Summary Of Food As Thought Resisting The Moralization Of Eating By Mary Maxfield

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 turn, he provides his own rules for escaping the western diet as well as the idea of nutritionist set forth by scientists.

As diets and health become more and more of a public concern in America. Two authors weigh in on their opinions on how the American public should handle the problem of obesity as well as their solutions to the overwhelming issue. In one article, “Against Meat,” published on the New York Times website in 2009, points out that the solution to obesity should be vegetarianism. Johnathan Foer who is a vegetarian, claims that his diet and way of living is his the way of improving health in the American public. Foer’s article provides a sense of humor as well as personal stories to attempt to persuade his audience for the ethical treatment of animals along with his personal solution for his own health and the health of his family. 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.

“What incentive is there for me to put down the cheeseburger?” asks Radley Balko in his article "What You Eat Is Your Business." He argues that, obesity does not belong in the public health crisis. He claims that obesity is not a problem that should be dealt at the cost of public money but should be dealt at a personal level by every individual. He also states that the government should allow the citizens to access their health care funds account to support his conclusion, that, people will be more responsible for their health if someone else isn 't paying for their health problems. However, Balko fails to to provide evidence for to support his claim. Even though the problem of obesity is important, the Shorthorn should not publish "What You Eat Is Your Business" because it poorly argued and not interesting.

The beginning of the essay, the tone and diction are both lighthearted and inconsequential- full of basic observations and details. As the argument progresses, the tone shifts to be much more serious, even the footnotes hold a more serious perspective and address more insightful issues. Even in the moments of sincerity, Wallace builds a place of non-threatening engagement, reassuring the audience that he is not an expert either and any decisions about the consumption of meat is an individual one. Such is evident in Footnote 14; Wallace explores the linguistic trends in naming food, then immediately identifies himself as a non-expert by restating that is is just a theory and asking about “biblio-historic reasons” that could unravel his whole

Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of many great books. He wrote an essay titled Against Meat. Which is the essay I will be discussing. Jonathan is a teacher a New York University he has be awarded many times for his extraordinary input into his writing. The essay that he wrote was "adapted" from his book Eating Animals. (pg.448)

The essay repeatedly states that we do not know what our food goes through, where it comes from, and that we are ignorant to the food industry. Berry says, “The consumer must be kept from discovering that in the food industry, the overriding concerns are not quality and health, but volume and price.” In basic terms, the food industry does not care about the health of their consumers but their profit. The essay also repeats questions that the reader should ask themselves, such as,

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.

Mary Maxfield wrote her essay as a response to Michael Pollan’s essay on the western diet. Maxfield does not believe we should see food as what we can or cannot have, but to trust our instincts that our bodies will know what they need, which is contrary to Pollan’s article. Maxfield says that she does not believe that there is a correlation between weight, diet and health, which is also contradictory of Pollan. She believes that the body will naturally crave what it needs and you should let your body have what it wants because of this. Maxfield is targeting those interested in the real diet issue (possibly writers) and the Americans looking to make a difference in their diets. Maxfield does not specifically point out direct issues of the American

Nutritionalism is a topic that is widely researched around the globe, but even more so in America. The topic of healthy food is not only being researched but also heavily debated upon: whether one kind of food is any healthier than another. The debate surrounds an idea that food is the reason for many health disabilities. Because of the debate about food people have been formulating their own ideas and theories about the nutrition of food. Two articles about the nutrition argument are Escape from the Western Diet by Michael Pollan and Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating by Mary Maxfield. Each author presents three nutrition guidelines at the end of their essay for their audience to follow, but Pollan's obvious stance, strong

The structure of the article is persuasive. Marks persuades by sharing his personal experiences and giving prominent facts to why Americans need to change. He starts out his lecture by enlightening and informing the importance of eating. After, he goes into how easy and readily available food is and how we do not think of the risks due to these unnatural foods. In his next segment he provides information

In the article “Food for thought: Resisting the moralization of food” by Mary Maxfield, notions her overall assertion against the case of conformity within our culture regarding the principles of food. However, trusting ourselves to meet our needs will lead our culture to make poor Judgment, due to this, Ego depletion is the main cause of society’s repetition towards consuming what we desire to eat. The Theory of ego depletion is used in a psychological sense known as the fatigue in self control. According to the Resisting the moralization of food, Maxfield quotes “In essence, we can eat as we always have which includes eating for emotional and social reasons and still strive or even thrive (Maxfiled,445). This quote is questionable; does Mary’s response lean towards ego depletion? In reported study by Roy Baumeister and his colleagues designed an experiment focusing on ego depletion effects in diverse situations in 1998. The study revealed that individuals who were

The essay, The Coming Death Shortage and That Lean and Hungry Look, contrast significantly. This claim is proven when one uses the following standards: the clarity of the standard, fairness in the use of standard, and bias.

Her purpose continued to inform that there is no scientific way to eat; Americans’ weight can not be calculated based on only a few factors. The body has its needs, but those needs are hardly fulfilled because of the moralization of eating. Given where "Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating" was published, the article was intended for an audience of college students. Foer’s purpose uses satire to inform how dogs and other animals Americans eat are very similar; His purpose continued to inform the reader that animals that are chosen as companions and food differ among cultures, but one animal is not superior to another. Given where "Let Them Eat Dog: A Modest Proposal for Throwing Fido in the Oven" was published, the intended audience is college graduates with an above average salary. (“The demographics behind Wall Street Journal readers”). Correspondingly, the purpose of both articles is driven by the context of the

While poetry as a genre often evades the approachability of prose, its task at the end of the day is the same: to relay a narrative of truth. One advantage poetry holds over prose, however, is its intrinsic ability—even obligation—to explore the complexity of that truth. In the case of my poem, The Food Police, I attempt to do exactly that, examining the ways in which our interpersonal relationships reflect and are affected by those we hold with food. By setting an emotionally volatile internal dialogue against the backdrop of an everyday scenario, I hope to expose the ways in which negative relationships with food can affect more than just one’s waistline.

In this excerpt from the essay “Appetite,” written by Laurie Lee, Lee explains why appetite is one of our major pleasures and what we should be doing to protect it. The author starts off talking about the qualities of fasting, and how he believes we should give up our pleasures regularly in order to preserve their intensity. To strengthen his argument, Lee tells a story of the men separating from the women and children leaving them to starve until the men returned with food. After the men return home, they continue on to feed their family and celebrate with them. The author ends the essay by actually telling us why it is important to preserve our appetite. Based off the excerpt of the essay presented, the author did not have a specific audience. The phrase, “So I think we should