Analysis Of Michael Pollan's In Defense Of Food

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active is becoming harder in our world, and exercising can not always counteract the type of foods we eat. To burn off a 20 ounces bottle of coke, a child would have to bike for an hour and fifteen minutes. One cookie would take twenty minutes of jogging to burn off, and the medium container of french fries takes one hour and twelve minutes of swimming to burn off. The food that we have to burn off effects how easily we can burn them. An example of this is consuming 160 calories of almonds, as the fiber allows them to go through your system slower, and the blood sugar level does not rise a lot, and the rise it does get lasts longer. 160 calories in soda is a much different story though. It goes straight to your liver, and induces a huge sugar …show more content…

Take this example from Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, “He showed the words ‘chocolate cake’ to a group of Americans and recorded their word associations. ‘Guilt’ was the top response. If that strikes you as unexceptional, consider the response of French eaters to the same prompt: ‘celebration.’” French people seem to enjoy their food more, and instead of counting calories, they enjoy meals like Soupe à L’oignon, known as, “The Queen Of All Soups,” or Hachis Parmentier, which is like a French version of a shepherd's pie, without worrying about their figure. Some of this may come from the lack of processed foods used in meals there, and the portion sizes. Another thing to note is that the French take their time to eat, often spending around 45 minutes eating a meal, compared to the American 15-20 minute meal. We can see the effects of this in the fact that only 24% of France is obese, ranking 39th worldwide. Meanwhile, America has jumped up to 33%, 13th on a worldwide scale. Unfortunately, France is slowly catching up, and the increase in fast food places could possibly be the cause of …show more content…

In an experiment, subjects received both baby carrots and M&M’s, or baby carrots first, then M&M’s five minutes later. When alone with vegetable, such as the baby carrots, you eat more them, so starting with a salad course insures that you will eat more vegetables. Another tip is to slow down during meals. Take time to enjoy your food, notice the unique flavors, and don’t be a unzealous zombie. If eating with others, allow the meal to be a side act to the main show of conversation amongst family and friend. When eating with people, try to eat with other healthy eaters. An experiment took place with a group of three friends, two knowing the information about the experiment. These same two got directions to only eat veggies off a tray that offered desserts, meats and cheeses, and fruits and veggies. When these two subjects only at veggies, the third friend followed their pattern, and ate more veggies as well. It just shows that sometimes peer pressure is