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Summary Of Escape From The Western Diet

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The Naked Truth of the Western Diet
Americans generally associate their own country with enthusiastic words such as patriotism and freedom or activities like football and barbecuing on a hot and enjoyable summer day. However, the rest of the world knows America for its westernized culture and controversial diet that generally consists of large food portions high in saturated fats and sugars. In the published piece written by Michael Pollan, Escape from the Western Diet, he explains and convinces his readers about numerous diseases and other health risks that all stem from the western diet in one way or another. From constant eating of fried foods to the staggering increase of heart disease and diabetes, Pollan goes in depth of how the adapted …show more content…

As the author puts it, "A hallmark of the western diet is food that is fast, cheap, and easy" (425). To elaborate, the particular food Pollan refers to are those that typically fall under the fast-food category. Whether it be a quarter-pounder from McDonald’s or the famous Baconator from Wendy’s, these menu items all share characteristics of what the western diet entails. These processed foods are composed of genetically modified organisms and include lab-made ingredients that the industry produces rather than foods and ingredients mother nature herself creates. Pollan makes almost the same claim when he says “…instead of worrying about nutrients, we should simply avoid any food that has been processed to such an extent that it is more the product of industry than of nature.” (424). These powerful words of insight from the author emphasize just how far the consumers of the western diet have distanced themselves from natural food their ancestors used to once indulge on. For example, going back sixty to seventy years ago families had to prepare their meals with more nutritious foods as they did not have nearly the same accessibility to the amount of processed and fast-foods that Americans do …show more content…

In agreement with said statistics, Michael Pollan states, “People eating a western diet are prone to a complex of chronic diseases that seldom strike people eating more traditional diets.” (421). In other words, consumers who take part of the western diet can, and most likely will, contract a chronic disease compared to those who choose the healthier or more traditional styles of eating. Who would’ve thought that something so insignificant as a single hamburger or large sized fountain drink could be so harmful? Well, it turns out that these items can be very much so. In the article it reads, “...a sugar-soaked diet can lead to metabolic syndrome and from there to diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer.” (421). By saying this the author effectively reminds us of the seriousness behind this type of dieting by listing, and naming, such malignant

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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.

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In the essay, “Escape from Western Diet”, the author, Michael Pollan discusses that western diet is unhealthy to people, because western diet is responsible for many kinds of diseases. Michael pollan is against with the new theories and he think that the reason behind this diseases is because of the food industry. Nowadays food industry is making more processed food than the healthy food. I agree with Michael Pollan that food industries is using different type of theories to make a new products which is very harmful and unhealthy to those people who regularly eats diet food. I also agree with Michael Pollan’s three rules “Eat food, Not too much, Mostly plants”.

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I read article from book Defense of food written by Michael Pollan. The author had already worked with six books about diet and also was in Time magazine’s Top 100 most influential people in 2010. In this article he is writing about “Western Diet” -in other side we can call it simple diet, because it is really cheap and fast diet as Pollan says : “A hallmark of the Western diet is food that is fast, cheap, and easy.” As we all know people like simple things, nobody wants to make even diet difficult, that is the reason why Western Diet got popular in United States in these days.

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According to Pollan, the focus of society on the nutrients in food has not helped the obesity epidemic in the Western world. According to Pollan, “The industrial food supply was promptly reformulated

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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,” is used to directly talk to Americans about the western diet and how he believes they should escape from it. His main point is that we should escape to avoid the harmful effects associated with it such as “western diseases” (Pollan, 420). Then he goes on to describes what Americans believe they should be eating and how they don’t even seem to care. They are nutritionist with their theories, the food industry supporting the theories by new healthy products, and the health industry reaping the reward by making medication to support those same theories. For Americans to escape this diet, they must get the idea of it out of their heads.

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The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, is a book about American dietary traditions, and the food quandary American’s encounter in today’s society. Pollan presents various philosophical points to entice his readers to question their current eating habits. Further, Pollan attempts to help readers determine the resolution to the long-standing question: “What will I fix for dinner?” by exploring the diverse food routes available to modern-day man and by dissecting those paths to reveal the best for well-being, solidity, and sustainability. Pollan initiates the book by examining the dilemma of the omnivore, a beast with infinite options for eating.

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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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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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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. Pollan’s strongest points in his article was the use of credibility and his ability to bring logic and reason to most of his points against medical society and the publics solution to obesity. Pollan comes in with a stronger

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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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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.

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Michael Pollan in his novel “In Defense of Food” describes how the idea of healthy eating has shifted from focusing on wholesome foods to worrying about nutrients. In chapter one “From Foods to Nutrients,” Pollan outlines a makeshift history of the evolution of “nutrients.” Sometime in the 1980’s our view on health and food changed dramatically from previous generations. People began to focus on so called nutrients in a food—such as “cholesterol” and “fiber.” Soon, the amount of certain nutrients in a food became more important than the quality the food as a whole.

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In “How Junk Food Can End Obesity,” by David H. Freedman, he claims that processed foods can help fix the obesity crisis in a more realistic manner, rather than whole-some foods. The popular opinion emphasizes whole-some foods because they aren’t informed about the similitude between processed and unprocessed foods. The essence of the essay is that people believe processed foods are bad and unhealthy for us, therefore whole-some foods are highly recommended for the health of an individual. Freedman mentions many prominent authors who wrote books on food processing, but the most influential voice in the food culture Freedman makes a point of is, American journalist, Michael Pollan. The media and Michael Pollan indicate that everything should be replaced with real, fresh, and unprocessed foods, instead of engineering in as much sugar, salt, and fat as possible into industrialized foods.

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