Fed Up: It’s Not You, It’s Them “Come on! It’s simple, just get up off your butt and stop eating so darn much,” a common phrase used when with addressing modern obesity. Yet, this fairly recent epidemic continues to plague and destroy around 93 million Americans (The Issue). Although, with Michael Obama’s “Let’s Move” Campaign making a head wave, the hope for a healthy tomorrow has been restored in the hearts of many Americans. Along those same lines it seems that these days you cannot turn on the TV or Radio without seeing an ad for this Gym or that weight lost supplement. Such items and services also suggest that we as individuals can exercise and never worry about the big, bad condition known as obesity. With all these resources, …show more content…
In order to discuss their ideas about the epidemic, Fed Up begins by explaining the history of the food in America and how sugars may affect us. Then later, the film continues by not only blaming the food industry, but the “Let’s Move” Campaign as well, for America’s obesity problem. To further insure their argument is brought home, Fed Up show us the everyday life of numerous children dealing with obesity and who are working to change for the better. Sadly, it seems as though each of the children always coming up short, despite their dieting and exercising. So, instead of looking at the each citizen’s personal contribution toward the obesity epidemics, Fed Up takes up a, “It’s not you it’s them” aspect toward the food …show more content…
No one who watched Fed Up can forget their comparison to the smoking companies. One heartbreaking scene, the film depicts side by side, one ad for cigarettes and the other for sugary cereal. In both cases, these ads had one goal to make money, despite the risk. Comparing the two companies not only pushes the idea food industry, much like the smoking industry knows the risk these ads have on children. Yet, no matter the cost these companies push their products just to make a quick buck. Senator Tom Harkin best exhibits this point when stating, “I just wanna say don’t you have any shame at all? Isn’t there something inside of you that says… you know what we are doing is not right? They have to know…just like the tobacco companies”. Needless to say, such a statement had to be a hard blow to the food companies and a fair win for food fighters
Thousands of children around America are increasingly joining the obesity epidemic and are struggling to get out of it. In the documentary, Fed Up, by Stephanie Soechtig, she creates a documentary that targets young teenagers and parents to uncover the truth of the epidemic and reveal how the food industry is hurting the children 's diet by making them become addicted to sugar. It explains how it is beyond people 's willpower and exercise alone that solves the epidemic, rather it is the food industries ' fault for the nfood they produce. Soechtig uses pathos, ethos and logos by documenting personal stories from young obese teenagers, providing a numerous amount of credible sources from a wide range of experts, and having evidence for the epidemic.
Stephanie Soechtig, is an award-winning film-maker, and director and producer of the nonfiction documentary Fed Up. She began producing documentaries for network news programs such as Primetime Live and 20/20, while also working for Good Morning America during the 2000 presidential elections and the O’Reilly Factor. In 2008, Soechtig partnered with Michael and Michelle Walrath to start Atlas Films, which provided inspiration and education to consumers on the most controversial topics. So far, Soechtig has been awarded the “Best Documentary Feature” for Tapped (2009), “People’s Choice Award” for Under the Gun (2016), and Fortune Magazine named Soechtig as being one of the “Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink” (Biography). In 2014, Soechtig’s “Grand Jury Prize” nominated film Fed Up (2014), narrated by TV Journalist Katie Couric, was created in hopes of unveiling the hidden secrets of the food industry by using statistical analysis and research expert’s testimonies to inform viewers of the direct impact that the food industry has on the health of our nation’s most vulnerable population—children. Soechtig and Couric present the argument that the roles of our government along with the interests and processing methods of food industries are ultimately responsible for the increasing rates of childhood obesity in the United States.
As per Healthy People 2020 most Americans do not consume healthy diets and are not physically active at levels needed to maintain proper health. As a result of these behaviors the nation has experienced a dramatic increase in obesity in the U.S with 1 in 3 adults (34.0%) and 1 and 6 children and adolescents (16.2%) are obese. In addition to grave health consequences of being overweight and obese. It significantly raises medical cost and causes a great burden on the U.S medical care delivery system ("Healthy People 2020," 2014, p. 1).
How many times have you heard the phrase, “You are what you eat”? According to the creators of the documentary Fed Up, this is not the case. With one in every five children suffering with a weight issue, childhood obesity is a huge epidemic in America. The producers of Fed Up interview numerous overweight children, as well as talk with many different scientists and congressmen and women regarding the topic of obesity. All of these professionals teamed up to create this documentary in order to “scare” children into eating healthier. Rather than creating a cartoon or fun movie, Fed Up reaches out directly to the parents of these children. Written in an informative and understanding tone, this movie explains that eating healthy and
Long ago, the ancestors of humans lived in unpredictable times in which meals were not guaranteed. Now in the 21st century, data suggests, as mentioned in Fed Up, that there will be more deaths caused directly or indirectly by obesity than by starvation. The documentary Fed Up focuses on the terrifying issue that plagues the United States and the world: obesity. It delves into the components that contribute to this menacing epidemic that only continues to get worse. The documentary builds on the stories of four young American children from all over the country that are severely obese. One of the kids, at 14 years of age, weighs over 400 pounds. Fed Up tries to answer one simple question with a complex and scary answer. How did the world get here? There are several different issues the documentary tried to address to answer this question. In the documentary, several misconceptions about food were dissected. In addition to debunking myths about food, the documentary discussed how it is possible to eat healthy for less money than eating unhealthy. Those were a few of the aspects that can have an impact on individuals, but the documentary did not stop there. It also attacked the huge food industry for their misleading advertisements and selling techniques, as well as condemning their focus of selling to younger people. Furthermore, the documentary explained how the food industry is so rich and powerful in the country’s capital that it has thwarted the many attempts in trying
Enticing viewers’ with two colorful M&M’s that spell out “F-U” is a documentary called “Fed Up”. This documentary was written by Stephanie Soechtig and Mark Monroe in 2014 and it protests the food industry claiming they are to blame for the obesity epidemic seen in America. It suggests that the industry is increasing sugar content in food items, hiding it behind complex names, and heavily advertising products that contain high amounts of sugar. I noted that the documentary relied a great deal on the viewers’ emotions to convey its point that sugar is bad and sway the viewer to believe them.
