Mohammed Faruque, Adrian Arrieta, Winsly Bernard

Ms. Lafrance

Period 3

31 October 2019

Nutrition Speech

Ben Franklin once said that nothing in this world can be said to be certain except for

death and taxes. In retrospect, a quick glance at the people in the world will inform us that

sickness and malnutrition is almost just as certain. We are the most prosperous civilization in all

of history, yet we are somehow becoming more sick and fat throughout the generations. That

unfortunately is not a wild exaggeration; npr.org says if current trends are projected onto next

year, 83% of American men will be overweight and over by 2020, with women right behind

them at 72%. It’s all fun and games to ignore your body’s cries for help and ruin it while

relishing your youth, until old age catches up to you with stiff joints, chronic pains, heart

problems, low sex drive, and an incurable metabolism.

So what is the matter with everyone? Why are we on track to such a sick and unhealthy

future? As minor as obesity seems, it isn’t a joke because it is the symptom of poor dieting and

the inflammation and hormone imbalance that results. The inflammation can lead to other things

like type 2 diabetes, memory fog, stiff joints and brittle bones, irritable bowel syndrome, and etc.

Inflammation can spread to any organ system and cause it to malfunction. So becoming a fatter

society does not look that good when we think about it.

So what can we do to preserve the health of our bodies and live a long life that does not

involve the pitfalls of old age? For one thing, we can start by addressing the nutritional fiction
that is currently mainstream. We can cut out raw leafy-green vegetables, grains, brown rice and

sugar, hard starches, and anything that takes too long to digest. These tend to take too long to

digest, and the reach the colon (which has 5 pounds of bacteria living in it) and rot there, causing

the production of endotoxins that inflame our gut, leak out, and cause inflammation. It’s like

putting raw sewage in our bodies, and we want to avoid that.

We can also avoid high-iron foods as much as possible, especially foods with reduced iron as an

ingredient. Many people like to say that iron is great for you, but that’s only true at very low

levels, because it releases a lot of free radicals in the body, which can cause oxidative stress (like

the type that turns iron into rust) and cause us to age faster. Calcium, eggs, the polyphenols

found in tea and coffee, and other foods protect against absorbing too much iron.

Another thing we can do is avoid foods and products that are processed and have

carcinogenic and/or estrogenic ingredients, like emulsifiers and bad fats. Men are especially

vulnerable to this, because the more estrogens they consume and produce, the less testosterone

they produce, and thus are vulnerable to a reduction in their health. If the ingredient list is long

and full of words that one can’t read, chances are it’s full of bad ingredients and should not be

eaten.

One final thing that can be done is to get the recommended daily intake of all vitamins,

minerals, and macromolecules every day. Carbs, fats, and proteins should be kept at adequate

amounts, as well as vitamins A,C,D,E, K, and the B vitamins. We need plenty of potassium,

sodium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, iodine, and selenium too. Dietary fiber is important

for good bowel movements. All of these will lead to a healthier gut, less illness, less stress,

higher sex drive, improved memory and metabolism, better mood and sleep, better weight, and

more importantly, a longer and more enjoyable life.