ipl-logo

Summary Of On The Western Diet By Mary Maxfield

191 Words1 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Food as thought mary maxfield article

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. Maxfield does not specifically point out direct issues of the American
Show More
Related
515 Words | 3 Pages

“The Moral Diet,” an essay by David Brooks, develops an explanation as to why people consider themselves to be “good people” even after cheating. Brooks explains how almost all humans will cheat just enough to satisfy their needs and enough to where they can still keep the overall record in positive territory. The peers I discussed this essay with agreed with my same thoughts, this concept is accurate and relatable. We agree with the perspective of Brooks, the cheating is an outcome of comfort with our own rationalizations. Brooks uses Dan Ariely’s book “The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty” as a reference to his idea in the essay.

Read More
77 Words | 1 Pages

In the article, “Escape from The Western Diet,” by Michael Pollan, who has also written many nutritional books, blames our unhealthy eating on the food industry. He argues that we should avoid any processed foods because of what they have become (424). Also, he claims that the American views for preparing a meal has downgraded over the years (425). His solution is to not overeat, but to eat plants instead because they are not as manipulated

Read More
1008 Words | 5 Pages

In his article Are You Responsible For Your Own Weight?, policy analyst Radley Balko argues that the Government has no business interfering with what individuals eat. Kelly Brownell, a Yale Chairman, and Marion Nestle a New York University professor state otherwise by arguing that the Government should intervene to create conditions that lead to healthy eating. Balko has a strong argument led with in depth examples, logical support, and credentials to support his tone along with minor fallacies. Kelly Brownell and Marion Nestle fail to go more in depth about her argument, but rely heavily on trying to counter the claims given by the opposing side. The lack of rhetorical devices in her article and inadequate organization weakens her tone as well as the appeal to their audience.

Read More
1330 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More
730 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
717 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
516 Words | 3 Pages

I believe that Micheal Pollan has described the bad habbits that the typical Americans do in majority of the time by mistaking fast foods with the whole healthy foods because lack of time or lifestyle. In the Michael Pollans argument about the "Western Diet" he informs that the majority of the American population about the western diet and believes that they need to get away from it, but it's for their own better health that many of us sometimes forget or don't even pay attention to it. There's many factors that the reasons Americans should get away from it is only to avoid the harmful chemicals we eat from a plain cheeseburger or fries and that effects our metabolism to get worse associated with it as the "western diseases" (page 433) Micheal Pollan has said.

Read More
1739 Words | 7 Pages

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

Read More
1218 Words | 5 Pages

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

Read More
514 Words | 3 Pages

In the article “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating” by Mary Maxfield published in 2012 states that people’s knowledge about health, is more so based on culture or origin. Rather than what is actually healthy. She also claims that as a culture “we no longer discuss healthy eating without also discussing healthy weights. Due to Maxfield’s claim that as a culture, we do not make conscious dieting decisions about healthy foods and normal weight, I disagree with that for a few reasons. There are many people in America that are health conscious, and some people truly have their own knowledge about what is healthy weight and a healthy diet.

Read More
668 Words | 3 Pages

People that eat a Western diet are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases than those who eat a more traditional diet. The different theories scientists come up with to explain what in the Western diet causes these diseases all contradict each other (Pollan 421). In Escape from the Western Diet, Michael Pollan examines these issues and gives his solution to the problem. He believes scientists can argue about what causes these diseases, but the only solution, though it may be difficult, is to stop eating a Western diet. Pollan believes one of the biggest challenges in escaping the Western diet is changing how we eat and think.

Read More
943 Words | 4 Pages

She also discusses how obesity can be related to health issues as well as psychological issues. A similar argument was made in the article, “Add Cake, Subtract Self-Esteem” by Caroline Knapp, where she talks about her personal experience on how her stress caused by college and relationships caused her to suffer from anorexia. She stated how starving yourself daily is a painful experience. Prose and Knapp both believe that eating food is not something to frown upon. I agree with this because as humans eating food is essential for living a healthy lifestyle.

Read More
656 Words | 3 Pages

Americans today are well-known for their eating habits. With all the options the food industry gives us it makes it hard to go to the grocery store and resist picking up that bag of barbeque-flavored chips or blueberry flavored candy. Due to these processed foods obesity is a growing epidemic in our country and who is to blame for it? In an article entitled “What You Eat is Your Business” by Radley Balko, Balko argues for less government intervention. Balko believes is it our responsibility to take care of ourselves and make it a priority.

Read More
670 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
2068 Words | 9 Pages

Our society has helped create a definition of dieting that is not only harmful to the body but also does not work. The proper definition of a diet would be the food and drink a person consumes daily and the mental and physical circumstances connected to eating. The public’s definition of a diet is to restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight. Those who engage in this sort of dieting begin with the wrong mentality. They believe by undertaking a diet they will lose weight and keep it off, when in reality most people fail with diets.

Read More

More about Summary Of On The Western Diet By Mary Maxfield

Related Topics

Open Document