I recently finished watching every episode of “One Tree Hill” and “Friends” on Netflix, so naturally I was completely lost trying to decide which TV series to dive into next. While browsing the documentary section, I came across a production called Fed Up. During the hour and thirty-five minute viewing, I can confidently say that I have become both a self-proclaimed certified nutritionist and governmental lobbyist.
Fed Up exposes the truths behind childhood obesity and the social and governmental facets involved with it.
It starts by following three kids acknowledging their weight problem and taking matters into their own hands to fix it. They talk about being teased at school and how obesity has affected their mental health and wellbeing, just as much as it has physically. They take the knowledge that they receive from large food corporations and attempt a weight loss journey. However this ‘knowledge’ that they believe to be true is not in fact scientifically proven, but rather food corporations marketing tactics. They falsely or manipulatively advertise to the consumer to increase sales.
Labels such as “Reduced Fate”, “Low Carb”, and “No Sodium”, entice the consumer to put those products in their basket without thinking twice. Fed Up reveals that fat is not actually the obesity culprit, it’s the sugar.
When processed food companies take out the fat in their foods, they need to replace it with something else in order to maintain taste. So they add sugar. Even more sneaky, they can advertise products as “Sugar Free” and use artificial sweeteners instead. The problem with this? Consumers are now eating significantly more than the recommended daily sugar percentage, and diabetes is becoming an increasing result.
Fed Up also looks at the governmental action taken to address the epidemic and the economic pushback they have received. One of the best examples the film portrays involves the governmental funding for school lunches. The majority of options provided to students are extremely unhealthy, but used anyway because the processed food companies are able to make money from it. When Michelle Obama launched her ‘Let’s Move’ campaign, she wanted to ban some of these foods from being sold at schools. Companies such as Schwann’s, who produce several brands of frozen pizza, were making nearly 80% of their profit from school lunches in some states and this action would surely be detrimental to their business. Because of this, government and company officials did whatever they could to defend their ‘healthy’ product. They claimed that the pizza sauce was a vegetable and was rich in vitamin C and therefore should be continued to be sold in schools.
Now, not only are kids still consuming the sugar-filled processed foods, but they are being told that it’s healthy. Fed Up argues that simply reducing calories and increasing exercise is no nearly enough to slow the childhood obesity epidemic. In order successfully handle the situation, we as a society must address the dangers of manipulative marketing towards children.