how eager she was to voice her opinion about fast food. I'm also very thankful she took time to discuss these questions with me. I could definitely see the passion she has for eating healthy. She did admit she eats fast food for breakfast twice a week! In my opinon, that's just enough. Overall, what Mrs. Eddins had to say about the science of fast food lined perfectly with my research in most of my blogs. Mrs. Eddins is determined to keep health before satisfaction. Her and I both would rather eat a turkey sandwich with some fruit and granola, rather than a greasy fat hamburger with french fries on the side! I would rather keep my body healthy then to risk heart disease or other health problems that are attached with bad eating habits .

Eddins, Marilyn. Personal INTERVIEW. 6 May 2010.

Fast Food Nation- Book Sumary

The book I read by Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, was very interesting. The most interesting thing to me was when Schlosser talked about the diseases you can get from certain types of meat at fast food restaurants. It amazed me at how many people were killed just for eating fast food’s meat. “Every day in the United States, roughly 200,000 people are sickened by food borne disease, 900 are hospitalized, and fourteen die”(Schlosser 195). Most cases of fast food are never reported to authorities or properly diagnosed, because the fast food places lose business and money. Schlosser wrote about a man who experienced e-coli. Lee Harding, who was twenty two years old, ordered soft chicken tacos at a Mexican restaurant in Pueblo, Colorado. He thought they tasted nasty, but didn’t think much about it. About an hour later Harding was experiencing bad diarrhea and abdomen pains. The pains were so bad he thought he was dying. This lasted through the weekend, and on Monday Harding decided to go to the doctor. He was sent home, and on Tuesday afternoon got a letter saying he had e-coli avirulent and potentially lethal food borne pathogen. He called the public health department where he talked to a nurse. The nurse knew it was rare for chicken to have e-coli, so she asked Harding to think back on what he had eaten. Harden remembered eating a frozen hamburger, but had thought nothing of it because his wife and sister had eaten one too. A Pueblo health official went to Harding’s house and sent the remaining hamburgers to a USDA laboratory. Come to find out the hamburgers were two years old. This is just one of the interesting stories Schlosser tells in his book, Fast Food Nation.

By reading this book I realized how unhealthy fast food really is. It showed me the risks you take when eating fast food, and the diseases accumulated if eating too much of it. I was surprised that most outbreaks with fast food are not reported, just because it’ll make the restaurant lose money. In my opinion every time fast food infects someone with a food borne disease, it should be reported. We have the right to know if what were eating is going to kill us or not.

Schlosser writing this novel did cause for a big scene because obviously it gave people a scare. Some probably will never eat fast food again, which means many restaurants lost a ton of business and money. I know I can’t say ill never eat fast food again in my life, but at least I know what I’m getting myself into. Overall, this book is a good source for everyone to see the deep dark secrets behind fast food.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton, 2001.

Poor Nutrition For Children

A study conducted by Agricultural Research Service and Harvard University scientists showed a decrease in children's nutritional diet quality and an increase in calorie intake among U.S. children who ate fast food. The authors looked at 6,212 children and adolescent's diets from ages four to nineteen. When children in the United Staes who ate fast food were compared with those who did not, those children consumed more total calories, more calories per gram of food, more total and saturated fat, more total carbohydrate, more added sugars and more sugar-sweetened beverages. The study also showed that the children who consumed fast food had more food deficiencies and lack of the average nutrition needed. They also had less engergy then those who did not eat fast food. Between the late 1970's and mid- 1990's fast food restaurants have doubled to an estimated 250,000 nationwide. The findings are important because childhood obesity is increasing everyday. Not enoough intake of fruits and vegetables has been associated with obesity related problems. Fast food restaurants are not supplying children's nutritional needs. This may lead to problems in the future and higher obestiy rates.

I chose this article becasue I'm currently in psychology. We have learned a lot about nutritional needs for children, and how important it is for them to meet their nutritional value. How much nutrition you take in as a child can effect how your body acts later on with age. Examples would be: how your body will react to viruses, diseases, injuries, and etc. Eating fast food everyday as a child most likely will not have a good outcome. They will soon develop heart problems, or struggle with obesity. Children should eat healthy, consume their daily fruits and vegetables so they can be young healthy adults!

Bliss, Rosalie. "Poor Nutrition Among U.S Children." Agricultural Research Service. USDA, 5 Jan 2004. Web. 17 May 2010. .

SUPERsize Me Video Clip!

During the first five minutes and twenty six seconds of this video clip doctors discuss the extreme effects of fast food and the harm it has on your body. Morgan Spurlock talks about how eating nothing but McDonald's for thirty days made his liver turn to fat, cholesterol shoot up fifty five points, and caused his body fat percentage to go from eleven to eighteen percent. Overall he gained twenty four and a half pounds. Doctor's are stressing to Morgan the major consequences of becoming addicted to fast food. Although the doctor's state that fast food is fulfilling and cheap, they also point out the risk of heart disease and problems with blood flow. One doctor suggests he not eat fast food for one whole year, because so much damage has already been done. Morgan consumed thirty pounds of McDonald's sugar and took in twelve pounds of fat. Fast food organizations lack healthier choices, because they have no reason to change their routine of the greasy french fries and fatty hamburgers. Everyday companies make millions on the food their already offering. This leaves them with no reason to improve or change their menu. Eating fast food everyday means taking serious risks for your health, and even your life. Should McDonald's go first or should you?

This documentary made me realize how much fat and calories fast food carries. Fast food has no problem destroying your body and it will if you let it. This video is proof of someone who consumed fast food for thirty days, and watched his body slowly become ill. The weight he gained is enough to show how harmful it really is. The problem with fast food is it's convenient and easy. Another problem is people don't take the harmful effects of fast food serious enough. Some may think their eating a tasty hamburger when really they may be eating their way into a heart disease, or even heart failure. In my opinion, there should be a bill passed to set higher standards for fast food restaurants. It's America's health were talking about, and maybe we should set our standards higher.

Bad Food Means Bad Brain

On November 28, 2008 April MacIntyre, a food critic for Consumer Health News correlated fast food with Alzheimer's disease. In a study, scientists fed a group of mice fast food for nine months. After the nine months the scientists found that their brains showed signs of developing abnormal brain tangles. Susanne Akterin, a researcher who led the study stated that "We now suspect that a high intake of fat and cholesterol in combination with genetic factors can adversely affect several brain substances, which can be a contributory factor in the development of Alzheimer's." She also focused on how certain foods alter one's mood by influencing the level of certain brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. The effect of food on our brains is very powerful. The connection between a person's mood and the food he or she eats has demonstrated that eating a certain food can influence a person's mood. Someone who eats a turkey sandwich with fruit on the side is more likely to have more energy verses someone who eats a fast food hamburger with french fries on the side.

MacIntyret, April . "Fast Food Found To Cause Brain Conditions." Mongsters and Critics. Consumer Health News, 28 Nov 2008. Web. 5 Apr 2010.

This article provided a surfeit amount of information that in all honesty kind of scared me. I didn't know fast food could be this harmful or effect someone's mood. In my opinion, some of the fast food rumors are apocryphal, but scientists actually experimenting with mice made the rumors more realistic. Im not one hundred percent positive that if you eat fast food everyday you'll take on the disease of alzheimer's, but it does make you think about the chances. When I eat fast food it makes me pretty happy, but reasearch shows healthy food is all in all better. It's suppose to boost your energy opposed to fast food, and prevent diseases. Im not completely agreeing with the article. Energywise, I never really focus on how I feel after eating fast food. This article did give me the idea to eat fast food for a day and focus on how I felt. Then do the opposite with healthy food, collect the data, and see the outcome.