Final paper

Luis Ortiz Professor McCormick 4/10/2010 ENG 101


Obesity is a Major problem in the United States. Many people believe that if you eat healthy and go on great diets that you will slim down and lose a lot of weight. So when people think of diets, they mostly think of the subways diet. Little do they know that subway sandwiches are not that healthy and just by eating any sandwich, doesn’t do you and justice unless you know what you really are eating.
Subway sandwiches are well known and have over 32,682 stores in over 91 countries. Plenty of people go on the subways diet and often come up not losing any weight. It really also depends on what is in the sandwich. Many eat sandwiches packed with processed meats and a lot of sodium. They guess that just by spending money on any type of sandwich, that they will lose weight. If that is what they think is going to happen, they are sadly mistaken.
In 1998, an obese man named Jared Fogle started his subways diet and in about a year, he lost a shocking 245 pounds. When people think of this story, they think all he did was eat the sandwiches and started shedding weight. Many subway advertisements also say that all is needed is to eat and lose weight. Jared did not just eat and lose; he had to endure a vigorous exercise routine everyday for an entire year. He did not go to the gym, but at 425 pounds he pushed himself to walk about 2.5 to 3 miles a day, 7 days a week for a whole year.
Jared is not the only one to lose weight on the subways diet. Another person who lost a good amount of weight is Debra Flinn. Debra lost about 35 pounds and 6 dress sizes in a matter of 66 days. It is known that she lost weight but like Jared, she had to go through an intense journey to lose the pounds. In June 2007 she walked 874 miles and wrote a book about what she did but every time she is mentioned in advertisements, it is never made clear what she had to go through to lose weight, the only thing that is said, is that she lost weight by eating subways everyday for 2 months and lost 35 pounds.
Although Subways sandwiches may seem like the “Best Choice” when it comes to fast food, it actually does more damage than we think. Some subs actually have the same amount of calories as a Big Mac from McDonalds. The typical Subway sandwich has about 500-600 calories with toppings, and the Big Mac sandwich has 560 calories. If someone wanted to eat healthy and go on a diet that actually works, they would not go on the Subways diet because they are basically eating food that is just as unhealthy as food from McDonalds.
Some Subway restaurants actually do not clean and prepare their foods well at all. Illinois is a state where their subways are dirty and they don’t seem to care about the customer’s health. This one state alone has had 3 food poisoning law suits against Subways. There have been different cases of customers eating subs with the bacteria Shigella. This is a genus bacteria that is a major cause of bloody diarrhea and destroys the cells lining the large intestines and if not treated, it can be lethal. From just wanting to eat healthy, a person can actually put their health at risk without even knowing it.
People do not take the time to think how I can possibly lose weight by just eating and no exercise at all. If subways actually cared about the people’s weight and health, they would include in their advertisements that constant exercising is needed when on the subways diet. Also they should add how unhealthy some of the sandwiches really are. Some sandwiches that people have to stay away from are the 6 inch spicy Italian that is loaded with Zesty salami, pepperoni, and different cheeses. This sandwich has a lot of oil, 480 calories, and 25 grams of fat. Another very unhealthy sandwich and possibly the worst choice have to be the 6 inch chicken and bacon ranch which is about 580 calories, 30 grams of fat and 400 mg of sodium.
In 2009, Zagat fast food survey rated subways as the number one overall provider of “Healthy options”, “best service”, and “most popular”. There should not be any popular choice to fast food because any way it is put, fast food is unhealthy that’s why it is fast food. Subways are in the same line of business as McDonalds and Burger King. It is crazy how people prefer to go on a fast food diet instead of eating at home, saving money, and protecting themselves from risks of strokes and heart attacks from the high amounts of calories and sodium that is put in these foods.
All of the subways advertisements show slim people dancing and singing the $5 foot long theme song. None of these people are overweight, and at no time do the commercials mention that exercising is key to lose weight, not eating sandwiches with processed meat and heaps of salt. Instead of going on these kind of diets and wasting more money, people should really spend their money on healthy organic foods and cook at home, which is so much healthier, and cheaper than the other. No diet is successful without exercising, so when dealing with any diet, whether it is the subways diet or home diet, exercising is key to a healthy life.

reflections on research

I learned a lot from researching in this class. I used to think that doing research was boring, time consuming, and useless, but now i have a different view on it. I found that it was a big help to actually take out time and properly look for things. In high school, the teachers would tell us to do research and i would just google key words and just copy and paste, but now i take my time to specifically look up certain things. I am not the perfect researcher, but i definitely have improved over the course. I still have a long way to go to be "perfect" even though there is no such thing but i can just get better. Doing research is a HUGE help.