We all have heard of the fact that the US is the most overweight and obese nations in the world. In fact 13% the people that are obese live in the US compared to a combined 15% from China and India (Viegas, 2014). With the media ads promoting fad ‘lose weight quick’ diets and many shows that promote losing weight and healthy living such as The Biggest Loser and Weight Watcher commercials. You might think that obesity in America is something that should decrease overtime. Cynthia Ogden an epidemiologist for the National Center for Health Statistics states that there is no evidence that suggest that obesity is decreasing in the US (Hellmich, 2013). Since 2004 the obesity rate was 32% now in 2014 the rate is 35% says Ogden (Hellmich, 2013). Like stated before the media has vastly gained from Americans being obese and overweight in the US on Disney channel there’s eating healthy commercials, and there are several of advertisements promoting some type of food that promotes healthy eating. Shedding pounds and living a healthy lifestyle is very costly though. Although the many ads promoting weight lose funding those programs and special meals is very expensive. A research study used to determine how much money Americans spend on weight loss found that Americans spend up to $60 billion on weight loss programs annually (Williams, 2013).
Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years. Two-thirds of adults and nearly one in three children are overweight or obese. The prevalence of obesity in the U.S. more than doubled from 15% to 34% among adults and more than tripled from 5% to 18% among children and adolescents from 1980 to now. (Brunilda Nazario). These facts should startle you and quite frankly shock and scare you! It is estimated by the year 2020 obesity will be the single biggest killer on the planet. (World Health Organization) Obesity has become a dangerous epidemic facing our country. As children, teen and adult obesity rates have risen dramatically, so has the number of diet, exercise and health programs. The question is which diets and exercise programs work, and which ones don’t. Educating our country about how to become healthier through different programs and lifestyles is an important step in fixing this serious problem.
Fed up is a film that critically explores how obesity is a worldwide epidemic that is a struggle for some families to overcome.
“Fed up” is a good documentary to make people to think more about the eating food and to take more about eating responsibility for our health. Because, we are in the obesity epidemic which causes many diseases and threatens our health.
Health is wealth; a phrase someone recently texted me, since I was moving like an energizer bunny. Unless it’s medically related, our health is our responsibility; however, obesity can be created by a number of reasons and linked to social factors; such as, “body image, sexism, discrimination, and low self-esteem,” also, obesity can be derived from high-blood pressure and stress (Harvey & Allard, 2015, p. 250). Knowing the high cost of being obese, organizations should establish a counteractive measure that, encourages accountability, inspire health awareness, share advantages and disadvantages; moreover, develop a program similar to the Medicare process, as (Barry, 2012) reported, “pay for some counseling,” on a weekly basis, and instead of
To end obesity, it doesn’t require campaigns, books or videos of the perfect diet and exercise routine. With all this programs to lose weight, is only making people insecure. They become so obsess with losing weight than people ended up hurting themselves. The choice of alimentation is the people’s responsibility not someone else. In the essay “What you eat is your business” Radley Balko. “The best way to alleviate the obesity “public health” crisis is to remove obesity from the realm of public health […] It’s difficult to think of anything more private and of
Nowadays, people are increasing emphasis and concern on their personal health. IHRSA (2013) stated that the health club membership was grew by 10% to around 50.2 million from year 2008-2012 and more than 58 million people went to health club in 2012. Thus, there is a complementary increase in demand for fitness products. But somehow, in U.S., the rates of adult obesity have increased more than doubled to 78.6 million (34.9%) for the past 35 years and obesity rates of children (aged 2-19) remained about the same of 12.7 million (17%) for the past 10 years (CDC, 2014; State of Obesity, 2014). It means that there are millions of people putting their health at considerable risk.
Within recent years obesity has become a major deal in society. Obesity does not only affect people’s physical lifestyles but also people’s mental lifestyles as well. People are beginning to ask why the current generation is struggling with overweight issues so much more than previous generations have struggled with it. Many people who have studied the issue of obesity and improper nutrition have credited the issue to laziness and unhealthy eating styles. The solution to this problem is not as easy as it might seem. One might think that being more active and eating healthier is an easy fix to the problem of obesity; however, the solution is much more complicated.
Rebecca Ramirez, a teacher at United Middle School and a doting mother, has made a momentous difference in her life. Lining her house are grand embellishments: tall pillars, columns, and trophies from her husband’s hunts. Ramirez, who prides herself in having a stringent health regimen, continually impresses her colleagues; she has established firm control over her body, dictating her daily intake of calories—a phenomenal feat. Despite her gains, she used to weigh over one hundred and ninety pounds, nearing two hundred. This state of her life propelled her to make a change for the better, but this not so for many people. Obesity has become a lingering issue not just in the United States, but the world. She was just one of many Americans who, before her weight loss, was obese and unhealthy.