Henry B. Virginia

obesity

letter about fats, sugars, and serving sizes

Dear future President,

A few years ago a previous president received a letter from a student who compared America to different types of cookies. In the same way I am going to compare the America, that I live in today, to a jelly doughnut: fat, white, and the laughing stock of the modern world. The amount of overweight adults and children in America today is frightening. The health issues alone amongst these overweight people are tremendous. Not only does being overweight endanger your health but it also can hinder your lifestyle. We live in an an age where everything is easy and done for us, thanks to advanced technologies. I'm not saying technology is bad, but it have reduced the need for us as humans to work.In my ressearch I pulled from sources such as news articles and reserach papers from colleges i have learned that the rising rate of obesity around the US is growing dangerously fast and only you, as president and leader of our country, can take a stand and make America healthier by being a spokesperson to really motivate the people of America.

According to Authority Nutrition: “Added sugar is the single worst ingredient in the modern diet. It provides calories with no added nutrients and can damage your metabolism in the long run. Eating too much sugar is linked to weight gain and various diseases like obesity, type II diabetes and heart disease.” Based on this article, we know that sugar is a large factor in American obesity. I know you as President cannot make people stop eating sugary things, but I was hoping you could raise awareness to the amount of sugar that is in people's everyday diet. In a regular can of soda the average amount of sugar is about forty grams. The average amount we should have a day is 31.25 grams. By consuming soda alongside your other daily meals you will most definitely go over 31.25 grams of sugar.

The bigger a person gets the more they have to eat, pretty simple right? Because of the American people's love of food the food industry inflated the portion size of each meal. Nowadays, you can get a Happy Meal that is five times bigger than it was in the 1950’s. According to insurance quotes: “We see the most dramatic increase in portion sizes and corresponding calorie amounts in fast food, including movie popcorn, which has increased over the same 20-year period from equaling five cups and 270 calories to a whopping 11 cups and 630 calories. Fast food portion sizes, including cheeseburgers and fries, are two to five times larger than when they were first introduced.” Because of the size increase you can only expect an increase in ingredients, that means more sugars, more trans fats, and more weight gain. To help with this problem you could start a movement inside the White House itself. You could possibly make a healthy food week or day where everything served in the white house is very nutritious. You could also set an example for others. You are the leader of this nation and I guarantee there are people out there who want to know what you eat. You could influence these people by eating better.

“Research from the Harvard School of Public Health and elsewhere indicates that trans fats can harm health in even small amounts: for every 2% of calories from trans fat consumed daily, the risk of heart disease rises by 23%. Trans fats have no known health benefits and there is no safe level of consumption. Today, these mainly man-made fats are rapidly fading from the food supply.” (health.harvard.edu) According to this quote, you can tell that trans fats are not beneficial to the human body. In most fast food items trans fats are major ingredients. To stop or prevent dangerous amounts of sugar, trans fats, and other harmful things from entering our bodies I would suggest that you, similar to Mrs. Obama, start a campaign against the enormous portion sizes of food in schools and talk about healthier, smarter ways of eating.

Sincerely,

Henry

Works Cited

Kris Gunnars BSc. "How Much Sugar Should You Eat." RSS 20. N.p., 18 Sept. 2016. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.

Publications, Harvard Health. "The Truth about Fats: Harvard Health." Harvard Health. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.