Junk Food is not JUNK

As I arrived to my Public Health class this morning, I found myself in a pretty interesting lecture. Professor Virginia Li, a cute petite Chinese women in her 60s came to talk about tobacco and all of the disparities attached to smoking habits. We all know smoking is bad, it is the single most preventable agent of disease in the world. Instead we see that smoking is now prevalent more than ever! Although Henry Waxman and President Obama passed a bill on different policy changes on smoking, we are still exporting tobacco to other countries. If you really think about it we are in charge of several different harmful factors which include: disease, global warming,.. etc. Nevertheless, it is clear that smoking is BAD! Not only for an individual but for the whole world. If we do not control this problem now, we are destined to a horrible outcome for our future generations to come.

So you are probably wondering, how is this related to JUNK FOOD?

Well, as everyone was fidgeting their notebooks into their book-bags to run off, Professor Li with her Chinese accent stopped everyone to make one last important point. "Junk food is not JUNK!" she exclaimed. Most students were astounded and sat to listen what she had to say. Her main argument was that as Americans we are always producing and consuming everything in excess. We don't sit back to realize that what we have in the United States is often taken for granted. "Half of the world is hungry" avidly shouted Professor Li.

I was really impressed by this point, I wanted to get up and just yell AMEN! All of the foods that we eat are all inextricably bound to help produce a healthy body function. When we take advantage of food and let our ego's get in the way, we just add to one of the most problematic epidemics in this day and age.

By and large, from smoking to eating habits our everyday choices influence the ways in which we take charge on how we want to live our lives. If we choose to take the healthy approach we can not only be in charge of our health but the health of greater populations, and even the world.
Here are some interesting quotes by our corrupt tobacco industries
"Within the total market, there are areas of strong growth, particularly in Asia and Africa.…It is an exciting prospect."-- British American Tobacco Internal Document (1990)
"While sports is by far the best avenue to attract, sample, and influence our core target smokers, it is not the only way. International movies and videos also have tremendous appeal to our young adult consumers in Asia." --Philip Morris Internal Document (1990)
"Today’s teenager is tomorrow’s potential regular consumer, and the overwhelming majority of smokers first begin to smoke while still in their teens." --Philip Morris Internal Document (1981)

Take a step back, critically analyze what you do and WHY you do it.

FDS