Radley sees David
eating a McDonald's Big Mac.
Radley: It looks like those stupid food labels the government issued haven't been helping.
David: Amen to that. This label isn't even accurate. It doesn't take into account the extra cheese, the super-sized Pepsi, and the large fries I ordered. According to this label, I'm taking in only 500 calories when in reality I'm probably about to consume 1500. They should just place a "hazardous" sticker on this meal if they're not going to show me exactly how many calories I'm eating so that I can count them.
R: Well then, why are you eating that cheeseburger? Don't you care about your health?
D: Of course I do. But look around. Do you see any healthy food joints nearby? Because I sure as hell don't. There is a Taco Bell a block away from here if that's any better. I honestly just don't have a choice but to eat these fatty foods.
R: But I bet you have plenty of healthcare insurance to cover your anti-cholesterol medication don't you?
Radley: It looks like those stupid food labels the government issued haven't been helping.
David: Amen to that. This label isn't even accurate. It doesn't take into account the extra cheese, the super-sized Pepsi, and the large fries I ordered. According to this label, I'm taking in only 500 calories when in reality I'm probably about to consume 1500. They should just place a "hazardous" sticker on this meal if they're not going to show me exactly how many calories I'm eating so that I can count them.
R: Well then, why are you eating that cheeseburger? Don't you care about your health?
D: Of course I do. But look around. Do you see any healthy food joints nearby? Because I sure as hell don't. There is a Taco Bell a block away from here if that's any better. I honestly just don't have a choice but to eat these fatty foods.
R: But I bet you have plenty of healthcare insurance to cover your anti-cholesterol medication don't you?
D: I do. Does that really matter? It is not my fault that I have to eat this;
it is the government's. They should make more of an effort to provide me with
healthier alternatives.
R: If the government didn't entitle you to so much insurance, then maybe you would be more careful in evaluating the health risks of your fast-food gorging. The government should just leave fast-food eaters like yourself to fend for themselves. That way, they will take control of their own health instead of relying on others to do it for them. You better be exercising daily to fight off those Big Macs.
R: If the government didn't entitle you to so much insurance, then maybe you would be more careful in evaluating the health risks of your fast-food gorging. The government should just leave fast-food eaters like yourself to fend for themselves. That way, they will take control of their own health instead of relying on others to do it for them. You better be exercising daily to fight off those Big Macs.
D: I am the editor-in-chief of Men's Health magazine.
I can assure you that my muscles are ripped and my body is healthy. It is clear
to me that we both dislike the government; you dislike it because its
healthcare policies encourage people to become careless when it comes to food
choices while I dislike it because it lacks initiative in regulating the food
industry to offer healthy, convenient food choices.
R: Well, try not to sue McDonald's when you become fat from its food.
D: Someday, you might have the urge to sue McDonald's. They market a product with proven health hazards but no warning labels. There has got to be some kind of law against this.
R: Just be sure to not to put the blame on everyone else when you become obese. The first person you should blame is yourself. Take care.
Thesis:
It is not impossible to maintain a healthy body with a diet consisting of mostly fast-food; at most it would make it harder. Although some American citizens may argue that they are fat and unhealthy because the government does nothing to remedy the dilemma in which some communities have no choice but to eat fast-food and its inhabitants become overweight and unhealthy, I argue that just because such inhabitants have no choice but to eat fast-food does not mean that they have no control over their body composition and health. My argument is backed up by a scientific phenomenon called thermodynamics which supports the fact that body composition is determined by the intake of calories vs. the outtake of calories. Simply put, the body must burn more calories than it consumes in order to lose weight and so it must consume more calories than it burns in order to gain weight. With this rule in mind, a person who has no choice but to eat fatty fast-foods can simply count the calories they consume in order to not gain weight.
For example, the average person whose body naturally burns 2000 calories a day can keep track of the calories he consumes so that it does not go over 2000 in which he would gain fat.
This means this person's diet can be like this: (And he will not gain weight)
Breakfast: 3 McDonald's steaming-hot pancakes with maple syrup 400 calories
1 Large-sized cup of nutritious orange juice 200 calories
R: Well, try not to sue McDonald's when you become fat from its food.
