Eating Healthy Michael Pollan, a health food spokesperson, made some interesting critiques on how he believes that there is an American paradox such as, “a notably unhealthy population preoccupied with… the idea of eating healthy” (Maxfield, 442). The idea taken from Michael Pollan’s quote is that he believes the definition of healthy eating has more to do with how it is “driven by a well-funded corporate machine” (Maxfield, 442). He is also claiming that the food industry is benefiting on our lack of knowledge on how to eat properly when it comes to being healthy. In her article Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating, Mary Maxfield directly attacked Pollan’s claims, pointing out the hypocrisy in his words because he is sharing …show more content…
She believes that it is better to trust the body and listen to what the mind is saying in terms of what is needed. She believes that there is too much moralization going on towards food, which is why people mostly think too much food is bad and prefer lesser amounts in terms of health. She states that HAES (Health at Every Size) nutritionists, specifically naming Michelle Allison “suggest that adult humans will eat in a way that is good for them, given the opportunity”. People will mainly eat what they believe will benefit them in terms of health. In conclusion, Mary Maxfield’s major point in her essay, Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating, is that instead of limiting what is eaten, the focus should be on meeting the needs of the body. Moralization of food is only going to be detrimental because in a way, it makes something so simple, such as eating, more complicated than it should be. Health and weight are not correlated, although many believe it is. As Maxfield stated at the end of her essay, “Trust yourself. Trust your body. Meet your
In turn, he provides his own rules for escaping the western diet as well as the idea of nutritionist set forth by scientists. Then Pollan explains that scientific theories of nutritionist focus on individual nutrients rather than foods as a whole. He further goes on to refute this claim mentioning that these scientific theories contradict with one another. Pollan explains “the scientists who blame our health problems on deficiencies of [micronutrients] are not the same scientists who see a sugar soaked diet leading to metabolic syndrome and from there to diabetes, heart disease…” (Pollan, 421).
In Alice Randall’s “My soul to Keep, My Weight to Lose”, Alice discusses her developing insight into her large weight problem.
Both Editors David Zinczenko and Radley Balko offer different perspectives on how fast food has increase obesity in the united states and who is to blame Zinczenko contents the need to provide nutritional chart in fast food restaurant (392) while Balko argues that consumers need to become personally responsible for what they are consuming (397). In Zinczenko’s writing “Don’t Blame the Eater”, and Balko “What You Eat Is Your Business” while both agreeing that something has to change to reduce obesity in the United States, but at the same time have different views on how to approach the problem. Zinczenko argues the need for fast food industries to convey calorie labels similar to grocery items, and make them simpler for the consumer to understand (392). Balko judges the
Just reading the title of In Defense of Food (2008) by Michael Pollan gave me some hope that he would tell us that enjoying our food without guilt is all we need to know. In a sense he does just that, but first he defines what food is and is not and then goes on to explain how to find, and enjoy, this food. My first question is why people feel the need for someone to tell them what to eat. In fact, Pollan himself asks this question. Throughout the book, he spends a great deal of time defending why he wrote the book.
This appeals to our physiological needs because naturally, humans need to eat food and to hear from a professional that there are other influences outside of food that are giving cause to the obesity crisis gives Americans a slight sigh of relief when it comes to the degree of toxicity of our foods. Furthermore, that people eat a more wholesome diet versus those that do not, tend to be healthier than that live on fast and processed foods,there are also stark differences to recognize between these classes that should be taken into account as well such as the tendency to engage in exercise, air quality, and other health considerations such as smoking and
Relevance between Food and Humans with Rhetorical Analysis In the modern industrial society, being aware of what the food we eat come from is an essential step of preventing the “national eating disorder”. In Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, he identifies the humans as omnivores who eat almost everything, which has been developed into a dominant part of mainstream unhealthiness, gradually causing the severe eating disorder consequences among people. Pollan offers his opinion that throughout the process of the natural history of foods, deciding “what should we have for dinner” can stir the anxiety for people based on considering foods’ quality, taste, price, nutrition, and so on.
