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Food Changes In America

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Growing up in the early 2000s allowed people to observe drastic changes occurring in the American Food Industry. America is now seeing the repercussions of eating Fast Food daily and what might happen when a person does not maintain a healthy diet as part of their lifestyle. America is now the number one obese country in the world. By the looks of what is happening, America was determined to keep that title. People simply have not taken into consideration that the foods they eat have a direct impact on their body image. The food pyramid has been the first step of many to help show what foods belong where, and how much a person should consume. Even with the food pyramid trying to slow down fast food consumption across America the obesity rate …show more content…

In recent studies, cases observe that “...seven nutrients showed no significant changes, protein declined by six percent; phosphorus, iron, and calcium declined between nine percent and 16 percent; ascorbic acid (a precursor of vitamin C) declined 15 percent, and riboflavin declined 38 percent” (Rich). Now, this is a problem. People are getting less out of their food which is making the body think it is still hungry because it is not getting as many nutrients as it normally would with organically grown crops. This has been caused by changes in farming methods. After World War II, the methods of how people grow crops were changing and trending in a cheaper and resourceful direction, “…agrichemicals allowed farmers to bypass the methods of maintaining soil fertility by replenishing soil organic matter with cover crops, manure, and compost, and of controlling pests with crop rotation and intercropping” (Rich). Meaning, that instead of letting the crops grow organically, some farmers are covering the crop with cow shit. In return, it causes the crop to dry out too rapidly meaning that the food does not have enough time to properly develop the right amount of nutrients. Not getting a healthy serving of nutrition out of the food people eat is like eating nothing at all. The nutrients in the produce people consume are what tell the body a person has eaten an adequate volume in that sitting. “…less-nutrient-dense foods may be partly why we're eating more and more. Phytochemicals contribute to the satisfaction…help trigger satiety. It could even be that the second helping is an instinctive attempt to secure sufficient micronutrients” (Rich). Basically, Americans are obese because people are literally eating food with empty calories that do nothing but make the body feel hungry and less

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