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Character Analysis
Chilli eaters are brave and adventurous; they like to shock but they get bored and restless very easily.
Sweet-eaters are easy-going and sociable but they lack confidence. They are kind and sympathetic but not always reliable.
Hungry eaters are hard-working and generous; they aren’t ambitious and hate changes of any sort. They worry about the future.
Picky eaters are artistic and sensitive but they lose their tempers easily. They set themselves very high standards and don’t like to fail.
Land of the fattest
According to WHO (World Health Organization), Americans are the fattest people in the world. 55% of women and 63% of men over 25 are overweight or obese. (Doctors say that you are obese if you weigh at least 30% above ideal body weight.)
"Compared to Europeans, Americans eat all the time," writes Joanna Coles, a British correspondent for The Guardian. "At the hairdressers, in their cars, during college lectures, while waiting in hospital and at the cinema, where they arrive clutching monster buckets of pop-corn, Doberman sized hot-dogs and containers (!) of diet Pepsi."
The epidemic is spreading
Though America is the world leader in obesity, Europe is quickly catching up. According to WHO, almost one-third of people living in the European Union are now overweight and one in 10 is obese.
Britain has replaced Germany as Europe's most overweight nation! 20% of women and 17% of men are obese. And the English are fatter than the Scots or Welsh.
Russia, the Czech Republic and Finland also have some of the heaviest people in Europe.
Even in such countries as France, Italy and Sweden, Europe's slimmest nations, people (especially women) are becoming fatter.
Among the French, Italians and Swedish, who are considered to be Europe's slimmest nations, the number of overweight people is dramatically rising.
What does obese mean?
The word obesity means being so overweight that it's bad for your health. Doctors work out if a person is obese by looking at how tall they are and how much they weigh.
Why is it a problem?
One in 25 children are now classed as being obese. With about one in ten kids already overweight, doctors are really worried about how this might affect children's health when they're older.
Being obese can be very dangerous to your health and doctors say that if you're overweight as a child you're likely to be overweight as an adult. It's linked to heart disease, cancer, strokes, high blood pressure and weak bones. It can also lead to emotional problems like being bullied and feeling down. We can speak about physical and emotional risks. Depression is the most common emotional effect of obesity in kids. Several studies indicate that prejudice against obese people starts as early as 3 to 5 years old. This means before obese kids reach kindergarten, they're often called names, have difficulty making friends, are excluded from activities and are picked last for teams. Such an environment of rejection typically adds to weight gain because it discourages active involvement in athletics and encourages alone-time activities, such as watching television, playing video games or using the Internet.
Fat facts
How do you become obese?
Food is a fuel and everyone needs to eat to get energy. But you have to look at what's in your food. All food and drink except water contains calories. If you eat more calories that you need then those calories aren't used the body stores it as fat. If you eat loads of extra calories, like a big chocolate bar, you should try and do some exercise to wear off that energy before it turns to fat.
How do kids become obese?
Regardless of age, you gain excess weight when the amount of calories coming in equals more than the amount of calories burned. But obesity is not that simple. Obesity is a complex disease. Weight gain is affected by a variety of factors in addition to caloric intake. Such factors may include:
Genetics. Children with overweight parents are more likely to be overweight.
Metabolism. A fast metabolism burns calories quicker than a slow metabolism. Exercise is the main factor that affects metabolism. Although rare, medical conditions you have and medications that you take also may cause changes. To some extent, how much you eat, when you eat and when you skip meals also may affect your metabolism.
Environment. Genetics and metabolism often set the groundwork for a person to become obese, and then environment is the determining factor. Some examples include:
The "clean your plate" mentality, which can encourage kids to eat more than necessary.
Only 25 percent of school-aged children take physical education courses, meaning that fewer and fewer kids exercise during the school day.
Physically inactive families also contribute to developing an inactive lifestyle. Kids don't have a lot of good fitness-minded role models — less than 50 percent of Americans exercise 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. It's hard to be motivated without inspiration.
Why is it happening?
We live in the era of fast food culture. We are always in a hurry. We have no time to relax and enjoy a meal. We want to eat now and we want to eat fast.
Every day a new McDonald's restaurant opens somewhere on our planet. Soon American food will take over the whole world.
The major causes seem to be inactivity and eating fatty foods. We've got remote controls, game consoles, ready meals and telly - all of which means that we don't exercise and we don't eat very well. We're putting on weight because we eat a lot more calories but we don't do as much exercise as we used to. Also, experts say portion sizes have got bigger, fast food is available everywhere and kids are encouraged to buy high fat and high sugar products advertised by celebs.
One of the major reasons is lack of exercise. We are a nation of coach potatoes. We spend too much time in front of our computers and TV-sets. We walk less, because we prefer to use cars or public transport. Yes, many people nowadays are exercise crazy, they spend hours in gyms — and then they rush to have a good snack!
