Junk That Junk Food!
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the part of the government that makes sure that food is grown and sold in a safe manner, will soon announce its latest dietary or food guidelines for Americans.
These guidelines, which are updated every five years, recommend that Americans eat less meat and more vegetables, non-fat dairy (milk) products and fruit. The USDA hopes that the guidelines will encourage Americans to choose healthier food over unhealthy things like burgers, sodas and sweetened fruit juices, fat-filled junk foods like potato chips and chocolate chip cookies.
It also hopes that Americans will reduce the size of their food portions, which have skyrocketed over the years. To give you an example, a chocolate cookie in 1996 was 700 percent larger than recommended USDA serving! You can only imagine how much larger cookies are today.
If Americans follow the latest guidelines, they will eat more whole grains, fiber, vitamins and minerals in their diet, and less of foods that result in obesity, which can lead to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and even cancer. Obesity is defined as extra weight a person carries due to uncontrolled, unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercise.
Facts To Chew On
By the end of 2010, almost half of the children in North and South America are expected to be overweight (weigh more than the average for a certain age and gender), and out of this, 15 percent will be obese (have very high body fat).
The World Health Organization (WHO) calls this "Globesity" or global obesity. It is not only affecting developed nations like United States or Europe, but also developing nations in Asia, Latin America, North Africa, Pacific islands and more. According to WHO, around 20 million children under the age of five were overweight around the world in 2005. They expect that by 2015, approximately 2.3 billion adults will be overweight, and more than 700 million will be obese.
So, the next time you reach for extra helping of cookies or chips, think twice!
The New Pyramid
Here is a fun and interactive way of learning about foods and how they help our bodies. You can take part in a quiz after and test your knowledge as well! Check out - The Food Pyramid.
I love fruit, but junk food is so much more tempting.
my family always eats healthy stuff.
i eat a ton. weight gained... 0 lbs!!!
I eat a ton! I can't gain a pound!
You're so LUCKY!
I eat junk food...
BUT...
I can get any weight!
Maybe i am just weird...
Well sometimes kids obese is because their parents yell at them or something then they think food is the only thing that can comfort them. I only go to McDonald's every Sunday during the summer. I excersise off though. Go vegetarians and omnivores.
garden girl I relate to you.I am a vegatarian to.It seems that so many people are obese. I think it should be a law that no one is allowed to buy 2 boxes of really unhealthy stuff.
the schools tell our parents that we r eating healthy ( but i still love my school it is awesome!!!!!) but today, i had greasy pizza, a brownie, a banana, and a ice cream. At least i had the banana! I love my school, but wish for more fruit! especially honey dew!
I'm a vegetarian :)
me too! :)
I wish our school lunches were healthier because they are so unhealthy and greasy
POOP
I heard that McDonalds hamburger meat is made of cow.. everything!?
I like junk food. Why do they have so much fat and carbs.
I know right? They should be without sugar or calories!
I agree
Candy,chips,and sodas are all examples of delicious foods but they are filled with artificial sugars. Artificial sugars are really bad for health. But it would be really hard for people to completely refrain from eating junk food, so i would say that someone could eat really healthy 6 out of the 7 days and maybe on the 7th day they could treat themselves with a one of their favorite treats!
that's all good but fattening
Broccoli tastes good. It's just that people don't know how to eat it so it does taste good. And salad too, people think having salad without dressing is good. If you make homemade dressing it helps with digesting.
wow all those obese people walking around imagine it! I'm so glad I eat healthy
all the best things in life are bad for u... :(
it's scary, I'm a little over weight, but not much. I'm eating half of what I used to and exercising way more that I used to. and I'm STILL over weight. it just goes to show how eating junk food is really bad for you.
Hm ok thats pretty easy to do. I mean, my family and I already never go to fast food places such as McDonald's,Burger King or any of those dumb ol' places!
easy we never eat out and always eat salad it's starting to get disgusting!Although I love junk when I get the chance to eat it. ha,ha. i'm glad i'm not fat!
Try the junk once in 3 months. Stay away from junk as much as possible and junk the junk so that the junk doesn't get into you. If you have all the junk, you'll become obese and don't say you weren't warned about the junk!!
it's too bad that there's so many obese kids in the us. Some of it probably comes from junky school cafeteria food though!
At least 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day!!!
Good stuff ! My dad's a health freak (in a good way) so I was raised to love my workouts and veggies . Hopefully America will turn into more than fat people with a love of mcdonalds .
(btw, replace mcdonalds with five-guys ! much healthier AND tastes better^^)
But...but I love junk food!
Just kidding! But I still love my vegetables, even the broccoli.:D
I think I'm good except for my addiction to soda:)
Don't eat McDonald's everyday and you shouldn't have to worry too much.
i agree mcdonalds is one of the worst "resturants" in the world because of the fat and those apples they have doesnt make it that healthy.
I have a homeschool gym class twice a week, and a karate class once a week, but i probably could improve my eating habits. I'm normal in weight, so hopefully I'll stay that way. :)
Exercise people!!
Wow :D I say yes to the veggies; thats only half of it though, plastics are pretty bad for your body because they "encourage" it to store fats, and artificial food colorings can cause cancer (especially red and blue)
EAT HEALTHY KIDS! STAY IN SHAPE! EXERCISE!
Cant stay for long! got to run