Food isn't always what it seems to be

            Health issues are very common in today’s community. There is obesity, low blood sugar, high blood sugar, diabetes, high cholesterol, and many more. We wonder why we look the way we do and suffer from all of these medical issues, when it’s really all about our diets. We spend so much time on “perfecting” ourselves but we are never really happy with the result. Food is something so common, and it is a life necessity, but it can also be lethal. After reading Chew on this, by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson, I realized how unhealthy our life styles really are. Humans are power hungry and will do almost anything for money, even if it means promoting one of the most dangerous fields of food, fast food. The choices we make affect our lives every day. The food we eat can make us healthier or it can slowly kill us. Lastly, fast food isn’t always an option but a necessity. Some families find it less expensive to buy a burger and fries then it is to pay for real healthy food. Over all, the choices we make about food are some of the most dangerous choices we will ever make in our lives.

            It’s sickening to know what people will do to move up on the power line. Money is a key aspect to power and the want to have more of it can take over a person’s life.  The McDonald brothers weren’t planning to go as far as they have come today, but they were just thinking about a quick fix meal that is on the go and is inexpensive. Then people invested in the company and it grew out of control. There were McDonalds everywhere and it has become an almost unstoppable force. The reaped growing rate of fast food places is something that the creators knew was inevitable and that was what drew them to the idea of fast food chains. While doing this, not only did they shut down multiple restaurants, but they also lit the fuse to the bomb that is fast food. People consumed more and more until BOOM they were everywhere. This pleased the consumers. It was a cheap and quick food fix   but it would latter coast them on their medical bills. The leaders of fast food corporations know that the products they use are just barley passing health regulations but continued to use them because it made the food, such as a hamburger, really worth a dollar. This method of saving money led/leads to many health issues and is something that can be avoided but isn’t due to the greed of the Corporations that run fast food restaurants.  

Food is an everyday thing. We eat when we’re hungry, when we’re board, when we just feel like chewing something, and when we crave a particular food. Big corporations use our eating habits to their benefit. They design food to fill every kind of food consumption reason there is. If you’re hungry, they have meals. If your board, they have fun to play with food that will distract you and make you feel hungry. If you feel like chewing something, they make tasty treats that seem to fill your chewing need. Lastly, if you’re craving something, they will advertise it to you and make the craving so bad, that you must go around the corner to buy one. After eating their product you feel like your craving has been fulfilled, but soon you are back for more. By eating fast food, you are putting your health at risk. Companies portray food as healthy, good for you products, when you are eating a bunch or garbage. If people ate home cooked food more often, and bought real food from stores and eat the occasional vegetable, we would all be happier and healthier. With these simple changes, you can prolong your life span and live a better life.

Today, our economy is at an unsteady up and down spiral. Some families can afford to buy real food so fast food is the answer to their problems. It’s inexpensive, tastes relatively good and it fills you up. To many people this is an everyday practice out of choice but others don’t have the option of eating steak with mashed potatoes and a salad on the side. McDonalds can the only available food source for a family because the prices are rising. After this economic stress passes, more people will eat healthier food and there will be less obesity, high cholesterol, low blood sugar, and high blood sugar. Eating habits aren’t only because someone wants them, but they are forced upon them. Healthy choices aren’t always an option so. Soon enough, the economy will be regular again and we can all lead healthier life styles.

Food is a dangerous part of life. It can either heal us, or harm us. We have to be careful while choosing what to eat and when to eat. If we all manage to avoid being sucked into the hypnotizing ads of fast food, maybe one day we won’t need them, but I highly doubt that. Eating good food isn’t always an option. We need to work towards making the healthy food an option instead of removing the option from many families. Simple price cuts may seem to do more harm than good, but it means that families have one more healthy meal.

Are we really who we think we are?

After reading Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac, by Gabrielle Zevin, i realized how people are really who they portray themselves to be. Naomi, the main character, takes a bad fall and losses her memory. When she goes back to school, she realizes that she isn't the person that she thought she used to be. People either try to hard to be someone they want to be, or hide from people and don't open up to others because they are afraid. Whenever i hang out with my friends, i act in an almost unrecognizable way then you would know me to act in class. I  wonder how we would act if we were given a chance to start over. I wonder what lies beneath the exterior of people and the show they put on that they claim to be their lives. I think, for the most part, that people are intimidated by others, and the intimidating people use this to their own benefit.

