In the article “Unhappy Meals,” Michael Pollan gives an ordinary person an overview of what food really is. Pollan starts out by saying, “If you’re concerned about your health, you should probably avoid food products that make health claims.” I feel like Americans today go out of their way to find foods that make health claims, because they truly believe what the food distributors are marketing. So many people trust everything that health food distributors say and don’t take time to actually read the labels and understand nutritional facts. Pollan, throughout the whole article, points out that almost everything we eat is nutrient enhanced food. He said that he believes that the food people are eating now days are worse for you than past generations. …show more content…
One of the main topics that Pollan discusses is to eat less. Something Americans have had an extreme issue with. He points out that it’s just as important to eat less as it is to focus on eating only healthy foods. I agree with this statement. For instance, you could eat only spinach for a week, but you could still have the potential to be as big as someone who eats a fast food once a week. Either way you still aren’t getting all the nutrients you’re body needs. In the bad science portion of the article Pollan states, “These molecules (which plants produce to protect themselves from the highly reactive oxygen atoms produced in photosynthesis) vanquish the free radicals in our bodies, which can damage DNA and initiate cancers. At least that’s how it seems to work in the test tube. Yet as soon as you remove these useful molecules from the context of the whole foods they’re found in, as we’ve done in creating antioxidant supplements, they don’t work at all,” He explains that some nutrients are more streamed-lined with other nutrients, but are too complex for scientist to duplicate. We shouldn’t be able to produce these natural
Pollan is against trusting your body with virtually everything you eat and digest. He thinks that the human body cannot always be trusted with the ability to accept different kinds of foods and nutrients. Maxfield on the other hand tried to counter Pollan’s idea as she mentioned in her article, “Trust yourself. Trust your body. Meet your needs” (446). I totally agree with Maxfield’s idea of trusting our body because we know the needs of our body and how to satisfy those needs better than anyone else. However, it is not everything we eat that we can trust at all
Pollan used the technique of ethos in order to appeal his trustworthy to his audience. Michael pollen organized his argument very well. He builds the arguments, by going through and describing the facts and claims he made regarding the western diet, followed by reasoning which made his argument trustworthy, like first he made claim that “stop eating a western diet” After that he gave reason for his claim that why we should escape western diet. He mention that “We should escape the western diet because western diet is a processed diet which has more carbohydrates and less micro nutrients which are the cause of many harmful diseases in United States” Pollan explain that lack of micro-nutrients, omega-3 fatty acids are the main cause of many chronic diseases in our country. To support his view on issue, He also describe the neo-lipid, omega-3 and carbohydrates hypothesis. Pollan quoted Denis Burkett
Escape from the Western Diet describes Pollan’s primary occupation as an author of food and eating books, not a food scientist, however, Pollan bases his entire article off of his opinion of how Americans should eat (Pollan, 420). Pollan 's rules, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants,” might serve as a fine setup for a fad diet, but these rules don’t necessarily provide a reasonable solution for America’s obesity problem. The rules don’t provide a solution because they are too vague; you can’t solve a nationwide issue using a system that fails to acknowledge any other factors besides what Americans should supposedly eat. Logical fallacies pop up throughout Escape from the Western Diet and stunt its credibility, such examples being the False Dichotomy, Begging the Question, and the Hasty Generalization. In Pollan’s quote, “people eating a Western diet are prone to a complex of chronic diseases that seldom strike people eating more traditional diets” (Pollan, 421), the Hasty Generalization fallacy is apparent, as not every person who eats a Western diet is prone to chronic diseases. The quote, “the healthcare industry...stands to profit more handsomely from new drugs and procedures to treat chronic diseases than it does from a wholesale change in the way people eat” (Pollan, 422) is a prime example of the Begging the Question fallacy, as this
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.
Published In his article “How Junk Food Can End Obesity”, David Freedman begins by talking about how misinformed people are about wholefood restaurants and stores. These stores are run by so-called health food experts. Freedman makes himself distinguishable himself from the position of Michael Pollan and his adherents. His adherents are known as Pollanites. They are the people who believe that processed food is the reason we have health and obesity issues.
