Super Size Me

Super Size Me

Identify the Issue

The Facts

Conclusion

References

Identify the Issue

What is the Content of the Problem

What is the Extent of the Problem

Quiz Yourself

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What is the content of the problem The content of the problem is the national epidemic of obesity. This is a

global epidemic but is highly affecting Americans. It is up to the fast food industry and “Corporate America” to give us healthier options and to cut back on encouraging and making quick, unhealthy food appealing. Considering that Americans eat out at fast food restaurants for 40% of our meals and 60 % of the population is suffering from obesity is plenty enough reason for the corporations to be alarmed and concerned. The government has no longer allowed fast food industries to get sued over health issues and in other words has cleared the way for them to make unhealthy choices. The government standards alone are hurting us. They consider a 3oz. piece of meat a sensible size and do not restrict school cafeterias from offering junk food to our children. Nutritionists insist we should not eat fast food at all and at the maximum once a month. McDonald's alone runs more than 30,000 restaurants in more then 100 countries on 6 continents. www.supersizeme.com This issue can ultimately kill the vast majority of Americans through high cholesterol, strokes, coronary heart disease, gall bladder disease, heart disease and many other health related risks. The number of Americans getting sick is quickly growing. Here is an interesting fact, if we keep up the fast food trend, obesity will overtake smoking as the #1 cause of death. BACK

What is the extent of the problem? This problem extends to health of our children in which we are responsible

for and should be offering good choices. In the last 20 to 25 years we have seen weight gain almost double among our children. If this continues 1 out of every 3 kids will develop diabetes in their life time and they could end up with liver failure. This situation is spinning out of control and needs to be taken a closer look at from the businesses to the laws. The government could really help the situation by making school cafeterias healthier and joining the Nutritional Resource Foundation & Natural Ovens Bakery in their mission to help our children make healthy choices and install habits that lead them in good health. We could get a grasp on this problem as well, if the fast food chains would offer healthier choices along side the unhealthy ones, do away with super sizing and 32 oz pops. They need to offer smaller portions and stop advertisements featuring the children’s favorite pop stars and athletes. I think Subway should be inspiring to the fast food industry in its mission to make money off of helping people lose weight and taking a social responsibility to this epidemic. These companies want to ignore the fact that children and adults are in bad health due to their business. Fast food makes you feel unhealthy and become unhealthy. The more you eat it the more addicted you become to their slabs of meat covered in cheese and sugary, caffeinated beverages. It entails consuming more calories and cholesterol than necessary and destroys your body.

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Quiz

ANSWER

How many hours straight would you have to walk to burn off a super-sized coke , fry, and Big Mac?

Answer

You would have to walk SEVEN hours straight to burn off a super sized coke, fry and Big Mac!

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The Facts

Gather All Pertinent Facts Surrounding the Issue

Who has Vested Interest in the Issue

Quiz Yourself

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Gather all the pertinent facts surrounding the issues Here are the facts:

America is becoming obese medical cost is increasing rapidly kids are being lured in we are becoming extremely unhealthy

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Who has vested interest in the issue I believe parents and schools are becoming more concerned and the

healthier people of America. There has been a raised concern through this documentary, Super Size Me and has brought the problem to the fore front.

The fast food industry is benefiting greatly from our dependence on quick and appetizing food. They are luring us in as children and reinforcing bad habits into our brains. They go as far as birthday parties at their restaurants, playgrounds, kids’ meals and advertisement for a children’s audience. Ultimately, we as adults are suffering. They lure us in as kids and encourage bad choices and then we suffer as adults from bad health. We are offered convenience at a price and the fast food industry is not taking social responsibility for the outcome of our health, instead they offer us cheap fatty food. They place these restaurants at every shopping mall, airport and any other frequently traveled location to make it easy on us to give in. They don’t stop there though they go as far as asking us to super size our meals convincing us to take in triple or more the calories necessary to survive.

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Quiz

McDonald’s feeds how many people in a day?

ANSWER

Answer

McDonald’s feeds more than 46 million people a day.

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Conclusion This is what I think should happen. As I have mentioned above I believe

fast food restaurants should follow the example Subway has lead and offer a healthy alternative that includes food with nutritional value and nutritional facts stated on the menu to guide you in the right direction. I also believe that we should join the Nutritional Resource Foundation & Natural Ovens Bakery in offering our children nutrition in their school cafeterias. Their needs to be a cut back in advertisements that draw children into bad choices and more on healthy alternatives again Subway sets a good example. I believe Super Size Me has been an alert to all fast food chains and the attention this movie brought to the school lunches will hopefully alert our government policy makers. I believe the only other solution we have not covered is the individual’s responsibility and the responsibility of parents to set good examples. I believe if “Corporate America” offers us healthy alternatives and encourages America to eat healthier we will follow suit.

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References Morgan Spurlock(Producer/Writer).(2004). Super Size Me [Motion Picture].

United States: Sundance Film Festival. undefined. (2008-2009). supersizeme.com. In super size me. Retrieved

Febuary 2nd, 2010, from www.supersizeme.com.

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