Gastric Bypass at 16?!?!

Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson describe Sam Fabrikant's struggle with weight gain and his frightening experience with gastric bypass surgery at the age of sixteen.  After reading about Sam's experience, do you think that gastric bypass surgery was the best option for him?  What were Sam's alternatives?  What should the age cutoff be for this type of surgery?

Who's to Blame?

Representatives of the fast food industry say that the responsibility for healthy choices lies with you.  How much do you think lack of personal responsibility is a cause of the current obesity crisis?  How much do you think that corporations are responsible?  Why?

What has been the most shocking thing you have learned from reading Chew on This up to this point?  Have you told other people what you have been learning?  Has it made you think twice about the food that you eat and where it came from?  Has it affected your life in any other ways?

Meat

If you were in charge of one of the biggest meatpacking companies, what would you do differently?

Has this book made you think twice about eating meat? eating fast food? Why or why not?

Stop the Pop!

Do you think that the National School Lunch Program is still able to fulfill its 1946 mission to "safeguard the health and wellbeing of the nation's children"? Why or why not?