Fast Food

We went to a lecture last night by Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation.

Eric Schlosser is an interesting speaker. He is witty. The question and answer section went well.

Since Indiana ranks fourth highest in childhood obesity, his focus was on the impact fast food and advertising makes on children. I would have preferred to hear about the meatpacking industry and immigration, but it was still very interesting.

He spoke about MRI scans being used to test target brand advertising in children. Certain parts of the children's brains lit up when they viewed pictures of specific brand names.

He also spoke about targeting pre-verbal babies, how Ray Kroc modeled, if not competed against Disney....Playland - Disneyland, characters so connected you must have them all as collectibles, the happiness associated with Disney packaged as a Happy Meal.

Kroc was a ruthless entrepreneur. He once said if he saw his competitor was drowning, he'd come over and push a hose in his mouth.

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He also spoke about some things I've been thinking about. He said that the change in American diet has only happened, and become damaging, over the last thirty-five years. My generation really is the first to eat the majority of meals from cartons and freezers. Is it too late to teach the next generation how to improve its diet?

He said he thought ignorance was the reason most people continue to eat fast food and make unhealthy choices, which is why he writes and lectures. I disagreed. I know that many people haven't research food and additives to the extent some of my friends and I have, but I think most people know fast food isn't healthy. Overworked, unpaid, under the assumption that it is cheaper to fix a $2 box of mac-n-cheese for their children than it is to cook beans and rice. I think time is an issue, but that really opens up the field to why we work so much, for so little.

I noticed a dramatic difference in my energy levels, moods, mental state, when I switched to a healthier diet. I wanted to cook. I was excited about cooking and growing my own food. But you have to get out of that cycle.

Some statistics:

1 out of 3 children in the US will develop typeII diabetes.
1 out of 2 African-American children will develop typeII diabetes.
28 tsp of sugar in a supersize soda
52 tsp of sugar in a big gulp

Countries which have allowed fast food chains in the last thirty years have also seen an increase in obesity and typeII diabetes.