MaxField Mary. “Food as Thought Resisting Moralization of Eating”. They Say I Say with Readings 3rd. Eds. Gerald Graff,Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst. New York: W.W Norton and Company, Inc, 2016 442-447 Print. In the article, "Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating," the author Mary Maxfield argues that it is not what people eat, but instead how they eat that impacts their health. She claims that people should approach eating by trusting themselves, their bodies, and focus on meeting their nutritional needs (Maxfield 446). Maxfield states that many people have been misled to believe that health, weight and diet are directly linked. "Despite some doubt in the academic circles over connections between diet, health and weight, …show more content…
This basically means Maxfiled believes obesity and what you eat has nothing to do with your human body system. She also mentions that there is no correlation between health, diet and weight. However, there are many tests and research that shows a poor diet and weight gain can lead to many other problems. Throughout this article Maxfield contradicts herself. On one hand she argues that Michael Pollan doesn’t support his arguments with facts, but then she makes statements without backing them up with facts herself. For example, she says that being fat is not necessarily a bad thing and that being fat can be a healthy thing, but gives no evidence to support such an foolish statement. There are those people who will agree with Maxfield and do not want agencies or anyone else telling them how they should live their lives. Maxfield’s formula of trusting our body, ourselves, and meeting our needs is completely wrong because Americans need to eat healthy, be active, and live healthy. Today Americans have a lot of health issues and have the highest obesity level which Maxfiled did not state. In conclusion Americans need much more reliable information especially on such an important issue …show more content…
Western diet causes many diseases; increases people’s medical need for supplements and vitamins. However one writer disagrees with him and suggests “Eat foods that are less processed” (Denis Burkitt) which is easy to say but hard to apply on. Future more Pollen’s purpose of writing this article was to show how bad the effects of eating Western dieting can be, and to introduce a way to escape and in order to create a healthier country. Pollan also mentions the fact that livestock is being raised on a Western diet too, which means they are raised genetically too which means nothing is healthy like it used to be. In order to strengthen his statement he shows the percent of income spent on food in countries where the diseases percent is smaller to prove indeed “Western diet” is unhealthy, this matters a lot because currently most of the people living in this country are suffering from chronic diseases caused by wrong diet. Michael
Michael Pollan, an American author, journalist, activist, and professor of journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism (Michael Pollan), writes in his book In Defense of Food, the dangers of nutritionism and how to escape the Western diet and subsequently most of the chronic diseases the diet imparts. In the chapter “Nutritionism Defined” Pollan defines the term nutritionism. Pollan’s main assertion being how the ideology of nutritionism defines food as the sum of its nutrients, and from this viewpoint Pollan goes on to write how nutritionism divides food into two categories, with each macronutrient divided against each other as either bad or good nutrients, in a bid for focus of our food fears and enthusiasms. Finally, Pollan concludes that with the relentless focus nutritionism places on nutrients and their interplay distinctions between foods become irrelevant and abandoned.
Geissler continually argues that one should make their own choices and others should worry about themselves (Geissler). She also makes the point that dieting is without positive results, supported by her quote from Allison which states, “suffering does not enable; it destroys” (Geissler). While in extreme cases dieting can be dangerous due to the risk of starvation that extremists may put themselves at, healthy eating of smaller portion sizes a proven way to care for our bodies. Although dieting is not guaranteed to give remarkable results, it is the stepping stone for many to climb out of obesity. The viewpoint used by the author in her argument tends to constantly turn a blind eye to normal circumstances, and it instead looks for the negatives that support her.
In Escape from the Western Diet, Pollan discusses how Americans have become obese due to their diet of mainly processed foods. He makes the case that for Americans to once again become healthy, we must return to eating “whole foods”. Pollan brings up the fact that Americans don’t spend as much time nor as much money on
In his essay “The American Paradox”, Michael Pollan illustrates his conclusion that Americans who focus on nutrition have a higher probability of decreasing their well-being. Pollan defines the American paradox as “a notably unhealthy population preoccupied with nutrition and the idea of eating healthily.” For most of our human history, our parents and culture have influenced our diet. However, today the idea of what to eat has been based on the opinions of scientists, food markets, and nutritionists. I agree with Pollan’s argument that being preoccupied with what we eat makes us unhealthy, however, we need a balance and a sense of responsibility in what we eat.
