The Mediterranean Diet

To start with, the Mediterranean diet is not a diet per say but more of a way of life of the people of the Mediterranean basin. It is more of a term for the abridgement of the several traditional foods and eating patterns of the 16 countries that border the Mediterranean basin, most notably Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Spain.

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.

Like the article, Unhappy Meals, by Michael Pollan mentioned the food we eat reflects our culture and what society has accepted as “healthy.” This article has open my eyes to observations I had never considered and circumstances I was not

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

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.

In the essay, “Escape from the Western Diet”, the author, Michael Pollan discuss about how the western diet is harmful for the people. He think that because western diet is responsible for many kinds diseases nowadays such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and etc. I agree with Michael pollan that western diet is very unhealthy for people and the reason behind it, is because of the food industry. Food industry is making more processed food and they are also using different kinds of nutritional theories to make new product which is very unhealthy to those people who mostly eats diet food. Medical industries is also responsible for this problem because they make new drug treatment to treat the diseases. I also agree with Michael

B., E. Cho, K. M. Rexrode, C. M. Albert & J. E. Manson (2003) Fish and long-chain omega-3 fatty acid intake and risk of coronary heart disease and total mortality in diabetic women. Circulation, 107, 1852-7. Huxley, R., C. M. Lee, F. Barzi, L. Timmermeister, S. Czernichow, V. Perkovic, D. E. Grobbee, D. Batty & M. Woodward (2009) Coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and tea consumption in relation to incident type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Arch Intern Med, 169, 2053-63. Knight, J. A. (2011) Diseases and disorders associated with excess body weight.

Science vs Nature Recently, the diagnosis of health problems in America such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes have been on the rise. Likely caused by over caloric diets, many scientists have used nutritionism, the theory that specific nutrients determine a food’s nutritional value, to create methods to decrease the occurrence of such diseases. In Michael Pollan’s essay “Escape from the Western Diet,” Pollan makes the claim that in order to improve America’s diminishing diet people must look past nutritionism and food science because of the negative impact it has on the environment. He suggests that people must eat more whole foods, unprocessed and grown naturally, in order to solve this food crisis.

Lee Fulkerson’s Forks Over Knives prevents a radical approach to helping America get healthy and avoid health issues such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. These health issues have plagued America since the invention of fast food and have made America one least healthiest countries in the world. However, the film’s aversion to taking modern medicines and instead relying on a plant based diet to avoid new health issues and reverse existing health made me question the practicableness of having an entirely plant based diet as the film recommends. Additionally, critics of plant based diets such as Connie Diekman at Washington University feel that plant based diets will leave the deprived of nutrients that milk and dairy provide such as calcium. However, the two academic studies I found through my own research support that a plant based diet does lower your risk of heart attack and when done right, does not leave your body lacking critical nutrients.

British Nutrition Foundation. 36.2 (2011): 216-220.

1. After taking the heart disease risk assessment, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my assessed risk was “very much below average”. I have always thought of my lifestyle as above average in terms of health, and was glad to have this assessment reaffirm that. The only two improvements suggested were to eat more fish and more vegetable oil (which surprised, because I had thought that oils were to be avoided if possible). For the diabetes risk assessment, my assessment results were the same, “very much below average”.

Annotated Bibliography Research Question: Are low-fat/fat-free foods healthier than their full-fat counterparts? Aseem Malhotra, et al. “Observations from the Heart: Saturated Fat is not the Major Issue”, Journels.BMJ.com, October 2013; 347:f6340 [accessed 03/26/15] In this informative Medical journal entry, Dr. Malhotra Aseem (interventional cardiology specialist) attempts to dispel some of the common myths surrounding saturated fats and the role they play in heart health. He does not dispute the fact that trans-fats are still responsible for increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, citing that trans-fats are damaging to cardiovascular health (due largely to the inflammation which they cause).

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.

This week the world was introduced to The Wild Diet while watching the show My Diet Is Better Than Yours. This show puts five different diets up against each other to see which one is the best. The Wild Diet Plan is one that obviously is working and now fans are wondering about this diet and if it might work for them. New York Post shared all about this diet so that viewers can see if The Wild Diet plan is one they want to try.

“We should eat less of any particular actual food” (51). People consider that they can lose their weight just by reducing their total consumption of fat and completely undermining the portion of other food they consume. To remain hale and hearty,