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The human body is a delicate balance on every level, from individual microscopic cells to complex organ systems, and should be taken care of with the utmost respect. Human beings have particular nutritional requirements influenced by personal tastes and inclinations, natural shapes and sizes, blood types, metabolic rates, and genetic background (Seidenberg). The largest factor on how an individual feels is the quality of the fuel used for day to day functions. If the quality is junk, the body can only do so much and the individual feels lousy, or known today as ‘normal.’ Vise versa, if the quality is natural, it allows the body to run at peak performance and the individual experiences an unknown positive energy. The optimal human diet is one designed uniquely to the needs of the individual as proven by the various successes and failures of the Standard American Diet (SAD), the Paleolithic diet, the Mediterranean diet, Vegetarianism, and Veganism. To achieve maximum health status, it is imperative that an individual have a complete understanding of the relationship between the body and the foods used to fuel it. When the general public was confused and searching for structure and education in the components of a healthy lifestyle, the United State government was devising a sinister plan. The original Food Guide Pyramid was conceived in 1992 on a background of shaky science, which has since been disproved countless times (Willett). Misadvertised as healthy, this diet has led to the deficiency in one or more nutrients at the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) level of 92% of Americans (Hyman). A part of this deficiency can be blamed directly on the food. Over years marked with drastic genetic modification in laboratories, food has ... ... middle of paper ... ...also including fish, eggs, legumes, nuts, and seeds (“More People Trying”). Carbohydrates are key in moderation and should be from healthy sources that fall lower on the Glycemic Index (GI) like fruit (Berman ; Whitney). Due to the atrocities of genetic modification, foods that should be naturally able to supply all the necessary vitamins and minerals are no longer able to and the use of supplements is recommended to make up what has been lost to modern agricultural techniques (Hobson). An individual can be on the track to a healthy life if the simple advice of Michael Pollan is taken, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” (qtd. in Hobson). It is absolutely imperative that each individual take the time to understand how one’s own body reacts to all types of food and take note in order to assure subsequent meals only contain the optimal fuel for personal health.
Michael Pollan has develop his own algorithm on proper eating. His algorithm is to “Eat Food, Not too much, Mostly Plants”. His explanation of eat food is to consume real food and to avoid the fake processed foods. His meaning of not too much is to be aware of how we eat our food and to have portion control. Lastly, Pollans explanation of mostly plants is to choose the best types of foods, rather than focusing on nutritional value. Unlike Pollan, Mary Maxfields theory on how to eat healthy is to “Trust Yourself. Trust you body. Meet your needs.” You can eat whatever you want or need and have to trust that your body will tell you what it needs. A flaw with both Pollan and Maxfield is the fact that they both want to dismiss the fact that our bodies needs nutrition. Pollan claims that in his formula under mostly plants that we should focus on the best type of foods and not the nutritional value in the foods. Maxfield believes we should disregard nutrition and healthy food altogether. However, multiple studies state that getting the proper nutrition is a crucial part of are overall health. For example, a lack of calcium can cause weak bones resulting in higher risk of bone
Eating is an instinctual habit; however, what we decide to put in our body is a choice that will affect our way of living. In “The American Paradox,” Michael Pollan, a professor of journalism at University of California, Berkeley, disapproves of the way Americans have been eating. The term “American paradox” describes the inverse correlation where we spend more of our time on nutrition, but it would only lead to our overall health deteriorating. According to Pollan, our way of eating that had been governed with culture, or our mother, was changed by the entities of food marketers and scientists, who set up nutritional guidelines that changed the way we think about food. Nutritional advice is inaccurate as it is never proven, and it is not beneficial
All in all, this book is a great read for those seeking to learn more about food and how it relates to all aspects of life and history as well as find that extra push in taking the initiative in improving one’s eating habits and lifestyle. It serves as an easy to follow introduction into a healthy relationship with food including with simple guidelines that are not too forceful or complex to understand.