D: Someday, you might have the urge to sue McDonald's. They market a product with proven health hazards but no warning labels. There has got to be some kind of law against this.
R: Just be sure to not to put the blame on everyone else when you become obese. The first person you should blame is yourself. Take care.
Thesis:
It is not impossible to maintain a healthy body with a diet consisting of mostly fast-food; at most it would make it harder. Although some American citizens may argue that they are fat and unhealthy because the government does nothing to remedy the dilemma in which some communities have no choice but to eat fast-food and its inhabitants become overweight and unhealthy, I argue that just because such inhabitants have no choice but to eat fast-food does not mean that they have no control over their body composition and health. My argument is backed up by a scientific phenomenon called thermodynamics which supports the fact that body composition is determined by the intake of calories vs. the outtake of calories. Simply put, the body must burn more calories than it consumes in order to lose weight and so it must consume more calories than it burns in order to gain weight. With this rule in mind, a person who has no choice but to eat fatty fast-foods can simply count the calories they consume in order to not gain weight.
For example, the average person whose body naturally burns 2000 calories a day can keep track of the calories he consumes so that it does not go over 2000 in which he would gain fat.
This means this person's diet can be like this: (And he will not gain weight)
Breakfast: 3 McDonald's steaming-hot pancakes with maple syrup 400 calories
1 Large-sized cup of nutritious orange juice 200 calories
Lunch: 1 giant order
of KFC's crispy, tender popcorn chicken 400 calories
1 McDonald's vitamin-packed salad (just the veggies) 300 calories
Dinner: 3 large Taco Bell tacos loaded with cheese and ground beef 650 calories Total: 1950 calories
In fact, this person would be losing weight from eating such delicious food everyday.
Since it is possible and not unreasonably difficult (I would argue that it is actually easy to do so) for American citizens to be healthy regardless of whether or not they live in a neighborhood with nothing but fast-food joints, they should not blame their obesity on the government.
1 McDonald's vitamin-packed salad (just the veggies) 300 calories
Dinner: 3 large Taco Bell tacos loaded with cheese and ground beef 650 calories Total: 1950 calories
In fact, this person would be losing weight from eating such delicious food everyday.
Since it is possible and not unreasonably difficult (I would argue that it is actually easy to do so) for American citizens to be healthy regardless of whether or not they live in a neighborhood with nothing but fast-food joints, they should not blame their obesity on the government.
Thermodynamic actually makes sense. By consuming and then burning off the calories we need, in theory we should be able to lose weight. However I don't think you can really say just by consuming less (or the same amount) of calories we can burn off we would necessarily be healthy. You should say its not unreasonably hard to stay at a weight that is deemed healthy. I thought it was really considerate of you and was a very effective way of pushing your point across by listing out a sample diet list of fast foods, props to you for that. Back to my point, even though you would be consuming an appropriate amount of calories, it doesn't take into consideration the macros to fit into your diet, sodium intake, chemicals and etc. You may lose weight but you definitely won't be healthy. Let's say your daily calorie intake should be 2000 and let's say you eat 2,100 calories of healthier foods options (vegetables, fruits, leaner proteins, nuts, etc), though you may gain weight,you are certainly healthier than eating 1950 calories of fast food options because you have to take into consideration of preservatives, artificial food coloring, and a whole bunch of stuff that makes you unhealthy, not necessarily obese.
ReplyDeleteSo your argument is 2100 calories of healthier foods options is healthier than 1950 calories of fast-food options.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, thank you for the compliment on my sample diet. I worked really hard to make it sound appetizing.
But I wasn't theorizing that by burning off more calories than we consume we would be able lose weight, I was stating a fact. (I've done a lot of research)
When you said "it doesn't take into consideration the macros to fit into your diet, sodium intake, chemicals and etc." what is "it" referring to?
If you were referring to people that are forced to eat fast-food, then they can be picky about their macros and sodium intake if they want to (Just like how I said they can consider the amount of calories they consume if they don't want to become obese).
I can't argue whether or not your 2100 calorie diet would be healthier than my 1950 calorie diet though, assuming that my diet is filled with a whole bunch of stuff that makes people unhealthy while yours does not. I'm no scientist. However, it looks both diets are unhealthy because yours makes people fat while mine intoxicates them.