Chewing The Moralization Of Eating By Mary Maxfield Essay

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Chewing Over Nutritional Advice To eat, or not to eat: that is the question. Americans today often find themselves overwhelmed by the cornucopia of nutritional advice that they have to digest. In “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating,” Mary Maxfield asserts that Americans are being brainwashed into believing that they need to follow dietary advice to be healthy. Pointing out that our ancestors lived healthfully without this advice, she advocates that Americans should ignore dieting opinions and instead listen to what their bodies are saying. In other words, Americans should eat whatever they want because their bodies know best. However, her proposal fails to take into account what I consider to be important variables such …show more content…

Maxfield rationalizes, “... follow a formula we have long known but recently forgotten: Trust yourself. Trust your body. Meet your needs.” (446). The essence of this argument is that Americans should return to the way life used to be in the past when people could take care of themselves simply by eating whatever they wanted. However, Maxfield fails to take into account that past generations did not have access to the processed and chemical-ridden foods we have today. Hence, the bulk of what they ate would have consisted of fresh, wholesome foods that were nutritious. She also neglects to address the fact that previous generations lived labor-intensive lives; today 's Americans take advantage of modern conveniences such as running water, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and automobiles that take the physical labor out of everyday tasks. Americans need guidance now more than ever because we live relatively sedentary lives and have a banquet of unhealthful food options right at our

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