Revision letter

There were many mistakes on my paper so i understand why i got the grade i got. One mistake that i have to fix is connecting my ideas to one another.Most of my ideas are distant and have nothing to do with the other. Another mistake is i have to back up my points with proof.I believe most of my points are just statements and not backed up. My organization is off and the paragraphs and information is out of place. The paragraphs would make more sense if they were organized better. The last and most important thing that i have to improve, is my research. I don't think i have enough research on the topic. Since citation is another problem that i have which is also linked to research, i have to improve my research to have a full and complete citation.

Topic

My topic is on Subway Sandwiches. Can Subway sandwiches help us lose weight and if so, how? http://www.subwayfreshbuzz.com/
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1328311/the_subway_diet_can_subway_sandwiches.html?cat=51
I really want to know if Jared the subways guy really lost all that weight only eating the sandwiches or if it was something else. I would also like to know if their is any unknown/secret ingredients added into the sandwiches that we are not told of?
If any one has any helpful tips or suggestions, i would be more than glad to listen.

Paper 1

Obesity is a very big problem in America, which we all face every day. Some of us know what is good to eat and others don’t have a clue. Unhealthy food can be accessed everywhere we go, we are practically surrounded. It is has even made its way to our schools. There is no escape, unless you know what is on your plate and what is in it, you can and will put your health at risk.

Unhealthy foods are not only in fast food restaurants, but they are on the streets and are making its way to our schools. There is many schools’s cafeteria that serves a heaping amount of junk food. One would think that these schools don’t care about their students the students’ health. The average school lunch menu consists of more or less the average cheeseburger, pizza, and French fries. There is so much of these foods and absolutely nothing healthy. There should be a menu of vegetables and fruits.

Young children are the ones that are drawn to fast food because of the way it’s portrayed on the media. A lot of the commercials such as McDonalds, Burger King, and many more, are designed especially to lure in the kids. These commercials tend to add attractive colors, animations, and the thing that kids love the most, toys. Not only do the people in the commercials appear happy, they are also all very slim and fit. The daycare's that toddlers stay at should start off the kids lives good with a healthy meal and a lot of fruits and vegetables so that they can get off to a good start.

Colleges aren’t as bad with the food as people would think. The food isn’t the best, but it definitely isn’t the worst. There are some healthy foods such as salads and fruits which actually taste good. People actually eat the healthy foods in college because they are food educated. There are food classes available that aren’t in high school; it is as if the schools want the students to be unhealthy until they reach college. There should be food class in all schools starting from elementary to college.

It is hard to understand why America has such a number of obese people, because it would seem all we have to do is eat healthy but it’s not that easy. If the government really cared, there would be a law passed to not only educate people on how to eat healthy but to also make organic foods cheaper and more affordable. That is a big reason why most people rather eat a cheeseburger rather than a carrot, because the junk food is so cheap while all the organics are really expensive. In the schools, the organic foods should be cheaper than an order of small fries. If the people who are in charge really cared, they would make things better for us and make healthy food cheap and make it easy to access!

my thoughts on Food inc

Watching Food inc. was a big eye opener in my life. I learned so much that i didn't know before, like where the food came from, how it was made, and at what cost it took to make. It was shocking to see that the animals are grown in factories and not on farms, and not only are they raised there, but they are abused and not treated right. It's not even the animals that are being mistreated, it's also the workers. I did not know that most or maybe all of the workers are immigrants, and most are undocumented. It is sad to see to see a person (immigrant or not) doing such a cruel job and not even getting paid or treated the way they should. From getting picked up from where they came from to being sent back and the companies aren't even being punished.

There are so many non organic things that are put into growing our crops, such as antibiotics that are fed to the animals and pesticides and fertilizers, so we are pretty much intaking things that can kill us. We eat a lot of corn since it is pretty much in everything, and we are unaware of all the pesticides that are put on the crops and is unhealthy even for the people that are picking the crops. These corn that can kill, are given to cows in their feed and now even to fish so it can get to us more ways then one. E coli is another thing that is deadly and i did not know that it can possibly kill some one in only 12 days. I did not know that it was less likely for cows to catch and spread e.coli if they ate grass compared to if they ate the corn feed that the factories give them.

The Big time factories figure that ammonia can kill bacteria, so they thought it would be a good idea to put it in the corn that they give to the cows, so in other words, we are eating ammonia which could kill us. It also shocks me that a cheeseburger at mcdonalds can cost 99 cents when a head of broccoli cost at least $2.00. If the government really wants americans to be and eat healthy, then they would make it easier and cheaper to get some healthy food. People see that since it is cheaper and taste better to eat unhealthy, they are going to do so. Now that i see the reality of the food world, i am definitely going to eat better and think differently about things.