Neither life nor culture can be sustained without food. On a very basic level, food is fundamentally essential for life, not simply to exist, but also to thrive. A means by which carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, nutrients, and calories are introduced into the body, food is a mechanism of survival. However, on a more abstract level, food is also fundamentally essential for culture by establishing its perimeters and dimensions and in shaping its authenticity and character. Food becomes the carbohydrates and calories that maintain any culture. Food offers a dynamic cross-section of man's tendencies. "Nourishment, a basic biological need," argues anthropologist Sidney Mintz, "becomes something else because we humans transform it symbolically into a system of meaning for much more than itself" (7). By examining food consumption and preparation, much is discoverd regarding the intricacies of culture. The preparation and consumption of food in Puritan society are reflected in Mary Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. Rowlandson's view of food and admissions of hunger in the infancy of her captivity cast a revealing light upon the roots of her conceptions and ideas about food and, more generally, about her culture's conceptions and ideas about food. As the conflict between her soul and her stomach raged over food, Rowlandson's attitudes toward the Native Americans' preparation and consumption of food reflect the socialization of the Puritans to believe that every meal ...
As the Western world experiences increasing occurrences of certain diseases, society is focusing not only on finding the source of this phenomena but also on finding a solution to the problem. In his essay “Escape from the Western Diet”, Michael Pollan places the blame on the Western diet, arguing that people need only to change their eating habits in order to prevent many chronic diseases. While the author makes a compelling argument, his usage of logical fallacies, his questionable credibility, and his apparent bias weaken his point; nonetheless, I agree with his overall surmise that the western diet should be improved.
I am responding to the request to analyze Radley Balko’s article, “What You Eat Is Your Business” and make a recommendation for or against publication in The Shorthorn at University of Texas at Arlington. In order to respond, I have examined the rhetorical appeals of Balko’s piece and determined why this article should be posted in the next edition of The Shorthorn. I believe that the Shorthorn audience would be interested in what is being discussed regarding of obesity, things that could potentially affect their lifestyle as well as the professors. In “What You Eat Is Your Business”, Balko claims that obesity is the responsibility of the individual not the government, and how our government is allowing American to live an unhealthy lifestyle
“When we attempt to rise above our animal nature through the moralization of food, we unnecessarily complicate the process of eating,”(Maxfield, pg. 446) as Maxfield states to prove that food isn’t moral or immoral. Maxfield’s major claim is that our understanding of health is mainly based on culture as it is in fact, eventually begins to refer articles in order to support her beliefs. As she quotes Paul
Mary Maxfield they say is about stop seeing food as moral or immoral but instead to trust your own body to want the food that it needs. She believes that health, weight, and diet are not linked to each other. She thinks that obesity and health has nothing to do with what you eat and that you should just trust your body to tell you what you need to eat. A disagreement she had with Pollan was one where she points out that he could be viewed as a hypocrite due to creating his own eating formula. In which she points out that he disagrees with that his formula guidelines and that they are different than that of the food prescriptions and proscriptions scientist make because his rules create different sets of dinners rather than a specific meal.
The Western Diet is basically processed food, which is foods that are full with hormones, refined grains, sweet food, and food that is high in saturated fats. This food method that America is following is the reason for the increased rate of obesity in the country and many chronic diseases, due to why many Americans are suffering from. Pollan wants Americans to take control and set goals for themselves and their health. As he states, “A hallmark of the Western diet is food that is fast, cheap, and easy.”(424) This is the reason why people tend to buy it this food. Pollan is right about how the Western diet is affecting the people’s health negatively because of recent studies have shown that most of the food that people consume are processed foods, which gone through a process letting most of its nutritional values. Also, the food is full of unhealthy nutrients that are added to it during the process. An individual cannot have assurance of what he/she is consuming from a fast food place or a cheap prepared meal from grocery store. Western diet needs to be taken away from American’s life. He states “Not Too Much”(pp.426) will be the focus from the foods themselves to the question of how to eat, the manners, mores, and the habits that go with creating a healthy diet, and pleasing culture of eating. This way it will allow Americans to live their life healthier and
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.
“Hunger as Ideology” by Susan Bordo has numerous sections that deal with the same concept. She focuses on the idea of image and perception, which she describes in her brief as “reading” images. Bordo digs deep into issues of class, gender roles, and ideology. Although Bordo makes many important points throughout her essay, there are four in particular that I generally agree with and think are correct, that I will point out and elaborate on throughout my response. I will discuss the targeting of women at a young age, sexual appetite operating as a metaphor for eating pleasure, how women are never shown in the act of eating, and the concept that men eat and women prepare. As I discuss these points, I will explain issues of class, gender roles, and ideology, and the roles they play in our generation’s cultural change.
Gonzalez, Julina Roel. ""The Philosophy of Food," Edited by David M. Kaplan." Ed. Michael Goldman. Teaching Philosophy 36.2 (2013): 181-82. Print.
The transcending of food causes a dangerous power shift that has reached devastating consequences through corporations. This transcendence is nothing new to humans. Food is inherently described as natural, and humans have long attempted to change natural conditions that food relies on through the intervention of gods and (more often) goddesses. Now, western philosophy seeks to overcome food because of its natural attributes. Cronan argues in his book
In the book, In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan explores the relationship between nutrition and the Western diet, claiming that the answer to healthy eating is simply to “eat food”.