ipl-logo

Analysis Of Unhappy Meals

752 Words4 Pages

I try to think of myself as a person that puts an emphasis on health and maintaining a good physical condition overall. I drag myself to the gym daily and try to eat as healthy as possible. The eating part being the hardest thing to accomplish. I have spent a fair amount of time reading on what to eat and not to eat. I have noticed that for every positive review on any supplement or food item there is a negative review as well, and sometimes I discover a power food item that everyone is drinking or using. Like the article, Unhappy Meals, by Michael Pollan mentioned the food we eat reflects our culture and what society has accepted as “healthy.” This article has open my eyes to observations I had never considered and circumstances I was not …show more content…

How we are led to believe there is a control on the nutrition provided by purchasing higher priced items because they claim to have better nutrients. Pollan references, how scientist isolate a single nutrient and can observe it and duplicate it, but studies showed that outside of the food source it might not be digested and absorbed the same. He goes on by given the example of antioxidants on fresh produced. The observation was that while the compound was in the produce it could prevent cancer, but when if it was “removed from the source” it could cause cancer. This was an extremely scary observation. I usually supplement my diet with vitamins and other supplements. I feed my kids vitamins and other “required” nutrients recommended by the doctor, so reading about how after removing nutrients their natural source can cause a negative effect or no effect at all really cause me to believe everything I was taught to believe is not at all true. I am going to be left with a doubt about every article and recommendation I receive regarding nutrition.
In conclusion, this article has showed me there is so much more behind a healthy diet. Eating power foods that supplement your nutrient intake might not always be the best way to achieve a healthy lifestyle. I am convinced that the best food to consume is the one made at home from raw non-processed food items. Like Pollan said at the begging of his article, “Eat food. Not too much.

Show More
Related
565 Words | 3 Pages

In recent decade, the United States has seen supermarkets continuously get filled with packages labeled with things like “Low sodium” or “No Trans Fats.” Companies stick these labels on their food to match the current fads of what is good for you and what is not. In his essay Unhappy Meals, Michael Pollan advocates a return to natural and basic foods, and deplores nutritionism. Pollan argues that nutritionism does not actually tell people what is healthy or not, and that the only way to be sure you are eating healthy is to eat natural, fresh food.

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
533 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
639 Words | 3 Pages

The Critique Essay of the “Escape from the Western Diet” In his work Escape from the Western Diet Michael Pollan focused on American negative food habits, their place in different spheres of the society and general possible ways to improve the food behavior. “The Western Diet is known for its lack of fresh fruit and vegetables and its strong reliance on fast-food, high sugar beverages, high-fat dairy, refined carbohydrates and red meat” (“Western Diet”). While many experts focus on its content, Pollan suggested to turn the attention to the effect the diet has on social, industrial and medical spheres. The author highlighted they unlikely will completely abandon the Western diet as it promote their development.

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
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
683 Words | 3 Pages

Eating Healthy Michael Pollan, a health food spokesperson, made some interesting critiques on how he believes that there is an American paradox such as, “a notably unhealthy population preoccupied with… the idea of eating healthy” (Maxfield, 442). The idea taken from Michael Pollan’s quote is that he believes the definition of healthy eating has more to do with how it is “driven by a well-funded corporate machine” (Maxfield, 442). He is also claiming that the food industry is benefiting on our lack of knowledge on how to eat properly when it comes to being healthy. In her article Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating, Mary Maxfield directly attacked Pollan’s claims, pointing out the hypocrisy in his words because he is sharing

Read More
668 Words | 3 Pages

When trying to eat healthier we tend to focus on how many calories and nutrients are in the foods we eat, when we should be focusing on the degree of processing (Pollan 423). He thinks we should eat more whole foods and avoid those that are overly processed. This would be simple, except for the fact that the industry has invaded many whole foods (Pollan 424). One example of this Pollan gives is the beef we eat comes from cattle raised on a Western diet. Because

Read More
563 Words | 3 Pages

In 2014, Michael Pollan's "How A National Food Policy Could Save Millions of Lives" was published by The Washington Post. Pollan urges the need for a food policy. Stating that "the food systems and the diet it's created have caused incalculable damage to the health of our people and our land, water, and air. " In his statement, Pollan's use of logic is used to convince his readers that there must be change to create healthier lives of Americans. To support his claim, Pollan provides us with the reality of the current policies and public investments.

Read More
812 Words | 4 Pages

What he means is that foods today contain various types of ingredients, and you’re just not sure if they are healthy for you or not. Some foods are made of exotic ingredients that we have never heard of. Pollan speaks from the

Read More
1193 Words | 5 Pages

Communities that once thrived are now plagued by dietary related health problems like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Since cultural

Read More
1760 Words | 8 Pages

“Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food” (Hardy, 2006). The Greeks followed this idea by the philosopher Hippocrates, but today’s society does not take the message seriously. A majority of people eat harmful foods and do not receive the nutrition they need to stay healthy. There are a number of reasons why nutrition is lacking. A lot of teens and college students eat snacks that are not healthy such as chips, pop, candy, etc.

Read More
1121 Words | 5 Pages

Everyone grows up eating what their family eats, and winds up enjoying the nourishment their family provides. Men, women, and children, raised from their heritage and food preferences, will continue on for generations. Yes, they will branch out and try new products, possibly adding them to their diet, but they will always find the food of their culture as comfort or ‘homey’ food. Therefore, food is a major part of cultures all over the

Read More
1653 Words | 7 Pages

The sociological imagination on food In this assignment I am going to talk about the sociological imagination on food and the aspects it brings with it. Before starting that large process I firstly will explain what the social imagination is and what the key points of the imagination are in able to fully understand the topic; food and its history, biography, and the relation it has in society. This is my first assignment for the module understanding contemporary society so please bear with me as I will do my best to explain it in a logic manner so everybody can understand it.

Read More
736 Words | 3 Pages

Introduction A. From quotation of fast food online,Jeremy Rifkin said “In this country ,the health concerns and the environmental concerns are as deep as in Europe. All the surveys show that. But here,we didn’t have the cultural dimension. This is the fast food culture. B.

Read More

More about Analysis Of Unhappy Meals

Related Topics

Open Document