Put down this packet of chips and listen up! Is being overweight harmful?
What is tasty is not always healthy.
Doctors say that chips and pizzas are fattening, Coca-Cola spoils our teeth, coffee shortens our lives.
The heavier you are, the greater your risk of becoming ill. Did you realise that being overweight increases your risk of suffering from heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure, stroke and some types of cancer? If that isn't enough of an incentive to reach a healthy weight, what about benefits like increased energy, more confidence and being able to wear whatever you like?
There is a danger hanging over your life!
If you are young and fit, don't think that this doesn't concern you. Teenagers, too, are getting fatter. Obesity rates in teens, according to experts, are doubling!
Surveys show that the favourite foods among teenagers both in Europe and the USA are:
humburgers (cheeseburgers, fishburgers, beefburgers, eggburgers... in fact anythingburgers!)
chips (they are called French fries in America)
hot dogs
pizzas
ice-cream
Besides, teenagers in Britain, for example, spend 27 hours a week watching TV, and nobody knows how much time they sit in front of their computers.
What will today's teenagers look like when they grow up? Imagine yourself as a lazy, fat old man or woman with eyes glued to the TV screen, hands digging down in a packet of chips, munch-munch, staring at the glaring pictures. A real nightmare! As one of our teenage readers said: "No! Better die in a war, be kidnapped by terrorists or disappear as a hero climber of the Himalayas."
But this is the danger hanging over your life!
What is a Healthy Weight?
A healthy weight has a very positive effect on our wellbeing and health. Being overweight - or underweight - can cause a wide range of medical problems. Fortunately, most of these problems can be sorted out by losing or gaining weight.
There is not an ideal weight that suits everybody. Each person has a different body and their healthy weight will be determined by different factors, such as genes, food and physical activity amongst others.
Losing weight can be as challenging and difficult as keeping an ideal healthy weight. However, this can be achieved and its positive effects will be immediately noticed.
If You're Overweight
It seems like the problems associated with being overweight or obese are never out of the headlines and maybe it's because of this that we take the warnings with a pinch of salt.
What's being done about the problem?
Experts say you should enjoy your food but be careful about what you eat and remember to keep active.
The government is trying to work out how to let you know what's in your food.
They may decide that food like burgers and chips should be served up with a warning that you should balance your meal with exercise - just like cigarettes have health warnings on them.
Pop stars and sport stars may be banned from advertising fast food and high fat, high sugar snacks and drinks.
And some vending machines in schools have already been emptied and replaced with healthier options.
Cooking lessons could also be included in your day, to help you learn how to prepare food that's good for you.
S VS 2000s
1) Thirty years ago you'd be likely to start your day with a bowl of cornflakes with full fat milk and a piece of toast
2) But these days if you bother at all with breakfast you're more likely to eat sugary cereal with semi-skimmed milk and orange juice, or snack on chocolate on the way to school
3) And while children used to walk to school, these days parents just want to make sure you get there safely, so you're more likely to go by car, meaning you're less active
4) In the 1970s lunch in the school canteen would be Shepherd's pie, mashed potato, carrots and peas with rice pudding. Now you're more likely to be tucking into higher fat pizza and chips.
5) These days you get loads of homework to do, where as 30 years ago you might have taken the dog for walk or played with your mates, which could burn off 450 calories an hour
6) A typical kid's evening meal in the 1970s was a round of sandwiches with meat paste and cucumber, some cake or a piece of fruit and a cup of tea, which was about 510 calories
7) Whereas now you're quite likely to tuck into a ready meal like lasagne, garlic bread, chocolate biscuits and a glass of milk - a total of 766 calories
8) And now that half of you have a TV or computer console in your bedroom, you're likely to settle down to watch 4 hours of TV after supper
2. Vocabulary File:
| hot, spicy food | to try foreign specialities |
| obese/ obesity | to have room in one’s stomach |
| an environment of rejection | to be overweight / underweight /to weigh |
| weight gain/weight loss | the world leader in obesity |
| caloric intake | to be bullied |
| metabolism | to call names |
| inactivity | to gain/to lose weight |
| a coach potato | to skip a meal/meals |
| an incentive | to feel down |
| a pinch of salt |
3. Answer the following questions:
1. How much food does an average person eat a year?
2. Does food influence not only our bodies but our spirits as well? How?
3. What do your tastes in food and drink reveal about your character?
4. Who are the fattest people in the world?
5. Which country is the world leader in obesity?
6. What does obese mean?
7. Why is obesity a problem? Can being obese be very dangerous to your health?
8. How do you become obese?
9. Which factors is weight gain affected by?
10. What is behind the "clean your plate" mentality?
11. Is fast food culture to blame? How?
12. Why are we putting on weight these days?
13. What are obesity rates in teens? What will today's teenagers look like when they grow up?
14. What is a healthy weight?
15. Why are the problems associated with being overweight or obese never out of the headlines?
16. What's being done about the problem?
17. Has anything changed since 1970 as far as the problem of healthy eating is concerned?
4. Comment on the following statements:
1. Childhood obesity is a big problem. Obesity threatens children's lifespan.
2. Blame it on genetics. Blame it on the lack of physical education at school. Blame it on the Internet.
3. In the last 20 years, the number of obese children in the United States has doubled to one in five children. This is the most dramatic increase of obesity in history.
