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A Paleolithic Diet Analysis

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Brown and Richerson (2013) note the integration of evolutionary theory with other sub-disciplines and areas that are under development and lack consensus. Additionally, Thompson and Turner (2013) claim that while the evolutionary mismatch hypothesis can be a useful tool to study the human diet, fully returning to a Paleolithic diet focuses on health and diet from a purely evolutionary standpoint and neglects changes in human biology and cultural factors. Consequently, the Paleolithic diet may have been beneficial for our ancestors, however in today’s modern world, applying it is would be unsustainable, unequal, and rely too much on the past instead of adapting for the future. Although evolutionary theory assists us in understanding the survival …show more content…

Diets that are restrictive can generally only exist, where it is possible (Metzgar, Rideout, Fontes-Villalba & Kuipers, 2011). This leaves those who are unable to afford choosing higher quality, healthier, or organic foods behind, and excluded. For example, in a survey conducted by Metzgar et al., (2011) an average Paleolithic consumer was found to be between the ages of 21-40, a college graduate, and married without children. Although one may argue an escalating obesity and chronic disease epidemic is also not cost-free, the current structure of our society allows industrial agriculture businesses to make healthy food unaffordable for the average citizen, while unhealthy food is substantially cheaper (Thompson & Turner, 2013). This is what has led to a growth of diseases, and health costs, and needs to be addressed. Thus, instead of returning to our roots, government policies should be introduced on a higher scale to remove processed food, and make healthy options viable for those at lower income …show more content…

In today’s Western culture, food is often much more than just nutrition. With the rise of mass media, television, and social networking, food is now an experience to share and dining out is one of the most popular ways to connect socially (Neely, Stephens, Waltons, 2014). For example, evolutionary maladaptation can be demonstrated through how mass media and advertisers expose individuals to attractive, flashy products designed increase their sales, and not the recipient’s fitness (Brown & Richerson, 2013). While some claim evolutionary psychologists acknowledge these factors, they often fail to take into account newer pragmatic solutions. For example, researchers have currently working on hunger suppressing bacteria, which could revolutionize weight loss strategies (Zhongyi et al., 2014). For this reason focusing on behaviours that exist because they solved problems efficiently in the past will not necessarily generate adaptive behavior in the present. Psychologists need to examine the achievements of the past along with human 's ability to adapt further based on the current circumstances. [Word

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He says that the human race should go back to the diets and lifestyles of our ancestors or in other words go back to the bush. Pollan however disagrees with Burkitts drastic solution and instead agrees with Gyorgy Scrinis’s (2008) solution to the problem, “the most important fact about any food is not its nutrient content but its degree of processing.”

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The three essays assigned this week had several common threads running through them. The strongest core theme is the rapid change in the food cycle in America and the vast changes that have taken place in the way by which we grow, produce, and process the food that average Americans eat. The food we eat now is drastically different from what our grandparents grew up eating and the three essays each examine that in a different way. Another theme is the loss of knowledge by the average consumer about where their food comes from, what it is composed of, and what, if any, danger it might pose to them. “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear” by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele is a harsh look at the realities of food production in a country where large corporations, like Monsanto, have been allowed to exploit laws and loopholes to bend farmers and consumers to their

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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.

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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.

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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.

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In the book, The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Pollan claims we should be more knowledgeable about what we consume as omnivores. As omnivores we have a variety of food, we can choose from, however, we don’t regularly make the best decisions for ourselves. Pollan argues this by showing us where our food really comes from and how we can find many unwanted extras. Pollan shows us that we’ve evolved as humans from how we used to eat to how we eat now. Pollan argues this by introducing us to all the food chains we value today, some much more than others.

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In the world, there are one billion people undernourished and one and a half billion more people overweight. In this day and age, where food has become a means of profit rather than a means of keeping people thriving and healthy, Raj Patel took it upon himself to explore why our world has become the home of these two opposite extremes: the stuffed and the starved. He does so by travelling the world and investigating the mess that was created by the big men (corporate food companies) when they took power away from the little men (farmers and farm workers) in order to provide for everyone else (the consumers) as conveniently and profitably as possible. In his book Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, Patel reveals his findings and tries to reach out to people not just as readers, but also as consumers, in hopes of regaining control over the one thing that has brought us all down: the world food system.

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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.

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However, this is not his only purpose in writing this essay. Additionally, Michael Pollan seeks to reassure the reader that this change will eventually occur and how it will happen. He argues that the food movement of our generation has been successful in changing popular consciousness. However, it has been struggling with shifting, in any impactful way, the “standard American diet,” which he purports has only gotten worse since the 1970s (Envision in Depth p.g

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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.

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In David Freedman’s essay How Junk food Can End Obesity, Freedman makes the claim to policy arguing that instead of demonizing processed foods, Americans should instead support the idea and production of healthier processed and junk foods. He calls on the public to recognize that while many products on the market these days are labeled as “wholesome” and “healthy”, consumers should learn to become aware of the fat and calorie content in these products because many times they have the same- if not more- fat and calorie contents as that of a typical Big Mac or Whopper. In his essay, Freedman primarily places blame on the media and the wholesome food movement for the condemnation of the fast and processed food industries saying, “An enormous amount of media space has been dedicated to promoting the notion that all processed food, and only processed food, us making us sickly and overweight” (Freedman), he further expresses that this portrayal of the

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3.1 How income inequality affect on people live in America. The income gap in America affects people, who live in this country. The issue has a strong impact in America’s society; in particular, the nutritional disparity between rich and poor people. In USA, the food gap becomes the top signal for the class distinction, but it used to be clothing or fashion. The food inequality in America is not only influencing the poverty, it is also cost hundreds of billions of dollar per year because of Non Communicable Diseases (NDCs) (Ferdman, 2014).

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For instance, a main argument for locavores is that when produce is shipped to different areas it loses most of its nutritional value gained from the soil it was grown in. In source A and B, nutrition is stated as a serious issue that continues to be dismissed and not taken into consideration in terms of the long lasting effects on the public. However, in source B, nutrition is confronted as a minuscule factor because the majority of the people with access to readily available produce are not malnourished. In fact, the growing rate of obesity constantly rises, proving that the statement indicating we are a malnourished society is wrong.

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Today life is on the fast track. People are always on the go and don’t have time to properly take care of themselves or their families. For most Americans, fast food and junk food are ready to grab for a snack or a quick dinner. They don’t slow down to think about how the foods they are eating effect their long term health. Fewer and fewer families take the time to prepare a nutritious meal and are passing down bad habits to their children.

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