Is Fast Food the New Tobacco? / Should the Obesity Issue Government Regulated or Remain a Personal Responsibility?

 

Fast food is unquestionably the new cigarettes. First, we'll discuss the Netflix series "What the Health?" We meet Kip Anderson, a San Francisco filmmaker who began this trip as a result of his family's history of chronic ailments. These illnesses included cancer, diabetes, and heart problems. He tried everything he could to be healthy in order to avoid these ailments. Taking stringent vitamins, exercising daily, examining bodily waste, making strategic meal selections, researching on a variety of food websites, and taking all necessary vitamins and supplements. known to aid in the maintenance of his immune system. 

The announcement that transformed his life was a new notice claiming that new study had been conducted and that the rise in cancer was linked to processed meat. That is, bacon, hotdogs, pork, and other similar foods can be as harmful as tobacco. The 800 studies from ten different countries paved the way for this research to emerge. However, we eventually learn that this type of research has been around for nearly 50 years. Kip was surprised to see that, despite this, the American Cancer Society still promoted consuming carcinogenic foods such as pork, turkey, and so on. Meat was classified as a carcinogen in Group 1 alongside cigarettes, teutonia, and asbestos.

So, Kip Anderson's mission began, which caused multiple interviews with various health specialists, doctors, nutritionists, surgeons, cancer society workers, and so on, to find out more answers and whether the truth is being kept from us in order to capitalize on funds or to make people sicker. Kip submitted evidence to Dr. Robert Ratner of the American Diabetes Association, who remarked, "Diabetes could be reversible with a rigorous plant-based diet based on a study that was done in Europe addressing their health organization research and conclusions, which proved effective." In opposition, Dr. Ratner stated that there was insufficient evidence to support such a claim. "We don't promote a certain diet; we recommend healthy eating," he said. When Kib continued to ask questions in light of gaining a better understanding of why Dr. Ratner would say such things, he dismissed him several times and even walked away mid-interview in frustration. But why is this so? Dr. Milton Mills, MD, a critical care physician, presented his thoughts on the WHO (World Health Organization) and the government with Anderson. 

He added that being heavily interested in the issues that we deal with stems from the disease model. We are in the business of treating people who are sick; we are not in the business of preventing people from becoming sick. Dr. Neal Barnard then debunked the misconception that diabetes was caused by sugar. "Diabetes is not, and has never been, caused by eating a high carbohydrate diet, and it is not caused by eating sugar," he stated. The main reason was a diet that increased the amount of body fat in the blood."

According to Dr. Susan Levin, a registered dietician, much research is focused on the drug that we might employ to treat a certain disease rather than prevention. We witness some of the hideous and bulky drugs that many of these individuals have demonstrated in this documentary. Taking anywhere from 16 to 32 different medications per day, and so on. Ruby Lathon demonstrates that what is presented to us is not necessarily accurate. She was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and decided she would refuse to be put on medicine for the rest of her life because she believed there was a better way. She changed her diet to be entirely plant-based, and within a year her cancel was completely gone, and her thyroid had shrunk back to its normal size. This demonstrates that a plant-based healthy diet can repair various diseases and is not primarily focused on sugar consumption.

Article “Don’t Blame the Eater”

David Zinczenko 

In the following article, David Zinczenko discusses his own personal experience with obesity and how his dietary options as a child were severely limited due to his mother's long working hours. I was a father who had left and was attempting to restore his life. He weighed roughly 212 pounds despite his 5 foot and 10 stature and was fortunate enough to improve his life by joining the navy reserves and became engaged with a Health magazine. He presents data in the second line on page 2 which claimed " before 1994, diabetes in children was primarily caused by genetic condition, and only around 5% of childhood cases were obesity related or type two diabetes. Today, that has changed dramatically, and the CDC now spends more in accounting for diabetes than in the past. He makes two arguments: one about knowing better to eat two meals a day and fast-food places, and the other about where and how consumers are supposed to locate alternatives. "Complicating the lack of options is a lack of information about what we are exactly consuming," the author adds. I believe his title in this article relates not only to the customer but also to the industry itself in terms of how they market and capitalize on specific uses and consumption with food. The other believes that the business is very vulnerable and that markets are fast forwarding to children proving that there is no health hazard or warning labels, and that without these warnings, more sick and obese children will continue to exist.

Article: “What You Eat Is Your Business”

Radley Balko

On the other end of the health spectrum, I must remark that the full contrast described by author Radley Balko in his piece "What You Eat is Your Business" was very intriguing to me. While David Zinczenko may have argued more on taking the responsibility of fast-food consumption and also pinpointing the areas in which the food industry has lacked to place warning labels and healthy alternatives for persons to choose from, but Balko states in his article page 2, 3rd paragraph that "For decades now, America's healthcare system has been migrating towards Socialism. Your shape, well-being, and condition have become increasingly problems of public health, rather than personal responsibility." At first glance, I disagreed with the notion that America's adequate system wields power. People's health is vital, yet it is true that America's healthcare system has been oblivious to individuals' daily lives and how society has become a social concern. However, when we go back to the Netflix series "What the Health?", Dr. Milton Mills, a critical care physician, says that they are not in business to prevent people from getting sick, but rather to treat people who are sick.

While there are many ways to combat obesity, and there has been existing research on plant-based diets that may contribute to the reversal of these diseases, it makes me reconsider that perhaps the main issue is not being controlled, but rather controlling the excessive rates at which obesity has taken over in various forms. "This is the incorrect method to fight obesity," David Zinczenko added. Rather than altering the theory of food options available to American consumers, our government is moving more quickly to take responsibility and ownership of our own health and well-being. But we're doing the reverse.". So, the actual question is, what is being concealed from us, and are we being told the truth about our consumption?

Overall, we know there is a problem, and it affects not only individuals but also the pharmaceutical industry. There have been millions of dollars spent to control the problem, and there are many more unanswered questions that have yet to provide sustainable research on how this problem can be reduced from a high stake to a low stake. While we have complete control over what we eat and what our bodies consume, we must also recognize that the medication we use, the appointments to the doctor, and the constant records of the rates at which these diseases arise all flow through the cycle of money that we spend to create.