When was the last time you ate at a fast food restaurant? When was the last time you actually ate something healthy? Most people are now eating more processed food than they are eating actual meals. In Michael Pollan’s Essay, “Escape from the Western Diet” he attributes the “Western Diet” as unhealthy processed food. Pollan fundamentally believes that Americans need to get away from the trend of consuming processed food because it inevitably makes the individual sick. He describes the conditions that dictate what Americans believe they should eat. The conditions include the scientific field and their unrealistic nutritionist theories, the food industry backing said theories by producing commodities, and the medical industry providing medicine to support those exact theories. Pollan concludes that in order to escape this diet, people must make an effort to actively participate in researching what it is that goes into their body. Sequentially, Pollan reveals his own regiments for evading the western diet as well as the nutrition theories put into place by scientists.
Michael Pollan discusses two categories of food: one is real food (the kind our great-grandmother would recognize), while the other is “edible food-like substances”. The category that needs defending according to Pollan is the real food. This category of food is minimally processed, fresh (will eventually rot), and includes mostly things that are taken straight from the source (the ground, tree, etc.). When one walks into a store, they should look for and pick the foods that are more “quiet”such as fresh produce than the ones that have more labels that say they are more healthy, or better for you.
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.
While reading the “The Government’s Bad Diet Advice” by Nina Teicholz she raise many good points about how the food industry has fudged some of the data just to get us to buy more of xyz product. For instance, we were told for two generations that eggs and other animal products were “bad” for our
Nutrition and health have become more popular in today 's society. Our generation is becoming more and more indebted to the idea of being healthy and eating nutritious meals. However, in “The American Paradox,” by Michael Pollan he argues that our unhealthy population is preoccupied with nutrition and the idea of eating healthy than their actual health. He also mentions the food industry, nutrition science and how culture affects the way we eat and make food choices. While Pollan is right about all these factor that affect our eating habits, there is more to it than that. Convenience, affordability and social influence also affects our food choices making them inadequate.
Food production in the United States has changed massively over the previous century. For instance, Joan Gussow says, “Just eat food” (Pollan 10). For Gussow “food” means whole foods such as, fruits, whole-grains, and vegetables. On the other hand, foods that were manufactured in factories are not real foods and they are known as processed foods. Nevertheless, Americans consume excessive amounts of processed foods and very little amounts of whole foods. According to Pollan, processed foods are “More fattening [and] less nutritious!” (12). Therefore, Pollan’s first principle eliminates the majority of processed foods in the American diet and guides those who utilize his principle to eat a healthy and well-rounded diet that consists of whole-foods. Moreover, previous generations of Americans did not have access to process foods; like so, they did not have to worry about eating healthy because they had no food choices other than real foods. Pollan’s first principle is an easy and practical tool to guide people to select foods that are wholesome, healthy, and minimally
Pollan believes that Americans rely on nutrition science, the study of individual nutrients like carbohydrates, fats, and antioxidants, to fix the Western diet because it is the best source that exists. However, scientists have developed conflicting theories that confuse people to conclude as to how the Western diet causes disease, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Pollan disagrees with any type theory and instead blames the food and health industries who take advantage of new theories but do not to fix the problem of the Western diet. In turn, not only does he suggest people spending more time and money on better food choices, but he also proposes many tips to eat better, as well as a rule that will allow Americans climb out of the Western diet: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants (Pollan,
More and More people are becoming concerned about what they eat, especially if they consume food products that are manufactured in food industries. However, it is hard to know what exactly you are consuming if food industries provide false nutrition content and mislead consumers by placing false advertisements on the packaging. When a company produces a product that contains misleading label, consumers are not receiving complete information about the food they are eating which could lead to health issues including allergies and problems with diabetes.
Many people in America, from toddlers to the elderly, have shown numerous signs of bad health. People have the desire to keep on eating due to more, new things being merchandised as “new and improved items” from the producers. For example, nowadays, people are eating pure junk that they find satisfying on the grocery food shelf. As, stated by Michael Pollan, in his article, “Eat Food: Food Defined” he affirmed that “real food is the type of things that our