America has one of the highest obesity rates worldwide. Individuals who are overweight or obese present an overall higher risk of mortality including from many cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer. Truly, America is in the middle of a health epidemic. Because of this, there is an ongoing discussion of what a truly healthy diet is supposed to look like; it is as if there is an unspoken battle between a plant based diet and a diet that allows animal products. The problem within the battle is the lack of compromise between the two extremes.
Obesity is more than just excessive overweight in a person, it affects every aspect of someone’s life. In fact, Greta Massetti writes in Excessive Weight Gain, Obesity, and Cancer: Opportunities for
…show more content…
In Michael Mosley’s documentary, Should I Eat Meat? he notes that meat is often a big centerpiece for a dinner or feast, often times for holidays. For example, think of a turkey at a Thanksgiving feast. It sits in the middle of the dinner table; often times, providing a time of bonding for families. Because of this, many people are unwilling to eliminate meat due to the way it brings people together, while most are unwilling to give up meat because they enjoy it too much. In contrast, some vegans believe that humans are morally obligated to protect animals by not consuming or exploiting them. In an article titled A Case for Animal Rights it addresses that people should follow the “Least harm principle” meaning to choose the diet that harms the least amount of animals. While it seems obvious that is consuming a vegan diet, Steven Davis explores the possibility of that assumption being false. After multiple experiments, he concluded that about “1.8 billion [field] animals would be killed annually to produce a vegan diet for the USA” due to the production of crops requiring “multiple field operations that may include plowing, disking, harrowing, planting, cultivating, applying herbicides and pesticides as well as harvesting.” However, if “half of the harvested land in the US was used to produce plant products for human consumption and half was used for pasture-forage production” than approximately 430 million less field animals such as field mice, gophers, racoons and bunnies would die. Vegan diets are not bloodless. Scholars go back and forth with facts to support their opinion, leaving the average American confused by the tensions of the two diets. Exploring vegetarianism: A Healthy Alternative describes that it is easier to digest a diet without meat. However, according to this documentary it is also easier to maintain all of the recommended nutrients with meat. Mosley agrees with this and even takes it a step further by naming
For some time, scholars and writers have continuously debated as to what constitutes or defines the idea of healthy eating, mainly because of the increase in the number of people diagnosed with ailments associated with bad eating habits. It has quickly become the forefront of issue, particularly in the United States. In recognition of this on-going debate, this composition seeks to compare and contrast two well-known authors concerning how we think about and consume food. In Michael Pollan’s discussion, “Escape from the Western Diet,” he discusses the negative sides of nutrition science, including conflicting theories surrounding the elements of healthy food consumption and why solutions are essential for the Western diet and lifestyle. “Escape from the Western Diet,’’ is among the articles that talks about the eating habits of individuals in the society. In the article, Pollan points out not only the numerous conflicts concerning what types of diets – including carbohydrate-based, the inclusion of omega-3s, other nutrition-specific needs - that are believed to directly affect general health or specific illnesses, but also how western nutritionism compares to other countries diets affect longevity outcomes. In the end, Pollan suggests that the United States must seek solutions that move towards more natural, unprocessed, plant-based lifestyles that ensure that individuals are making what they consume a primary
American health, specifically our obesity epidemic, has grown into a trending media topic. A quick Google search will bring up thousands of results containing a multitude of opinions and suggested solutions to our nation’s weight gain, authored by anyone ranging from expert food scientists to common, concerned citizens. Amongst the sea of public opinion on obesity, you can find two articles: Escape from the Western Diet by Michael Pollan and The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food by Michael Moss. Each article presents a different view on where the blame lies in this public health crisis and what we should do to amend the issue. Pollan’s attempt to provide an explanation pales in comparison to Moss’s reasonable discussion and viable
Being overweight or obese are risk factors for many chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and … cancers.”
For me, the decision to remove meat from my diet stemmed solely from the belief that humans have no right to eat any living creature — period. In short, I believe all lives have equal value, even if they’re a non-human animal. An offshoot from this, which also helped fuel my vegetarianism, includes the horrendous treatment animals endure for the sake of consumption.
This article was explaining the reasons behind why people think that eating meat is alright. It was kind of supporting my action therefore my thoughts about eating meat still remain the same. I’m going to continue eating meat even after reading this article. The article does have some arguments as to why vegetarians don’t eat meat. Reasons that people decided not to eat meat included moral responsibilities and concerns for every animals. Another reason included meat being disgusting because it could contain pathogens that made people sick. These reasoning prompted me to consider becoming a vegetarians however I know that I can’t become a vegetarian. It was in my nature to eat meat. Since I can’t became vegetarians, I was planning to reduce my meat intake a little. Instead of eating pigs, beefs, fishes, and turkeys, I planned to just eat chicken for now on. For each meal, I planned to just have less meat than I would usually eat. Because I cooked my own meals most of the time, I could change the amount of chicken meat I put into my meal. For example instead of cooking a whole chicken, I could use three fourth of the whole
When we think of our national health we wonder why Americans end up obese, heart disease filled, and diabetic. Michael Pollan’s “ Escape from the Western Diet” suggest that everything we eat has been processed some food to the point where most of could not tell what went into what we ate. Pollan thinks that if America thought more about our “Western diets” of constantly modified foods and begin to shift away from it to a more home grown of mostly plant based diet it could create a more pleasing eating culture. He calls for us to “Eat food, Not too much, Mostly plants.” However, Mary Maxfield’s “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating”, argues differently she has the point of view that people simply eat in the wrong amounts. She recommends for others to “Trust yourself. Trust your body. Meet your needs.” The skewed perception of eating will cause you all kinds of health issues, while not eating at all and going skinny will mean that you will remain healthy rather than be anorexic. Then, as Maxfield points out, “We hear go out and Cram your face with Twinkies!”(Maxfield 446) when all that was said was eating as much as you need.
