The Blog of Oscar Godson

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With Great Convenience, Comes Great Responsibility
by: Oscar Godson

Year by year the differences in eating habits of Americans don’t seem to change all that much. When you step back 20, 30, or even 50 years ago the changes can seem enormous. At times Americans seem to be eating the most unhealthy foods you can get, but at other times it seems they are fighting for the most healthy alternatives available. Americans seem to try to be healthy, but to be healthy they sometimes make up for the healthiness with alternatives that aren’t so quite, well, healthy. The overall consumption never changes, yet the fat increases. With a decrease in some sort of food there is an increase in another. It is a teeter totter effect. Children seem to eat more vegetables and fruits, yet their soda pop intake has increased tremendously. Although Americans have the choice of eating healthy or unhealthy, they will generally choose convenience which happens to be the unhealthier way.

Americans eat fattier foods at times, but it has actually decreased in the last 50 years in some categories. The average American eats almost 200lbs of meat a year. This is up approximately 60lbs per year more than 50 years ago. Fats from meats have also decreased nine percent in those last 50 years. I believe this is from fast food chains. Americans love their fast foods. One of the most popular fast food chains is McDonald’s which is famous for their Big Mac which has two patties of meat. Meat is the main serving at fast food places and since many Americans always feel they are too busy to make breakfast or lunch they end up getting a quick bite to eat. What’s quicker and more convenient than a drive through?

With great convenience comes great responsibility, or so it seems with many fast food restaurants. I believe the drop of fat in meat comes from Americans wanting healthy alternatives. Fast food restaurants see Americans desiring healthier food, so they seek out healthy alternatives of their customers favorites. McDonald’s now has nutrition facts on all of their food. This just shows how their consumers want fast food, but they want it healthy. One way to make something healthier is to lower the fat in the food. Since the main food at fast food restaurants is meat, and so many Americans eat fast food, I surmise the drop in fat content yet the rise of meat intake is from fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s becoming more popular and trying to be more healthy for their customers.

Soda intake in children has increased more than 500% and milk consumption is down. I drink more soda than anyone I know and the reason is quite simple. Why drink something that has no flavor? Not only that, for the price of a name brand water you can get a name brand soda. I also see it as comparing one flavor to a thousand. No matter what drink it is, no drink can out sell every other flavor combined. Children and adults get tired of the same old thing. Soda gives you a chance to drink all kinds of flavors.

I don’t think children just like drinks that are unhealthy, but rather they are given a choice of thousands of drinks and water just being one of them. I believe this is why flavored waters and milks are becoming more prevalent in the grocery stores. Parents want something healthy, but their children are getting tired of milk and water, so they give them cherry flavored water or strawberry milk. Until there are more flavors of milk, water, or healthier drinks, soda consumption will continue to rise in my opinion.

Bottled water has been increasing at a rate just below that of soda among Americans. In 2005 alone the increase of bottled water was 9%. Overall water consumption however, has been the same for many years. This means people are drinking less tap water each year and more bottled water. I deduce this is for convenience. Why walk back and fourth to the water cooler when you could get a bottle of water for a dollar and have it at your desk? Unfortunately, this is not healthy by any means and is causing many health problems.

Dentists believe bottled water is the cause of the increase in tooth decay in children. Tap water has many more minerals and vitamins compared to bottled water. Bottled water takes out all of those minerals from the processing. Sadly, convenience comes at a price. Bottled water is given to children constantly from sports games and practices to going to the movie theaters. It’s everywhere because they can sell it and they can’t sell water in a cup. You can ask for a cup of water, but many parents would rather give their children something they can close and take with them or reuse. Children will continue to drink bottled water out of convenience for the parents and luxury of being able to just toss it in a backpack or on the field you are out playing soccer at.

Convenience is not always negative for all cases. There has been a 20% increase in vegetable and fruit consumption. I suspect this is from the increase of availability to buy already sliced fruits and vegetables. This makes it easier for people to grab a bag of apples that are already sliced and head off to work. This also relieves parents from having to slice and peel fruit and vegetables for their babies as well.

McDonald’s offers apple slices in their “Happy Meals” to accommodate the busy parent. As I see it, the easier it is for Americans to get something the more likely they will get it if it’s healthy or not. In this case, fruits and vegetables are pre-sliced and take the place of fattening fries, so many parents see it as a chance to make a step to a healthier choice. The more this becomes more rampant, the more people will eat vegetables and fruits.

Overall, it’s easier to eat unhealthy than to watch what you eat. America need convenience and from what it looks like, Americans only eat all these bad foods because it’s cheaper, easier, and faster than eating at a restaurant or making dinner at home. Americans work more than any other country and this takes a toll on their health. They are tired and don’t want to have to go home and make dinner for their family, but they can go to a fast food place and pick it up and take it home and only have to do minimal clean up at. It’s also extremely cheap. A person could get fries, soda, and a burger for three dollars at McDonald’s where as at a store you would have to buy the fries frozen, meat, bread, cheese, and all other toppings which would add up to be much more than three dollars. Why would anyone want to eat healthy again?

Americans are bombarded with propaganda about obesity. This is why Americans will be eating more healthy each and every year. Americans are already scared of all the side effects of becoming obese. This frightened America will be seeking alternatives to fatty foods at a much more increased rate than ever before. Fast food chains find this a subject to pursue and capitalize off of it whether it be for good or bad intentions. Either way, people are already not wanting to become over weight and will do anything to not ever become it.

The choices are out their for Americans, but at this time their choice is usually the one of connivence and why shouldn’t it be? With Americans being the most worked countries they have a reason why they would rather eat something on the go rather than cooking a four course meal that would take hours to cook and clean. Unfortunately, Americans are seeing the side effects in their children of not eating right. Children getting tooth decay and osteoporosis from not having enough milk at such young ages. Thus my conclusion as to why when Americans are given the choice to be eating healthy they would rather choose to the easiest way out and pay for it later. Americans are changing their ways, but it will take years to be where we were before fast food.

Works Cited

“United States Leads World Meat Stampede.” Worldwatch Institute. July 2, 1998. 6 November 2007. <http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1626>

“We Know What You Ate Last Year.” Emily Landes. 2003. 6 November 2007. <http://www.thewavemag.com/pagegen.php?pagename=article&articleid=24554>

“Per capita soft drink consumption up 500% over last 50 years.” Food & Drink Weekly. 10 May 2004. 6 November 2007. <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EUY/is_17_10/ai_n6264654/pg_1>