Some people think of life in a way that is unrealistic, but get so caught up in their fantasy, that they end up living through it. Naomi went to school only to realize that she was living the life of someone she didn't know. She was popular, but she didn't want to be. She was stuck with a boyfriend that didn't understand her and she realized that she was only with him because he was popular. I think we all portray are selves as people who we don't know. Naomi was the popular boys girlfriend who would do anything to improve her social life. After her accident, she came back and wasn't what anyone expected. She didn't like the people who she was stuck around with, and she mainly didn't like the fake life she was living. I wonder if we all had a head injuries and came back to school, would we be who we are today? Would we act the same and hang out with the same people? I honestly don't think we would act the same. We would show are selves for who we really are, and no we wouldn't act the same because we wouldn't know how we were supposed to act. I'm sure, besides the few true friends we have, that the people we would hang around would be different. It's a sad realization to know that your living in a lie that you created, and even though you may say you aren't, that isn't possible, because everyone is. That's one of the biggest problems with our world, we give people a choice, to be loud and popular, or to stay low and quiet.

I wonder what people are really like. Even from the day we were born, our lives have been influenced by others. Our choices are affected by the reputations that we make for our selves. Would a popular girl go out with a low key boy or a popular boy, or vice versa? Some people may seem original but it's just an act. Someone may seem like a happy person, but underneath that jolly smile, there could be a seriously depressed person. Some people say that they have no talent, but we all do. Acting is something we do every day. We each have roles with lines that only our characters would say. Our lives are like TV shows. People only recognize acting when people use it intentionally, but it isn't anything special. Nothing more then a daily practice, like eating breakfast. The brave take the roles of the popular people and leave all the other parts for the rest of us. Popular people are intimidating. That's just how the system works. They have power over us. Because we fear them, they can do anything, anywhere, to anyone. It's kind of funny. We are like two different species. One is the predator(the popular people) and the other is the pray(the regular people).

I wonder what it would be like to be able to start over. Through out life, we are given three chances to be someone knew. Every time we graduate, we have the chance to change, but for the most part we just see what happens. When i was in elementary school, i was in the limbo group(between popular and not). I was close friends with many people but i wasn't all the way up there, only a few of us were. I was happy being friends with a lot of people. At that time i was a part of the Plastic Bag Players. A group that may friends and i had started and we would preform plays for fun. Then we all went on to middle school and became new people. Suddenly, there wasn't an instant comfort in being around your class mates and we were all young and waiting for someone to take charge as the popular one. We lost friends and gained friends, but we the biggest change was in our portrayed selves. I wasn't part of any kind of group and i guess you could say that i was one of the nobodies, but i liked it that way. There wasn't any kind of expectation to fill. It seemed a lot more simple, but even being to strange girl in the class, i still wasn't who i truly am today, and used to be. No matter how small the role you think your playing is, it doesn't come close to who you really are.

Today, i guess you could say I'm not the type of person who would be loud and fun to be around. I suppose that from a class mates view, that may be true. I am the good student who participates and does her work only because she is slightly afraid of teachers (think about it, they have complete power over you. if you don't do your home work, you can get a bad grade, which means your high school might turn you away, which means your going to get a bad education and then you wont be able to get a good job, then you will be broke and live off of your parents and never met the love of your life because you are to focused on finding a job, and then you will die alone, broke , and living in your parents basement=(...i know that is a little over the top and all, but that is what i feel could happen so....TRY HARD IN SCHOOL and you wont die)  and she loves to learn. But I'm really, ask Molly Carly and Pia, an adrenaline weirdo. I'm really loud and I'm very active and daring. I say HI to random people on the street and I'm very loud...and fun... This is who i think i am and i know that i act differently around other people and i have accepted that. The realization that you really aren't who you think you are is shocking and scary, but realistic. I know who i really am, but who are you?