Alex Layton
English 2010
Salt Lake County Health: Increasing Fruit and Vegetable Consumption
Americans spend billions of dollars on medication and diet supplements each year, but we shouldn’t pay exorbitant amounts of money to the health improvement industry. As a health nut myself, I have invested my share of money to these industries since I was in high school for football, tennis, athletic training and overall health. Supplements are not cheap and are advertised to work miracles. I also invested some money into dieting supplements that clearly didn’t work as advertised. I later found out that it all comes down to nutrition and not the “magic pill” or
“quick-fix”. Almost everyone could eat healthier and lose a few pounds. After much research and reading about nutrition I learned about an easier way to get results and the nutrition needed for success. This technique is called Juicing. The general public is not well informed on the nutritional benefits of juicing and this is why I propose a juicing and nutrition campaign to help increase the popularity of juicing in Salt Lake County.
On the internet, in books, and other avenues there are endless testimonials, research and information focusing on how wonderful juicing fruits and vegetables can be. But even with this information, many people don’t juice. I attribute this to five reasons: the addiction to processed foods, the habit of not eating fruits and vegetables, the lack of public education on juicing, the low-quality selection of produce from local sources, and an uneducated assumption that juicing tastes bad. I propose that the federal government allocate tax funds to promote better-health programs in Salt Lake County that focus on increasing fruit and vegetable consumption by implementing juicing into a person’s daily diet. In addition, the government should help simulate incentives for private groups to create more fruit and vegetable vending businesses that import

produce from California. The health benefits and business potential in a juicing program would make Salt Lake County a healthier place.
First, Americans have a hard time eating the suggested daily amount of fruits and vegetables. According to a 2010 USA Today article by Betty Klinck, “Nationally, the percentage of adults who eat fruit twice a day or more was just 32.5% in 2009, down from 34.4% in 2000.
The percentage of people who eat vegetables three or more times a day remained relatively the same: 26.3%.” Very few Americans are receiving the benefits that come from eating enough daily fruits and vegetables. People tend to eat foods they are comfortable with, fast and easy.
Food intake is physical, emotional, and addictive. According to a 2012 Nutrition Reviews article by Jacquier et al., “Ingestion of foods high in fat or sugar, like pizza or chocolate, provokes endorphin firing, which leads to pleasure” (Jacquier et al. 125). Humans are genetically engineered to find joy in pleasure, but pleasurable things can become addictive. Jacquier et al. wrote, “Obesity resulting from overeating should be regarded as the result of an addiction, like compulsive gambling. The ingestion of palatable foods shares the same anatomical substrate as drugs for addicted persons. Sweet tastes and fatty flavors result in the release of endogenous opioids, which reduce crying in babies” (125). Americans are addicted to these foods which fuel the reason why people spend money on medication and diet supplements. If the body doesn’t receive essential nutrient dense-foods, then it produces undesired physical results. Most people want to be healthy, but they don’t spend time and effort toward the actions good health requires.
Juicing is the healthy-eating solution for those who struggle to eat fruits and vegetables. It’s relatively fast, extremely health-beneficial, simple, and less expensive than diet and medication pills. Plus, there is no starvation, crazy foods, weird rituals, or complete disposal of your favorite foods—even though eliminating sweets is extremely wise.

Second, people don’t juice because they are not informed. Knowledge is a powerful motivator for change, but increasing the population’s knowledge of juicing is only half the battle.
I had seen and heard of juicing before, but I did not make it a part of my diet until I learned about the nutritional-science behind why it is healthier than just eating fruits and vegetables raw.
Lauren Piscopo wrote, "Juicing gives your digestive system a rest. When you drink your vegetables, your body doesn't have to produce digestive enzymes to break down the food to access the nutrients. Most raw produce contains enzymes: apples, pears, pineapple, carrots and kale have especially high levels of digestive enzymes (Piscopo). Also, according to Schneider, the digestive system wastes these nutrition-filled enzymes when tough non-soluble plant fiber goes through it. The enzymes are trapped in the excreted fiber, and the full nutritional potential of the food is lost. Cherie Calbom, aka The Juice Lady, is one of the most prominent experts in the field of juicing. According to her, all the vitamins, carbohydrates, mineral, and phytonutrients
(light energy) is extracted during the juicing process. The specially designed blades in juicing machines rip the fruit and vegetable fibers apart allowing the energy to escape from the fiber into the juice. According to Lui’s report on photosynthesis published by the University of California
Davis, Chloroplasts in plants harvest light energy that produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate: a compound in cells for energy storage) and fix carbon in eukaryotic photosynthetic cells, which is believed to aid cellular communication giving the body a feeling of vibrancy and well-being. The science of juicing makes sense and if the general public was more informed on it, then more people would be interested in adding juicing to their lives.
The general public does not know this information because it is not taught at school, work, the grocery store, or in any other place. Those who know about it are nutritionists, health connoisseurs, and those who have done the research. My proposal for nutrition based juicing

