Biology in Action

Weight loss has been a New Year’s Resolution for many people, for many decades. Each year, a new product or diet procedure promises to help you loose weight and loose it fast. Whether it be counting calories or being on a strict food schedule, the goal remains the same – loose weight. New York, Los Angelas, and Washington have all made laws or regulations stating certain food chains must provide calorie content along side the specified food on the menu. This new procedure has scared customers, drawn customers away, or persuaded them to choose something of a lower calorie content. Some resturants have even made portions smaller to lower the amount of calories, yet kept the price the same. Two proposals have been brought to Congress to help those resolutioners keep their promise: The Labeling Education and Nutrition Act and The Menu Education and Labeling Act.
This article was of interest to me partially because of the new lab assignment and also because obesity is a problem in our country. The main idea of the article was that no matter how much people want to loose weight with fancy products or pills, the way a person looses weight is always the same – they must consume less calories. By counting the calories in and calories out – a person can achieve this goal. The first weight loss book (1918) was mentioned in this article and the author’s prescription for weight loss: Eat in 100 calorie portions and no more than 1,200 a day. Just another way to loose weight.

The obsession over calories in the United States is drastic, but for good reason because United States is becoming populated with more and more obsese people. The reasons for obesity vary, but the trend in fast food eating may play a huge role. I found the article interesting because I work in New York, and see many cafe places selling healthy, smaller portions and the prices tended to increase rather than decrease for these items. This is a problem for people who want to lose weight but also want to save money. They’re going to go for the unhealthy, non-organic food before they go for the smaller-portioned but overpriced organic or healthy meal because they’re saving more and getting more.

America has definitely become an obese society and I think more people should count calories to change this. It makes for healthier people overall. It is hard for college students, because like you said, there is the cafe and that is nearly impossible to do. With putting calories on menus in restaurants I think it forces people to think twice about what they order because eating at restaurants is everyones excuse to not care how many calories they eat, even for the regular calorie counters. This is an interesting topic and I liked a lot of the points you made.

I agree with this article because it shows the importance of checking out calorie intake everyday. As mentioned sometimes it is harder to keep count of calories because some things we eat and drink do not have anything listed, but the fact is we have to have an idea of it. I never looked at my calorie count that much until I gained some weight. When I realized this, I watched more often but yet I also realize that most of the time we are never going to reach that 2000 calorie per day mark and the other thing is that eating and drinking in moderation such as having ice cream a couple of times during the summer or going out to eat at a restaurant once in a while will also help keep out calorie intake down.

This was a good article to use in order to include our present topics in class. Like many others, I also count my calories and I agree that the changes being made will benefit a lot of people, like ourselves. However, I agree completely with your last point. Are the people who really truly need these changes, going to take advantage of them. Many of the problems of obesity in America is not only bad eating habits, it is also laziness. The people who really NEED to count their calories, are usually the ones who do not bother, while many people who could afford a snack every once in a while, are dieting and watching what they eat. Even though the menus are being revised and there’s now a low calorie side of the Dunkin Donuts menu, does not mean that the bad side is no longer there. The option for a Big Mac will always remain, and therefore, I believe, so will obesity.

Over the summer I studied abroad in Ireland, and I finally saw how much a government can help the fight against obesity. Recently NY passed a law saying that restaurants have to post calorie counts on menus, making customers aware of exactly what they are putting in their mouths. In Dublin, calorie counts were posted everywhere, and they use different frying oils in most chains (like McDonalds and Burger King) to make them a little bit healthier. Baby steps will make us a healthier country!

Americans are diet crazed. Every day there is a new diet plan out that promises customers that they will loose weight if they use their product. The bottom line is just that people need to eat healthier. When dinning out, people do not realize how many calories and fat they are taking in. Statistics say that you intake 3 times the amount of carolies and fat when you dine out rather than eat at home. The fact that some restaurants and fast food places are now exposing calorie intake is a great to step to helping people realize what they are eating. A few months ago I went into a starbucks in NYC that showed the amount of calories in every drink. One glance will stop you from getting the double chocolatey chip frappuccino at 510 calories…just for a drink. I used to work at pizza hut in high school and we had a booklet containing the nutritional information but no one ever really saw it. I calculated the calorie intake of a customer one night and it reached 2,500 calories when you’re supposed to consume around 2,000 daily. One meal dining out exceeded that. Calories do count and for the sake of our country’s health, people need to acknowledge it.

Having a fast matabolism and wanting to gain weight, I never have gotten overly obsessive about sounting calories. I feel it messes with peoples heads and they can’t lose any weight. But the truth is, there is a problem with obesity in our country and fastfood and other foods have a lot to do with it. Being a college student doesnt help because we ahve Nathan’s and the cafe right on campus. We should have different food places rather than a greasy Nathans.