I've Discovered Yet Another Reason Why I Want To Teach

My first 18 years of my life I lived in Italy and never had any problems with my teeth. The dentist, in fact, told me my teeth were surprisingly perfect for never having gone to the dentist before.
Then I went to live in the States for two years where I mostly ate cafeteria food and whatever other kinds of food others made for me or gave me. After that, I had 8 cavities.
I went back to living in Europe for a year and had no problems. Then I came back to living in the States and now, I haven't even been here for a year yet, but, alas, after eating American food, I have a cavity again!
Oh, and let's not forget the fact that all my life every single time I've been in the States for a considerable amount of time I have gained more weight than normal.
Could there be a common denominator in all this?

My parents and my brother have been in the States since March and have been with me since Monday. My mom told me how it's been hard for them to eat some of the food here because everything's so sweet. Pasta sauce, pizza sauce, yogurt, meat sauces, ketchup, etc. are all sweet here in the States, but definitely not in Europe. And desserts, of course, are even sweeter.
What scares me is that, after a while, it all becomes normal to me and I'm able to eat most of it without thinking how overly sweet everything is. But the saddest thing of all is that most Americans have no idea how bad their food is for them because they've never had anything better to compare it to.
Now, don't get me wrong, I have had some good and healthy food here in the States. But most of it is really unhealthy, especially when it's not homemade.
I often wonder how Americans got to this point. With sugar and chemicals in everything and ridiculous serving sizes. I was really surprised when in, this past semester, in my Health class, after watching the documentary Super Size Me, we actually had a discussion on why Americans struggle with obesity. I couldn't believe how most people in my class needed to really think about what the causes of obesity are, had no idea that the U.S. is the country that struggles with obesity the most, and didn't know American serving sizes are not normal in the rest of the world. But I need to constantly remind myself here that most people have never been outside of this country and therefore do not take things for granted the way I do.
I just don't understand how someone could look at these serving sizes and think that this is healthy!
This first picture shows the American serving sizes at Starbucks. I don't drink coffee, but the other day I had a "Tall" Frappuccino (which is a blended iced coffee with some kind of cream or something in it) and after drinking only half of it I felt kind of sick and couldn't drink more. Now, as I said before, I'm not a coffee drinker, so my stomach's not used to it, just like it's not used to fast food and soda. But I think it's a good thing that I'm not used to having these food items since I already know they aren't healthy and they make me feel sick after I ingest them. But most Americans are used to these food items, to the point that 31 ounces (916ml) of iced tea or iced coffee doesn't seem like that big of a deal, it's just more of a "good thing," so how can that be bad?

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And then there's the 44 ounce Super Big Gulp and the 64 ounce Double Gulp of soda which is something pretty normal to see people drinking. WHAT?!? And then we wonder why American dentists are so expensive, American children are becoming more and more obese, and American adults become so obese that they can't even walk. 44 ounces of soda has 533 calories and 64 ounces has 776 calories. And that's just a drink. 

   

Finally, check out the differences in American serving sizes from 20 years ago to today: 

I think it's obvious we have a problem here.

However, regardless of how we got here, which, at this point, we can't really do much about, we have to figure out how to not get any worse.
In the last few years through my personal experiences, classes I've taken, and conversations I've had with people, I've learned that every continent needs a certain value to be taught to it somehow. Europe needs hope, Africa needs integrity, North America needs moderation and they all need to learn responsibility. If we could help the people of each continent learn these values and instill them into their lives, they would definitely be able to solve the main struggles their different countries are facing today.

But how do we teach a whole nation to learn and live a specific value?
All of what I've just written in this post has been going through my mind lately and, last night, I finally came to the point of asking this question to myself. For a short while it seemed to me like there's no way I could actually do anything about this. It seems too big, too complicated, too revolutionary.
And then I realized something. I'm here in the States right now studying at Azusa Pacific University to become a teacher. Teachers aren't just boring people who go to school and teach subjects which kids don't care about like math, history, science, geography, grade papers, and go home. Teachers should be passionate people who should get kids excited about their future, who give them the tools to change the world, who teach them vital skills so that they can grow into the person God has created them to be. Teachers should teach students how to see things differently and acquire important values. This is what I strive to become in the future and this is how I can impact many children in helping our nation (and other countries) to become a better place.

The more I look at frustrating situations of the present, the more I want to learn how to be a better teacher and can't wait to be the teacher kids need to help them grow into the world-changers of tomorrow!