In chapter 6 of The Omnivores' Dilemma, Michael Pollan addresses the increase of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and its impact on the American diet and lifestyle. He compares it to when cheap Whiskey was introduced to the public and how it became the drink of choice. Pollan adds that Whiskey was served with every meal and was so frequent that it needed to be sold by the pint at one time. He says that Whiskey was their epidemic. It led to public drunkenness, violence, family abandonment and an increase in alcohol-related diseases. He then continues to say how the surplus of corn forced the producers to find ways to eliminate corn. This led to the production of HFCS. The first time HFCS was introduced to the public was in 1980 and it immediately caught wild fire. Almost all the foods we now eat include HFCS. It supposedly was to take the place of sugar, but it realistically did not. Therefore, the intake of daily sugars rose dramatically. Adding the increase intake of sugars and the technological advances which allow many people to do less physical activity regularly, you get a population of fat, lazy people.
Granted the producers of HFCS are geniuses. The figured out how to engineer foods that by nature we really want to eat. But the fact that we may be the first generation in a while to have the average death age be earlier than our parents is despicable. Think about how many new medicinal and scientific advances we are privy to, and we still are dying early! People need to learn to care for themselves and for their families. Children need to be brought up conscious of all these factors, and they need to be guided to make the correct choices.
Questions
Why do obese people not take the hint and lose weight?
Why are people not afraid when they see advertisements for obesity?
Why do people think they are invincible?
How do you help people around you become conscious of their obesity without making them feel bad, get angry with you and at the same time take you seriously and try and get healthy?
My mom always told me to be an independent women and try new things. She encouraged me to have as many friends as possible and not one best friend. I think this is a lot like what we eat. If we depend on one thing, it is harder for us to branch out and become the well rounded people we have the potential to be. Instead we are bound by the limitations of our one best friend, or one best food-Corn. Live by the rule of friendship and eat by the way of my mother. Make new friends but keep the old ones some are silver, but the other gold. People need to have more options to make more choices
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