programs should not target small areas of focus like schools, doctor offices, or cafeterias, but they should target regional market-based regions.
According to a 2012 Nutrition Reviews article by Traill et al., European governments teamed up with The Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) to document and study a recently promoted governmental nutrition campaign. The campaign focused on “initiatives in diet, health, and nutrition among the ministries of health and of food and agriculture of all the OECD countries.
The resultant review focuses mainly on…healthy eating, fruit-and-vegetable consumption schemes, and labeling regulations” (Traill et al 190). The results as of March 1, 2012 reported that 56% of subjects increased their fruit and vegetable consumption as a result of public information campaigns; 67% of students involved in nutrition education stated that their nutritional knowledge about the health benefits from eating fruits and vegetables did improve; and 17% of people above the age 15 changed their food-purchasing habits due to advertising regulations (Traill et al 191). Most people want to be healthy but need the knowledge to know how. Salt Lake County should hold nutrition expositions displaying juicing and other healthy practices to increase public awareness. Funding should be given to grocery stores to display and give out information on juicing. This information could be available in the produce area, and/or at the building’s entrance. More people would buy fruits and vegetables resulting in a higher product turn-around rate, which would increase the grocery’s amount and quality of produce.
Third, Government-stimulated nutrition programs do and can work to increase the health of the general public. Information alone doesn’t work. The market needs to be set up for nutritional success. Promotional programs for better nutrition with a juicing emphasis will flourish if the market is right for it. Some people may also not want government involved in the free market and are for “small government”. The involvement of the government could cause

problems with vendors and the free market. This is an important point to make and would have to be dealt with in the fine details by creating laws, rules and regulations which would allow government involvement without influencing the natural free market. According to Weber et al, the “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and
Health and Human Services include a section on how the United States Government will give support to the healthful food supply industry (406). It also says it will help “initiate partnerships with food producers, suppliers, and retailers to promote the development… of nutritious food products. [The government] will help expand access to grocery stores, farmers markets, and other outlets for healthy foods” (Weber et al 408). The federal government allocates money toward improving the health of America, so the residents of Salt Lake County are entitled to have funding for health promotions. My proposal is different from the normal health efforts in schools and doctor offices. Anyone can tell someone how great something is, but if the circumstances affecting the actions complicate or repulse an intended doer, then the action will fail. By allocating funds targeted at helping private individuals run produce market businesses, and by lowering produce prices, there will be an increase in produce consumption. If consumers could afford more fruits and vegetables, then more people would be able to enjoy the health benefits of juicing
Fourth, in order for people to want certain foods they must like the taste or at least manage to get the food down without difficulty.
According to the same 2012 Nutrition Reviews article by Jacquier et al., “Food decisions are influenced by an individual’s preferences, which are innate or acquired during childhood through good or bad experiences” (123). This can lead to people not liking singular fruits and vegetables later on; but juicing fruits and vegetables can be delicious and refreshing. The key to pleasant-tasting drinks is knowing what ingredients to use

for juicing. Juicing tips and recipes are a quick internet search away, or any book on juicing has information on how and what to juice. Juicing recipes would be distributed as part of my proposed nutrition campaign. At expositions, venders could give the public free samples to taste.
By showing the public how juicing can be tasteful, the appeal of juicing will increase along with an increase of fruit and vegetable consumption. A person’s diet should not consist of just juicing.
According to Dr. Mercola’s website, “Vegetable juice is not a complete meal. It is important to note that vegetable juice has very little protein and virtually no fat, so by itself it is not really a complete food. [Juicing] really should be used in addition to your regular meals and not in place of it” (Mercola). A well-balanced meal plan is essential to a healthy diet. Juicing is simply a short cut to eating the suggested daily amounts of fruits and vegetables.
In conclusion, the residents of Salt Lake County could improve their health by eating more fruits and vegetables by juicing. Some people may not want to change and we can’t force them to. Regardless, the current status of produce price and availability in Salt Lake County is weak and needs improvement; along with the promotions that would help better educate people on the benefits of increasing their fruit and vegetable consumption. The federal government should allocate funds to the Salt Lake County government for a nutrition improvement plan.
According to Weber et al., the federal government sets aside funds for improving Americans’ health with attempts to increase fruit and vegetable consumption included. Also, funds should be allocated to local private individuals for creating more produce market businesses, increasing produce availability, and decreasing produce costs. This would stimulate an increase of fruit and vegetable consumption by the general public, which would benefit the overall health of the residents of Salt Lake County.

Works Cited
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Assessment of Unconscious Pleasure Mechanisms Involved in Food-Choice Decisions.”
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Klinck, Betty. “CDC: Americans’ Diets Still Short on Fruits and Vegetables.”
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Lui, Tiffany. “Photosynthesis Overview.” UCDavis Chem . University of California, 2010 Web.
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Mercola, Joseph. “Juicing: Your Key to Radiant Health.” Mercola.com
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