The Critique Essay of the “Escape from the Western Diet” In his work Escape from the Western Diet Michael Pollan focused on American negative food habits, their place in different spheres of the society and general possible ways to improve the food behavior. “The Western Diet is known for its lack of fresh fruit and vegetables and its strong reliance on fast-food, high sugar beverages, high-fat dairy, refined carbohydrates and red meat” (“Western Diet”). While many experts focus on its content, Pollan suggested to turn the attention to the effect the diet has on social, industrial and medical spheres. The author highlighted they unlikely will completely abandon the Western diet as it promote their development. Pollan suggested that, instead …show more content…
He explained his critical attitude on the nutritionism, described the place of the Western Diet in the modern world and difficulties linked to its avoidance. The author also proposed several simple ways to improve food behavior. These rules can be treated as a logical fallacy of the article. At the beginning Pollan stated people should escape not only from the Western Diet, but from the nutritionism too. But his first rule “Eat food” that includes the separation of a “real food from the cascade of foodlike products that are surround and confound us” (Pollan 4) make the last task difficult. The author himself mentioned the modern industry made its impact on the “whole food”. So people need to check product’s chemical content to be sure they eat the real food; it makes it impossible to separate diet from science, like Pollan wanted. I also do not think the author treated the nutritionism fairly. While he was right in his critique of debates between different “cults” of direct nutrients, the nutritionism has the true basis. Food’s value really is in its nutrients, and the problem of the Western Diet is that meals lack of some compounds and have an excess of other. It would be difficult to value the food itself more, if people would not know its
In Michael Pollan’s essay “Escape from the Western Diet,” he directly to Americans about the western diet and why he believes they need to escape from it. The reason Americans should escape the western diet is to avoid the harmful effects associated with it such as “western diseases” (Pollan, 420). To support his view on the issue, Pollan describes factors of the western diet that dictate what Americans believe they should eat. These factors include scientists with their theories of nutritionist, the food industry supporting the theories by making products, and the health industry making medication to support those same theories. Overall, Pollan feels that in order to escape this diet, people need to get the idea of it out of their heads.
In the reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan and The Simple Life In A Nutshell (Biologic Living) by Dr. J.H. Kellogg, they both dig deep into the past to try and explain to us the readers what we should and should not be putting into our bodies, how to make the most of these foods, creating a sound body and mind, although they have the same goals they have vastly different ways of achieving these goals . “The doctor in the future will give no medicines, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the causes and prevention of disease.” –Thomas Edison. Both Pollan and Kellogg believe that the foods we eat are directly in correlation with the diseases most common to us. Pollan points out that we live off a Western Diet, high in saturated fats, red meats.
Main Argument and Thesis The main point of the article is that diets can often be dependent upon geographic surroundings. Diets can provide essential nutrients and minerals in various ways. Supporting Evidence The authors, Patricia Gadsby and Leon Steele, support their main point through using nutritional evidence, referencing scientific studies, and providing dialogue from multiple individuals.
People that eat a Western diet are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases than those who eat a more traditional diet. The different theories scientists come up with to explain what in the Western diet causes these diseases all contradict each other (Pollan 421). In Escape from the Western Diet, Michael Pollan examines these issues and gives his solution to the problem. He believes scientists can argue about what causes these diseases, but the only solution, though it may be difficult, is to stop eating a Western diet. Pollan believes one of the biggest challenges in escaping the Western diet is changing how we eat and think.
With the help of appealing strategies and literary devices, guidance is provided to us which gives a clearer comprehension of the book itself. Especially the logos strategy gives the readers a sign that Pollan tries the best to get involved with the dilemma for understanding it better than just the obvious. Setting his unique tone throughout the book, Pollan provides his critical attitudes towards the phenomenon that the industrial farms are taking advantage of the ignorance of people’s knowledge of what they are eating, making large profits regardless the health and safety of people. The purpose of informing people what they are eating and what goes behind the food is reached with his investigation and observation expressed throughout the book, bringing the awareness of knowing the truth to the
The United States can then mix these cultural dishes with others, capitalize on them, and industrialize them in the most efficient way which often leads to changes from their natural form. “American food is immigrant food translated into a new physical, economic, and agricultural environment” (Cowen 28). From the outside perspective, other countries might be quick to judge America and say that the only food that’s produced is artificial and unhealthy. While this stereotype does have an essence of truth, it’s more accurate to assert that America’s food is a blend of a variety of cultures. Mainly because it’s never seen in advertising, but outsiders don’t get the opportunity to see America’s organic agriculture or fresh resources.
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.
COLLAPSE I agree with Pollan 's argument about how food culture is a set of social and ecological relationships reaching back to the land and outward to other people. I 'm going to give you facts about my personal food culture. The second paragraph will be about how other people connect to having social and ecological relationships with their food culture. The last paragraph will be about how the farmers/food growers get helped and make profit from other people buying their product 's. All these paragraphs will prove why Pollan 's idea about how food cultures is a set of social and ecological relationships.
Explain why Pollan has a problem with the way the American government subsidizes farms, particularly those that grow corn. Pollan does not agree with how the government is just paying off the farmers and not helping the situation of subsidies and falling prices. Pollan does not like how the farmers are treated different from any other food processors or exporters in the food business. The farmers are the ones that are taking the beating with the bad economy and instead of fixing it; the government just pays them off. 4.
In this non-fiction book by a journalism professor at UC Berkley, Michael Pollan asks the age old question…”What’s for dinner?” Michael Pollan believes that how we answer that question may well determine how we survive as a species. In his book he details how we as a country have been lead down the convenience path when choosing what we eat. Fast food chains and the American Supermarket have changed the way we eat as a nation and Michael Pollan is considered an expert in this subject. In this award winning book, he follows the four food chains: industrial food, organic or alternative food, and food we forage ourselves and the impact these sources are having on the health of our country.
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.
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.
On a differing take on the solution, “Escape from the Western Diet” by Michael Pollan provides the complete change of our diet and way of life based around cooking and eating meals. however creates a more powerful and logical argument against the “Western Diet” in his article, He uses a combination of his credibility from his publications on health and foods, evidence against the practices of the medical community, along with his solution to the issue of obesity to create an article that draws in audience’s emotions and rationale. Pollan’s strongest points in his article was the use of credibility and his ability to bring logic and reason to most of his points against medical society and the publics solution to obesity. Pollan comes in with a stronger
From the movie we can see that the food industry has done a lot to provide consumers a false imagery of food, try to keep them from knowing what is really happening in the industry. It is shocking how they create the imagery of animals being raised in a farm when they are actually raised in a factory. As well as the illusion of choice, despite thousands of different products on the racks of supermarket, most of them contain the same few main ingredients such as corn and soybean. Although it is remarkable to see haw corn can be such a great raw material and by reassembling, a lot of things such as high-fructose corn syrup and ascorbic acid can be produced, it makes me think how much do I know about the things that I am eating.
There is a misconception concerning the nutritional values in locally produced goods, thus it is crucial to recognize that it essentially does not have higher nutrients compared to the goods in markets. The idea of produced products being healthier and superior has grown through the spread of the locavore movement, yet many are not informed with the fact that it considerably contains a similar amount of nutrients. In Smith and MacKinnon’s passage from the 100-Mile Diet, it asserts that food generally loses its nutrients after it is harvested and further clarifies how people are not deprived of nutrients (Source B). Through this knowledge, one can identify that there is no significant difference between produced products and goods in markets, being that they both ultimately lose its nutrients through time. It is not required for an