4. Teenagers should be taught about staying healthy, but they must be careful not to go overboard and risk developing an eating disorder.
5. Obesity burden 'outweighs smoking'. More people are now falling ill through their couch potato lifestyle than through smoking. A combination of sedentary lifestyles and fat-laden diets mean that obesity is an increasing problem for Europe.
6. Obesity hits men in the wallet. A study looking at what a group of men spend on medicines has highlighted the toll on health of being overweight. Researchers in the US found that the fatter the men were, the more they spent at the pharmacy. Those who were classified as obese paid around 3.5 times more than their normal weight colleagues.
7. The cost of treating obesity is phenomenal.
8. Some scientists believe that food influences not only our bodies but our spirits as well.
9. What is tasty is not always healthy.
10. There is not an ideal weight that suits everybody.
11. A healthy weight has a very positive effect on our wellbeing and health
12. Losing weight can be as challenging and difficult as keeping an ideal healthy weight. However, this can be achieved and its positive effects will be immediately noticed.
13. The government is trying to work out how to let you know what's in your food.
14. Pop stars and sport stars may be banned from advertising fast food and high fat, high sugar snacks and drinks.
Compare the problems in the U.S.A. and the U.K.
A.
The U.S.A.
Obesity 'becoming top US killer'
By Michael Buchanan
BBC correspondent in Washington
A new study in the United States says obesity is likely to become the country's biggest preventable killer.
The research, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the latest work showing widespread weight gain among Americans of all ages.
"We're just too fat," Health Secretary Tommy Thompson said at the unveiling of the study.
It found that poor diet and lack of exercise caused 400,000 deaths in the US in the year 2000.
That figure represents a 33% jump since 1990.
Fast food 'lifestyle'
If current trends continue, then obesity will shortly overtake smoking as the single biggest cause of preventable deaths in the United States.
Overweight people, says the research, are more likely to suffer heart disease, cancer, strokes and develop diabetes.
Two-thirds of US adults and nine million children are either overweight or obese.
This is the result of a fast-food lifestyle, increased use of computers and less physical activity.
The release of the study coincides with a new government drive to encourage Americans to do more exercise.
Lawsuits
But critics say greater emphasis should be put on telling people to simply eat less and argue that the administration is frightened of antagonising the multi-billion-dollar fast-food industry.
As if to confirm their fears, as the study revealed a fattening nation, the House of Representatives announced that it plans to push for a bill that would limit "frivolous" lawsuits which accuse fast food chains of causing obesity.
Several teenagers recently tried to sue the McDonald's fast food chain, claiming its products made them fat.
Their case was thrown out and, as one supporter of the bill says, "frivolous lawsuits will not make anyone thin".
B.
The U.K.
Over 1 million UK children are obese
Obese kids are 77% more likely to have asthma
It's the biggest cause of cancer after smoking
Over 30,000 deaths a year are caused by obesity in England alone
Now 19% of Britons are obese and 39% are overweight
The number of obese children has doubled since 1982
13 burgers a day - the daily diet of obese Britain
By SEAN POULTER
The Daily Mail
14th September 2004
Britons are eating themselves into an early grave, with overweight men gorging on the equivalent of almost 13 hamburgers a day.
For overweight women, the number is similarly shocking - more than ten burgers each day.
The figures were based on a study of thousands of dieters across the country.
The findings paint a picture of a nation fighting a losing battle against obesity, with serious long-term implications for health.
The average overweight male eats 3,235 calories a day, which equates to 12.85 regular McDonald's hamburgers (in a bun), which are 253 calories each.
The average overweight woman eats 2,612 calories, which is the same count as in 10.3 burgers.
Based on these figures, these overweight men are consuming 25 per cent too many calories - against the recommended level of 2,550 - every day.
The women are eating 34 per cent more calories than the recommended 1,940.
It would take eight hours of cycling, travelling at 17mph in a day, to burn off 3,235 calories." Levels of obesity have tripled in Britain since 1980.
Currently, over half of women and about two-thirds of men are either overweight or obese. This increases the risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, certain cancers and osteoarthritis.
6. Write a paragraph on the following: What is the situation like in your country?
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