Although the Paleolithic diet is commonly considered a fad, it is actually an improvement of the common modernized Western diet because it reveals health benefits, such as reduced levels of blood sugar, blood lipids, and blood pressure (Lindeberg 9). These improvements have the potential to reduce the risk of prevailing diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some types of cancers (Lindeberg 8). The arrival of agricultural farming and domesticated animals marked the end of the Paleolithic era of diet. People no longer relied on hunting and gathering their food from the wild, rather, they began to grow and harvest plants, and raise their own animals (Frassetto et al. 948). In addition to this lack of adjustment, the modern western diet shows evidence that early in the onset of agriculture farmers did not receive adequate nutrition in comparison to ancestral diets (Sudano and Gregorio 186). These factors provide evidence that the Paleolithic diet is actually beneficial in comparison to the modern western diet, because of the lack of adjustment to the quick changes in modern diet, the evidence that shows decreases in prevailing diseases, as well as the fact that the introduction of agriculture showed signs of anemia and irregular growth patterns.
The human body has not been able to adjust to the drastic changes in the modern diet, such as the introduction of agriculture and domesticated animals (Frassetto et al. 947), that have occurred over the past 10 000 years. Frassetto and colleagues noted that “As the 10 000 or so years since the beginning of the agriculture and animal domestication began, that is less than 1% of Homo evolutionary time…” (947). Therefore, in comparison to the length of time that human beings lived ...
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...c diet reveals health benefits that have potential to reduce the prevalence of common western diseases, such as cardiovascular, type II diabetes and some cancers.
Works Cited
Frassetto, Lynda A., et al. "Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet." European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 63.8 (2009): 947-955.
Jew, Stephanie, et al. "Evolution of the human diet: linking our ancestral diet to modern functional foods as a means of chronic disease prevention." Journal of medicinal food 12.5 (2009): 925-934.
Lindeberg, S. "Dietary Shifts and Human Health: Cancer and
Cardiovascular Disease in a Sustainable World." Journal of gastrointestinal cancer 43.1 (2012): 8-12.
Sudano, Maurizio, and Franco, Gregorio. "Ancestral diets and modern diseases." Mediterranean Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism 4.3 (2011): 181-189.
Jared Diamond Argues that the worst mistake in Human History is the invention and widespread introduction of agriculture, because it has created a plethora of social, economic, and health problems for the word. One example of this is when the article states, “Hunter-Gatherers enjoyed a varied diet, while early farmers obtained most of their food from one or a few starchy crops. The farmers gained cheap calories at the cost of poor nutrition.” This illustrates that the author's main argument is that agriculture was the worst mistake in human history because it shows how agriculture has negatively impacted health of both early farmers and people today by creating mass produced bulk crops that are low in nutrition. Furthermore, another example
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
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.
Theories are wide and lasting: overabundances or deficiencies of certain nutrients; industrial processing; environmental issues; the Western world’s implementation on the raising of crops and cattle; just to name a few. In the end however, as Pollan put it, “they are only theories…of an empirical phenomenon” and thus, should be viewed as such. Whatever the reason for our diet being as insalubrious as it may be, one thing is clear, at least in Pollan’s mind: we need to “stop eating a Western diet.”
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
As emphasized again and again by author Robb Wolf in his popular book, The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet, “Agricultural diets of today make us chronically ill.” The Paleo Diet, by forcing us to eat more like our caveman ancestors, fixes all of our detrimental, highly-processed, ca...
Thanks to many researchers, such as Loran Cordain, mankind has successfully developed the Paleo diet, a dietary plan modeled after the paleolithic age that consists of lean natural meats, vegetables, fruits and nuts. Unlike,the diets previously mentioned the Paleo diet has all the essential nutrients such as protein, Vitamin D and B-12, that make humans develop lean muscle, have more energy, lose weight, and be able to live a healthy lifestyle. For these reasons, the Paleo way should be the diet of choice in order to make America healthy again.
Focused on available modern foods, the modern Paleolithic diet consist of mainly grass-fed meats and fish, eggs, vegetables and fruits, nuts and different types of mushrooms. This diet forbidden diary, potatoes, refined sugar, legumes, processed oils and salt, unless natural sea salt. So, as you can see, the Paleolithic diet includes all food that caveman could find and Paleolithic diet is not just some another diet with false promises. This particular diet excludes all bad food habits, like bad processed food, sweet and candies and much more that directly influence on our health, but in very dangerous and wrong way.
Nutrition is a very controversial and confusing topic. One day coffee is bad for you, but the next day it is good. Alcohol is detrimental for our health one day, but the next day red wine is the elixir of life. There are dozens of diet plans and they promise a leaner and healthier body. There is the 3-Hour Diet that involves constantly eating small portions of anything we want to eat. The latest diet craze, the Paleo Diet, is based upon eating foods that our “hunter-gatherer ancestors” would have thrived on during the Paleolithic era. And there is the Blood Type Diet, the South Beach Diet, the Macrobiotic Diet, the Mediterranean Diet, and the list goes on. But who and what should we believe? Well, there is an optimal diet for humans and the answer might surprise many.
Vastag, Brian. "FDA Reviews Expanded Claims On Health Benefits Of Certain Foods." JNCI: Journal Of The National Cancer Institute 96.16 (2004): 1198-1199.
Escape from the Western Diet, by Michael Pollen, is about the argument of what is best for people to consume in order to avoid certain ailments caused by what they eat. There are many who believe certain factors such as eating too much fat or refined carbohydrates or missing certain nutrients are to blame for the poor state of health of westerners. The reason for that is that it provides for a quick easy answer to dieting issues. The author believes that all these things may have some contribution to poor health but the overall nemesis is the western diet itself.
In 1985, scholars S. Boyd Eaton and Melvin J. Konner published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine entitled ‘Paleolithic Nutrition’ that provided insight to he evolution of human nutritional requirements. Although...
"Global Dietary Changes Threaten Health." World Health Federation. Medtronic Foundation, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. .
However, many people still refuse to be a vegetarian for different reasons. Some people prefer the taste of meat, and some people believe that they are born to eat meat. Despite that about 2 billion people in the world live basically on the meat diet, around 4 billion people live mainly on a plant-based diet because of food shortage(Pimentel ＆ Pimentel, 2003, pp660S). As everyone knows, the number of population is growing. For example, the total U.S. population doubled in the previous 60 years, and it may double again in the next 70 years (Pimentel ＆ Pimentel, 2003, pp660S). People won’t have enough meat to eat in the future. On the other hand, a well-planned vegetarian diet offers many health benefits. Therefore, people should become vegetarian because it benefits to huma...
In general, veganism is understood as eating strictly vegetables and abstaining from animal products altogether. Anthropologists believe, according to their studies of many human fossils around the world, that sixty five million years ago most humans ate mainly plant foods, being more likely gathers than hunters. In fact, the human digestive system resembles this early vegetarian condition from other plant-eaters in the coprolites and rudimentary tools discovered through archaeological findings at primitive human settlements. As climate changed, physical structure also changed: the discovery of fire and the increase of brain size modified diet to include meat products. These facts, argue proponents of banning animal products, illustrate that humans are not meant to be meat eaters.