scholarly resources

E.A. Finklestien and L.Zuckerman (2008).The Fattening of America: How the Economy Makes Us Fat, If It Matters, and What To Do About It. Wiley and Sons .

Finkelstein, D., Hill, E., Whitaker, R.C. (2009). School Food Environments and Policies in U.S. Public Schools. Mathematica Policy Research.

Outline: Factors Contributing to U.S. Obesity Rate

I.) Finding out key factors that are contributing to the U.S. Obesity Rate.
A. Key Points
1. The correlation between high fructose corn syrup and obesity.
2. Relationship between the government and the corn refinery companies.
3. Vending machine companies funding public schools to keep their product
accessible to children.

B. Body of Paper
1. Information on High Fructose Corn Syrup and your Health.
a. Provide Web and Newspaper articles supporting the health risks of high fructose
corn syrup. Give some more factual information on what it is (definition), how it
is broken down in the body, the cost of producing it rather a healthier alternative,
and how many food and beverage companies use it in their products.
b. Include a recent study done by the University of California that showed people
that ingested moderate to high amounts of high fructose corn syrup compared to
glucose syrup had a higher percentage of body fat.
c. Provide a chart on what a healthy weight should be compared to your B.M.I.
d. Show a graph of how the current U.S. Obesity rate is compared to other
countries.
2. Some reliable resources such as newspaper articles stating how much the
U.S. Government funds the corn refinery companies.
a. Retrieve statistical information that supports the use of glucose syrup is a little
more expensive, yet a healthier alternative to High Fructose Corn Syrup.
3. Newspaper or Web Articles that support Vending machine companies funding the
pubic school systems in order to keep their products available to children.
a. Statistics from a newspaper article from U.S.A. Today that shows how much
kids consume unhealthy food and beverage that they buy from their schools.
C. Conclusion
1. Taxes on High Fructose Corn Syrup; Newspaper articles supporting latest on laws
being proposed to the U.S. Government.
2. Grants from the Government that would support public school systems that decide
to become pro healthy in the food and beverage department.
3. Website that the audience can visit www.letsmove.org that would give more
information on how to live a healthier lifestyle.
4. What the average consumer can do to become pro active when purchasing foods
and beverages. I will do my podcast on how to read average food boxes to detect
if it contains high fructose corn syrup.
5. Conclusion paragraph, final thoughts on my topic.
D. References in APA Format

Two websites in support of my research

Instead of researching the general topic of obesity, I will look further into researching on two major contributions of high obesity rates in the U.S. I would like the title of my project to be "Some Hidden Causes Aiding in the U.S. Obesity Rate." First, I will explore how high fructose corn syrup is correlated to obese people, the relationship between the corn industry and the U.S. government, and how money plays a big part in this whole process. I found an article on the web, " High Fructose Corn Syrup Proven to Cause Human Obesity," from the website titled www.alternet.org, that reports on how much high fructose corn syrup each person consumes per year, how the corn refiner industry has been spending plenty of money trying to hide the negative publicity, and researchers from the University of California startling discovery on the what high fructose corn syrup does to the body once ingested consistently and other health risks pertaining to. I think that this website is useful because it goes into detail on the politics between the government and the corn syrup companies trying to sustain a profit. It shows that both are more concerned with money instead of the healthiness of our U.S. population. I also will explore the relationship between vending machine companies paying to keep their product in U.S. public schools. I came across a article from www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-05-11vending-machines_x.htm that gives startling information on two recent surveys done. It indicates the majority of vending machines in public schools are filled with junk food, and that kids have admitted to eating "a great deal" or some kind of junk food in an average week. I think that this article gives a factual outlook on what kids are eating and drinking, the relationship between the school boards and the vending machine companies, and the article also gives hope for the future on perhaps recent bills that are in effect that will give grants to public schools if they were to distribute healthier food and beverage choices for their students. I hope to build on this project with more websites, articles, surveys,and other factual information.

Three Research Topics

The three research topics I would like to research would be obesity, if depression is higher with men or women, and what makes people happy. I spoke about my reasons on obesity in my recent blog, many personal aspects contribute to my decision to research this topic. My curiousity on depression and if it is higher in men and women is somewhat because I just want to know. I do occasionally suffer from seasonal depression, and I wonder if men suffer as much from depression as women. I am curious to know in today's society on what makes people happy. It seems it would be such an interesting topic to study.