Escape By Michael Pollan Analysis

Celina Canuto

English Comp I

12/11/15

What should we eat?

After a long day of work, the idea of spending time cooking a decent meal seems too exhausting to accomplish. With so little time to fit our fast paced schedule, we tend to gravitate towards a new solution of ordering quickly fixed meals. Today, a hot meal can be just a phone call away and ready to be devoured. We constantly favor other individuals to prepare our food instead of taking the initiatives ourselves, thus becoming the evident fault in the American diet; here is where a solution becomes a problem.

There are several flaws in the American diet, consequently leading to a staggering number of problematic health issues. Michael Pollan, author of Escape from the Western

Food companies are receiving freedom to tweak the Western diet to keep the business afloat with the knowledge that "any kind of processed foods are a big part of the problem" says Pollan.

High risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol is at an alarming peak in today's society. The western diet is a dietary habit chosen by many people in some developed countries; it is characterized by high intakes of red meat, sugary desserts, high-fat foods, and refined grains.

Escaping from the western diet has become challenging for individuals, why isn't anyone trying to prevent it from becoming our main dietary plan? Some might say that the medical community is doing their job to secure individuals with health issues such as diabetes and high cholesterol by developing new drugs to battle diseases that come from a western diet, but Pollan seems to disagree by stating "But the health care industry, being an industry, stands profit more handsomely from new drugs and procedures to treat chronic diseases than it does from a wholesale change in the way people eat", as long as there someone to provide drugs that will help maintain your disease a change in our diet is not needed, we as a society are becoming our own enabler for fattening

Heidi Stevens' article A problem of grand proportions for the Tribune Newspaper, daringly quoted Brian Wansink "affordability isn't what's driving us to overeat, the three biggest drivers that mess us up are: how big our portions are, how frequently we eat and what we eat". We are mindlessly eating away our health with each and every bit of processed, unhealthy foods. Modifying our choices and stretching every dollar the healthy way can reverse a health disease that is on its way.

You're hungry and you eat anything that entices your taste buds without evaluating the risks of health consequences in the future. Being absent minded to the chemicals and ingredients in our food are only harming our bodies. we are the real culprit in obesity arising in America. We have created unhealthy food companies and restaurant only for profit. We are robbing ourselves out of a healthy future and few extra years of