Assignment 16- Stone Poole

I'll start with this deep question. Does everybody like food? Maybe, a juicy burger, a cheesy pizza, or if you are a breakfast person a warm donut or crispy bacon, even though you know those aren't the healthiest things to eat. Yeah, I'm a foodie if you couldn't tell. I eat 4 meals a day then sometimes I have a bowl of ice cream just to treat myself. Only if I deserve it though. That's my rule. Okay most of the time. Okay some of the time it's my rule. I've always been this way even though I know it's not the healthiest lifestyle choice.  I had to go on a diet when I was 2 because I had a chocolate milk addiction and it got to the point that I had skin rolls that looked like I had rubber bands around my wrists and ankles. I'm a lot healthier today but there are people in the United States who struggle with their food addiction and aren't able to stay healthy and it leads to obesity. For many of the people who struggle with obesity, it starts young. As eating habits develop early and are hard to change. An obese 5-year-old is 10 times as likely to be obese in adulthood than a 5-year-old with an average Body Mass Index according to epidemiologist David Freedman. To fight the obesity epidemic, we have to first, invest more effort into educating kids at a young age, second, make healthy food options cheaper and lastly, promote daily exercise and physical activity. 

Now, as I mentioned earlier kids can develop eating habits as early as a year old. Fast food chains such as McDonald's target preschool and elementary school age children more than any other age for this reason. If they can attract kids at a young age they can get kids to incorporate their food into their eating habits for the rest of their life. We have to start teaching them about healthy eating habits early as possible.  Kids need to be educated on the negative effects so they aren't so easily persuaded to eat unhealthy foods because they come with a cool toy from the new Star Wars movie. Even though Star Wars is pretty cool. Kids need learn to be aware of the caloric intake. They need to know the difference between unsaturated and saturated fats and what impact high-sugar and fat foods can have on your body. I couldn't tell you what those were before I looked them up for this speech. The education on healthy eating I had was a food pyramid on the wall in elementary school cafeteria and I took a class in middle school, so pointless I don't even remember the name. The only thing I do remember was making chicken tortillas, but they were burnt and I couldn't eat them, but nothing about healthy food habits. Learning the curriculum on nutrients in food and healthy eating habits would be helpful but by the time kids get to middle school they have already developed their eating habits and won't listen to the advice of a random middle school teacher in an elective they didn't want to take. 

 In 2010, with Michelle Obama and her let's move initiative, the USDA and CDC passed the Healthy, Hungry-Free Kids act or the HHFK. The HHFK targeted school meals with the goal of improving nutrition, reducing obesity and combating childhood hunger. But as important as the act was it didn't include education on healthy eating, kids just saw the options in the lunch lines change. With this act have come other contradicting effects. Meals are healthier but kids don't always eat the healthy items on their plate and schools also complained that the plan was a financial burden and did not have enough variety.  

The complaints from schools bring me to my second point, cost. Fast food chains are famous for their dollar and value menus. Why buy a salad or a make a ham sandwich when you can run to a Wendy's and get a burger, chicken nuggets, fries and a drink for $4.00. These are featured menu items come with a low price for your wallet but not for your health. A majority of the food in restaurants and fast food chains don't meet the regulations set by the CDC division of nutrition. Getting back to cost, a 2013, Harvard School of Public Health study showed that eating an unhealthy diet compared to a healthy diet was $1.50 less per day which adds up to $2,000 a year. That money saved adds up for those who choose to eat an unhealthy diet. They can put that money towards medical expenses when their bad diet leads to a plethora of health issues. But, no healthy fast food chains are going to provide that value menu with the healthiest options out there. So how are we going to not spend as much but still eat healthy? One thing many people do is buy fruits and vegetables in season, they avoid high costs but still eat healthy. Many of you might think wait why can't I be like Jared Fogle the guy who ate subway to become healthy, well he also implemented my 3rd point and Subway is a sandwich chain that has always provided more healthier options than fast food chains just ask Morgan Spurlock who ate Mcdonald's instead of Subway every day, also buying a sub a day is not a cost-effective way to becoming healthy. There's also other reasons why you don't want to be like Jared but let's stick to the topic. 

Now if you don't really care if you eat unsaturated or saturated fats or about your caloric intake and you don’t want to put in $1.50 extra per day to eat healthy, it doesn't look good for you. Wait I just described myself. Don't worry there is another way to staying and becoming healthy. Exercise. Whether it's getting up on Saturday mornings and running a mile or 2 or joining a team at school with your friends. Maybe swimming. There are multiple studies showing that people need at least 60 minutes of exercise per day in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and there are many programs out there. The NFL, for instance, has created the play 60 program to promote physical activity and the game of football all over the country. The programs takes players to different cities to teach kids skills of football while encouraging them to stay active. But as we get older the time to be active gets smaller. We have to make time and dedicate it to being active. Physical activity is the most important part in combating obesity and it is also one of the easiest. 

So who wants to be a part of the change and make our generation the one that ends obesity for future generations by focusing on educating at earlier ages, not settling for cheap and unhealthy fast food and lastly promote physical activity all to maintain a healthier lifestyle.