Do We Even Control What We Eat?

After watching the movie “Supersize Me”, which I highly recommend to everyone, I’ve been pondering this question. Why are we, as a people, getting fatter? I think it’s an important question to ask and one that people need to examine for themselves. Everyone has different eating and exercise habbits, but why are our daily lives moving further away from health as time goes by?

Why do you make certain choices when it comes to food? Chances are that you are being influenced constantly about the types of food to eat, what is “good for you” and “bad for you”. The media controls you and what you perceive when it comes to eating and buying foods. Even if you were to avoid all television and advertising, you would still have a hard time to avoid the shiny boxes and packaging that most processed foods and junk foods come in.

Fruits and vegetables don’t have much of a chance against processed, packaged junk foods. The people who grow fruits and vegetables don’t have the budget to put commercials on television, to add fancy packages to their fruit. And why would they? This is a viscious cycle!

If you have kids then you know that children control what their parents buy. If commercials or advertisers target children, they know that they can ultimately influence the parents and the entire household’s purchases. Companies target kids when they are young and get them addicted to fast foods, junk foods and other processed and unhealthy food. By doing that, they are securing their future because fast foods and junk foods are extremely addictive. When these kids grow up, they will feel the need to buy more junk foods because of their addicted states. This is why I believe it’s important to stop your kids from eating unhealthy, unnatural foods at all.

How often do you eat fast food, as an adult? You might be surprised when you calculate the amount of fat and sugar you consumed last year, from fast food joints only. The problem with today’s society is that we’re constantly getting busier and we don’t have time to cook for ourselves. When we’re in a hurry, or just too tired to take care of our own nutrition, we go to the restaurant. Americans eat 40% of their meals at restaurants, whether these are fast food places or local restaurants.

It is known that the reason the food in restaurants is good is in direct corrolation with the amount of butter the cooks use. Do you feel comfortable not knowing what goes into the food you eat? Is it comforting knowing that many people all over the world eat the same overprocessed and unhealthy foods? Well it shouldn’t. Eating something that you didn’t see the processing of can be extremely dangerous for your health and can significantly shorten your life. You are guaranteed to gain weight if you eat in restaurants more often than not.

So what can you do to stop yourself from eating horrible, fattening food? You could move to the middle of nowhere and grow your own food. But that’s unlikely to happen. Just try to avoid going to restaurants, period. If you’re going home and you know you don’t have any food left at home, stop by the grocery store and whip yourself up a good, fresh and healthy meal.