FOOD PRODUCT DESIGN

Eating healthy and delicious food has always been among the greatest pleasures of mankind. Although healthy foods may not be available for every person, eating even the simplest food has always brought people satisfaction from hunger. It is well known that eating food is not only about tasting different products, but also essential in getting energy to continue living and performing day to day activities. Unfortunately, recently consumption of food has started not only providing people with low amount of energy, but it has become dangerous as well. Food safety is one of the fundamental disciplines of human science in the society today. This is because it addresses potential health dangers that lead to illnesses. Some of the risky routines include poor preparation, handling and storage of food. Consumption of unhealthy, irrelevant or bulky foods often leads to problems and illnesses which consequently affect human life.

Health experts consider fast foods as one of the most dangerous things in the modern world. However, millions of people eat it every day in great amounts. As a consequence, they damage their health incredibly and gain excess weight, which makes the problem more complicated. A researcher named Morgan Spurlock decided to check this theory through an experiment. For a month, he ate in McDonald’s chain of restaurants only. The results of the experiments were predictable. He gained more than 11 kilos of weight, his cholesterol level raised up to 230. Spurlock started having continuous mood swings, sexual dysfunction, and accumulation of fat in the liver. Later it took him more than a year to lose the weight and deal with his health problems (Spurlock, 2004).

One documentary known as Food Inc, highlights the dangers of food. The storyline proves the fact that food has really become source of dangerous elements and substances which, when entering human body, causes significant damage that might lead to death. The author of the movie, Eric Schlosser, demonstrates how the animals and birds are grown on the farm. They are given special food to grow faster. Since they develop twice faster than they used to, farms become enabled to gain higher profits. However, not everyone’s immune system is able to resist the problems of eating such food. An example shown in the movie demonstrates a healthy child eating a burger. The kid was completely healthy and in two weeks he got kidney failure. Since the harm brought by the food was enormous, the child died (Schlosser, 2012).

In reality, it is not difficult to get rid of the habit. There is no use to reject all fast food intakes at once because that might be a stress for the body. However, it would be both healthy and interesting to try different foods from the market. There are numerous opportunities to make consumption of healthy food really interesting. This is by cooking fresh vegetables from the garden.

There can be no doubt that such approach might become a habit and later lead to one avoiding fast food consumptions. What is more important is that following such changes on eating styles, people are likely to feel better. After following it some time they just do not want to come back to usual fast food because their health is improved, they feel more energetic, and they look much better (Winter, 2009).

Namita Nanal a nutritionist states that everyone loves to use mouth watering food that promises to please their taste buds. On the other hand, these people using mouth watering food do not realize the havoc caused by the junk food in the body other than addition of excess weight (Mukherjee, 2012). In the current world, eating junk food is becoming a popular act among people and the food is accessed easily. Decreased immunity, lethargy and obesity are diseases affecting human life therefore leading to depression among them.

The Public health Nutrition journal specifies that person’s eating fried foods like the pizzas, hotdogs and burgers may be at risk of experiencing depression (Mukherjee, 2012). These junk foods have a lot of unhealthy fats, salt and Trans fats that are enormously dangerous to our bodies. The junk foods are pro-inflammatory and cause weight increase, mood swings and depression. In order to reduce mood swings and depression, anti-inflammatory diet was used. For the brain to work properly, one need to consume and take balanced diet and foods that have in excess salt, sugar and additives such as fats.

The hospital food served to the dying and sick patients is completely lacking enzymes, minerals, probiotics, vitamins and other nutrients that are important and promote health status of a patient. The food mostly used in hospitals is mainly loaded with poisonous chemicals and processed highly. This puts a patient at a threat of developing infections and illnesses (Huff, 2012). Some hospitals have started to avoid McDonald’s and begun to purchase clean and local food in serving their patients. On the other hand, other hospitals lack nutritional department and these is affecting the patients.

In conclusion, the majority of food problems are linked with food safety. Current methods used in food production have led to new fangled environmental exposures to endocrine and carcinogens compounds that are disrupting. Our ancestors were living properly and had good health. This is because they did not use food that had chemicals. On the other hand, they implemented good cooking practices and healthy diets that did not expose them to toxic hazards. In addition, the containers used currently in storing foods leach poisonous chemicals like styrene, vinyl chloride and BPA. These chemicals are not good for human health. Some individuals do not want to change their habits, while others are not able to resist tasting fast food again and again.

References

Huff, A. E. (2012). Many U.S. hospitals, including children’s hospitals, continue to serve McDonald’s fast food in their cafeterias. Natural News.com. Retrieved November 10, 2012, from http://www.naturalnews.com/035675_hospitals_mcdonalds_fast_food.html

Mukherjee, M. (2012). Junk food can make you depressed. The Times Of India. Retrieved November 10, 2012, from http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-08-25/diet/33367698_1_junk-food-public-health-nutrition-mood-swings

Winter, J. (2009). Watch This Doc: Food, Inc. Retrieved November 10, 2012, from http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/The-Food-Inc-Documentary

Schlosser, E. (2012). Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Spurlock, M. (2004). Super size me: a film of epic portions (motion picture). Canada: Kathbur pictures.