In the United States where heart disease is the number one killer, Americans should instead start looking at what they are eating for the sake of their health. The word obesity has hurt so many people due to the amount of processed foods that they are taking in which composes of lots of fat and high amounts of sodium which is notorious for heart disease. Pollan says “Eat food, Not too much. Mostly plants.”
Today’s medical experts say that avoiding meat helps you avoid saturated fat. They have found out from studies that women who eat meat daily have a fifty percent greater risk of developing heart disease than vegetarian women and a sixty-eight percent greater risk in men (staff writer). People may not know about serious diseases meat can cause such as, mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth disease. In the September 1999 issue of the Emerging Infectious Diseases, approximately 76 million food-borne illnesses- resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths occur in the United States each year from improperly cooked or diseased meat (Licher). That is a lot of fun!
Although many individuals are uncertain about the increasing statistics associated with obesity, more than seventy percent of men and virtually sixty-two percent of women within the United States adult population are overweight or obese (Wilmore, Costill, & Kenney). Obesity refers to the condition of having an excessive amount of body fat. If an individual’s amount of body fat becomes too excessive, he/she is at a much greater risk of developing life-altering diseases such as heart failure, hypertension, type II diabetes, cancer, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, etc. (Wilmore, et al., 2008).
...e Animals and Satisfy Meat Eaters?” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 21.6 (2008): 580-96. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
Obesity is a physiological condition characterised by an excessive accumulation of body fat, specifically the build-up of adipose tissue beneath the skin. In recent years, the number of people diagnosed with clinical obesity has increased dramatically, with governments desperately trying to tackle the obesity epidemic and its associated consequences (McLannahan and Clifton, 2008). Studies have found that the prevalence of obesity once stood at an estimated 9.8% (Kelly, Yang, Chen, Reynolds & He, 2008), a considerable figure representing almost 400 million individuals worldwide. Even though obesity has now been recognised as a major problem the number of people affected is increasing rapidly, with almost 300,000 deaths attributable to obesity in the USA each year (Allison, Fontaine, Manson, Stevens, & VanItallie, 1999). Excessive amounts of fat can prove dangerous as the condition has a very high comorbidity rate with other long term health issues such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and cancer (Pi-Sunyer, 1993). Numerous examples of media, medical journals and educational literature concerning obesity refer to the condition as a disease, with an increasing use of the word ‘Epidemic’ to describe the somewhat recent surge of obesity cases in western societies (Boero, 2007), however there is little material available that offers evidence for obesity meeting specification for disease. Instead it has been proposed that obesity is alternatively a risk factor for developing other potentially harmful diseases, influenced by a variety of other factors i.e. genetics, cultural ideals and biological impairments.
Is it morally permissible to eat meat? Much argument has arisen in the current society on whether it is morally permissible to eat meat. Many virtuous fruitarians and the other meat eating societies have been arguing about the ethics of eating meat (which results from killing animals). The important part of the dispute is based on the animal welfare, nutrition value from meat, convenience, and affordability of meat-based foods compared to vegetable-based foods and other factors like environmental moral code, culture, and religion. All these points are important in justifying whether humans are morally right when choosing to eat meat. This paper will argue that it is morally impermissible to eat meat by focusing on the treatment of animals, the environmental argument, animal rights, pain, morals, religion, and the law.
People love to eat meat. For over two million years, humans have relied on eating meat in order to survive or simply just because they enjoy the taste. Early humans had more powerful jaws and larger teeth and relied on meat as one of their main sources of food. As evolution took place and humans evolved, they developed smaller teeth and were only able to eat the meat if it was cooked. With humans evolving and being able to survive on foods other than meat, meat does not have to necessarily be a part of human diet anymore. Although many people have opted for a vegetarian lifestyle, most people still continue to eat meat and do not consider it a cruel act. Many have also stopped eating meat due health risks and environmental concern. Whether
People have used the argument that eating meat plays an important role in the overall health of a human and it is the way the cycle of life is meant to be, but this is not the case. Eating meat is unnecessary. Becoming a vegetarian could save countless animals from unnecessary suffering, improve human health, and help preserve numerous natural resources.
For several years the issue of eating meat has been a great concern to all types of people all over the world. In many different societies controversy has began to arise over the morality of eating meat from animals. A lot of the reasons for not eating meat have to deal with religious affiliations, personal health, animal rights, and concern about the environment. Vegetarians have a greater way of expressing meats negative effects on the human body whereas meat eaters have close to no evidence of meat eating being a positive effect on the human body. Being a vegetarian is more beneficial for human beings because of health reasons, environmental issues, and animal rights.