In “How Junk Food Can End Obesity,” by David H. Freedman, he claims that processed foods can help fix the obesity crisis in a more realistic manner, rather than whole-some foods. The popular opinion emphasizes whole-some foods because they aren’t informed about the similitude between processed and unprocessed foods. The essence of the essay is that people believe processed foods are bad and unhealthy for us, therefore whole-some foods are highly recommended for the health of an individual. Freedman mentions many prominent authors who wrote books on food processing, but the most influential voice in the food culture Freedman makes a point of is, American journalist, Michael Pollan. The media and Michael Pollan indicate that everything should be replaced with real, fresh, and unprocessed foods, instead of engineering in as much sugar, salt, and fat as possible into industrialized foods.
In the article “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating” by Mary Maxfield published in 2012 states that people’s knowledge about health, is more so based on culture or origin. Rather than what is actually healthy. She also claims that as a culture “we no longer discuss healthy eating without also discussing healthy weights. Due to Maxfield’s claim that as a culture, we do not make conscious dieting decisions about healthy foods and normal weight, I disagree with that for a few reasons. There are many people in America that are health conscious, and some people truly have their own knowledge about what is healthy weight and a healthy diet.
Michael Pollan’s Escape from the Western Diet connects well with what Mary Maxfield says in her article. Both Pollan and Maxfield talk about the ways that dieting is taking over American people’s healths and causing them to become even unhealthier. In Mary Maxfield’s argument she talks about how people believe everything that diet industries say, even though they know that the information they give you is false. This connects really well with what Michael Pollan talks about in his article, which is that people know that these theories that are used for the Western diet are not accurate, but yet they still decide to use the Western diet to help them become healthier.
In “What You Eat Is Your Business,” Radley Balko tackles the issue of who is responsible for fighting obesity. Balko argues that the controversy of obesity should make the individual consumers culpable for their own health and not the government (467). As health insurers refrain from increasing premiums for obese and overweight patients, there is a decrease in motivation to keep a healthy lifestyle (Balko 467). As a result, Balko claims these manipulations make the public accountable for everyone else 's health rather than their own (467). Balko continues to discuss the ways to fix the issue such as insurance companies penalizing consumers who make unhealthy food choices and rewarding good ones (468).
Junk food is responsible for the growing rate of obesity. This is outlined by David freedman in his article of “How junk food can end obesity.” David Freedman has credited the “health-food” motion, and followers of it along with Michel Pollan. Freedman claims that if the America desires to stop the obesity epidemic, or at least reduce its effects, they must shift to the fast meals and processed meals enterprise for assist, now not the “health-food” movement.
In both David Zinczenko’s “Don’t Blame The Eater” and “ Radley Balko’s “What You Eat is Your Business”, the argument of obesity in America is present and clear from opposing viewpoints. Both articles were written in the early 2000’s, when the popular political topic of the time was obesity and how it would be dealt by our nation in the future. While Zinczenko argues that unhealthy junk food is an unavoidable cultural factor, Balko presents the thought that the government should have no say in it’s citizens diet or eating habits. Zinczenko’s article was written with the rhetorical stratedgy of pathos in mind.
Unfortunately, it’s in our human nature to form judgments on people upon gazing at them. Although it’s not something that can be diminished in us, it is something we can rightfully control. A recent incident happened at the bank where a man, who was on the heavier weight side, came into the bank using crutches to help him maneuver. A co-worker saw him and made a comment on his looks which lead me to reply saying it’s unfair to make impertinent comments on random people. It’s imperative to remember that we are unaware of what an individual’s circumstances may be; what if the person has certain health conditions that cause them to be a certain way?
According to a study conducted by the CDC, that Americans are getting fatter and fatter every year. That more than one third (36.5%) of U.S. adults is obese. In contrast to what the medical community says, fast-food giants’ fights back by hurling propagandas of their own “There 's nobody at McDonald’s shoving fries in your mouth.” This was noted by McDonald’s own Chief Nutritionist Bonnie Modungo. Although they do have a point that they do not force the consumer to patronize their products, Fast-food restaurant still have the moral obligation to provide enough information to the public about the contents of the food they market.
What does it take for people to notice the poison they are being fed? Is it the alarming death toll of obese people, or the deaths of people who suffer major health issues from consuming from these corrupted processed food companies? America has a problem, people always find a way to make products bigger and inexpensive to consumers. The producers try to make it affordable to the everyday person so they will consume the product, and since its hyper palatable they’ll come back for more frequently. Income has played an astonishing role in people’s health and diet.