Whitney, E., Debruyne, L. K., Pinna, K., & Rolfes, S. R. (2011). Nutrition for health and health
Repeatedly the news will highlight a story about the obesity epidemic sweeping the nation. Although the news and health experts bombard the common citizen with quick and easy ways to eat healthier and exercise more, the source of the issue is kept hidden behind closed doors. Before placing blame on the eating habits, it’s essential to take a closer look at what is being consumed. With rapid change in the food industry, progress must be met with caution because “The way we eat has changed more in the past fifty years than in the past 10,000” (Pollan and Schlosser). It is easy for the common man to provide the blanket statement of eating “better”, yet few actually proceed to do this. The average American has one of the worst diets in the world although opportunity and variety of options are overwhelming. Food industries are deceiving by masking the true process of how their food is produced. Not only does the eye not see how the food was made, but there is also a false sense of variety in the grocery market. The grossly unbalanced American diets and genetically modified organisms both coexist to create a greater problem than previously thought of.
Since 1916, the United States Department of Agriculture (the government agency responsible for all U.S. policy regarding agriculture, food, and farming) has revised their recommendations several times. Unfortunately, money talks and the USDA’s recommendations are based on outdated science and are influenced by people with business interest. Even so, its recommendations are considered almost “holy” by physicians, nutritionists, and dieters, but in reality, they are the root cause of the problem. A single visit to our local public school cafeteria and it will become clear that they do not have the best interests of the children at heart. What they are feeding our innocent children is preposterous. Doctors, the people we trust and expect to be “the experts”, do not know much about the subject of nutrition. A vast majority of medical schools in the U.S. require just 25-30 hours or less of nutrition training, and some do not require at all. So doctors must rely on the ...
The population in the United States as of 2009 was 307,006,550 the younger population is projected to slightly increase and eventually plateau though the older population has been steadily increasing and projected to continue on an upward trend (Vincent & Velkoff, 2010). The lack of a healthier diet is something that has been highlighted in the media for the past decade and more often than not we are seeing the effects of overindulging and the consumption of highl...
“Eating in our time has gotten complicated” (Pollan xi). In Food Rules, author Michael Pollan makes it very clear that the American diet is unhealthy and we do not know what we are truly eating. We’ve made eating more difficult, Americans are constantly tracking, counting, and stressing about calories, carbs, and sugars. In reality a lot of us don’t really know what exactly we should be eating, we just guess and eat something that sounds like it’s good for us. I myself have done this on a daily basis. Every time I plan a meal, I think “is this too many carbs?” or “what is erythritol and is it good for me?”. In the past few months I’ve decided to become more aware of what I am putting into my body. I’ve noticed myself
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,
Nutrition is a basic necessity of life. Without a proper and well-balanced diet, it is difficult for any being, regardless of species, to survive. Unlike that of primates such as the great apes, the human diet is more full of calories and nutrients. Humans have a great understanding of what types of food are necessary to maintain good health. It is difficult to tell when the eating habits of Homo sapiens split apart from the eating habits of these other primates. Yet, one fact is certain. As human evolution continues to progress, the human diet also continues to evolve.
Throughout this position paper there are some key recommendations made by The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics about how to improve the diets and nutritional status by specifically using the total diet approach.1 One key recommendation is that nutrition messages tend to be more effective when they are focused on positive ways to make changes overtime, opposed to listing specific foods that are to be avoided completely.1 Foods should also not be labeled “good” or “bad” because it can result in negative attitudes and poor judgments.1 Instead of having people cut certain foods out of their diets completely it is more effective to teach the concepts of moderation and proportionality.1 This position paper also mentions programs that already support the total diet approach such as MyPlate, the White House’s Let’s Move campaign, Nutrition Facts labels, nutrients intake recommendations, and Healthy People
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”.
Proper nutrition is one of the most essential elements to being healthy and living a long life. People deal with food every day, and food has been a part of life since the beginning of civilization. What we eat becomes our diet, and our diet plays a major role in deciding how healthy we are and how well our body functions. Without proper diet, our body cannot carry out the functions it needs to perform. Most people have some common knowledge on what is good and what is bad for the human body to consume. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains are some common items people think of when they think of healthy foods. However, it is not enough just to know what foods are good for your body, it is also important to understand why certain foods are good for you and what they do to help the body function.
As they always say HEALTH IS WEALTH! Your food selection today, makes you enjoy for the moment and affects your health tomorrow and in the future!
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “despite the emphasis by nutritionists and other health professionals on the importance of fruit in a well-rounded healthy diet,” a survey taken during 1994-1996 revealed that “only 57.8 percent of people age 19 and younger ate fruits on a given day” (Fisher, 2004, p. 16).