Michael Pollan Vs Maxfield Essay

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.

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”.

He shows that most are eating way more calories than they think. His usage of data and numbers in the last part of his essay reinforce what was already a strong

In the book The Omnivores Dilemma, by Michael Pollan he brings us on his journey with him through analyzing the model of “four meals” and how our thinking habits have changed the way we choose to eat and go about eating throughout the years and the role our society and the different expectations put on individuals has effected their thoughts and relationship to food. Each section and chapter of the book is broken up into different fads, opinions and findings that Pollan has found along his journey. Throughout the book his pre determined notions and thoughts around our society with food is challenged but also is backed up by different healthful and food activists like himself and how like minded people can differer in opinions and thoughts on how our society has changed involving

In the essay, “Escape from the Western Diet”, the author, Michael Pollan discuss about how the western diet is harmful for the people. He think that because western diet is responsible for many kinds diseases nowadays such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and etc. I agree with Michael pollan that western diet is very unhealthy for people and the reason behind it, is because of the food industry. Food industry is making more processed food and they are also using different kinds of nutritional theories to make new product which is very unhealthy to those people who mostly eats diet food. Medical industries is also responsible for this problem because they make new drug treatment to treat the diseases.

In her article “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of eating,” Sociologist Mary Maxfield claims that food is neither moral nor immoral, therefore, everyone can eat whatever they desire. Maxfield feels that everyone should trust their body and allow their mind to decide on what our body needs intake. On a daily basis our body needs the proper nutrients to function. But too much or too little nutrients can cause many illnesses or other problems that can be harmful and damaging to our body. However, Maxfield ignores the fact that eating whatever we want we may suffer the consequences of negative side effects.

Nowadays in America, we are encountering problems with our food system. The way it’s being processed is affecting everyone. From youngest to oldest, farmers to lawyers and smallest to biggest animal. Consumers are made to believe that they are buying and eating healthy foods , but the labels that led them to believe that are not completely honest. The essay “Escape from the Western Diet” written by Michael Pollan is an explanation of the theories of the western diet.

Just reading the title of In Defense of Food (2008) by Michael Pollan gave me some hope that he would tell us that enjoying our food without guilt is all we need to know. In a sense he does just that, but first he defines what food is and is not and then goes on to explain how to find, and enjoy, this food. My first question is why people feel the need for someone to tell them what to eat. In fact, Pollan himself asks this question. Throughout the book, he spends a great deal of time defending why he wrote the book.

The intake on “cheap” daily food are slowly killing the human race. As social incomes decrease, obesity increase. Fat is no longer a rich man’s disease (Saletan). William Saletan the author of, “Please Do Not Feed the Humans: The Global Explosion of Fat” tells a vivid story of how the human race allowed themselves to fall into the hands of a pig. His arguments stayed strong next to him side by side.

Morgan Spurlock, an American Independent Filmmaker embarked on an experiment of eating only McDonalds for thirty days. He documented his findings in a documentary titled “Supersize Me” As a result, Spurlock gained nearly twenty-five pounds, and his body mass increased almost fifteen percent. The reason behind Spurlock’s investigation was to identify the problem with our countries rise in obesity, largely contributed to a lack of fresh and healthy food being available. Obesity is an epidemic plaguing our country ever so quickly and one of the biggest reasons for it is many communities don’t have access to fresh food, and in many times that food if available exceeds the families budget. The United States Department of Agriculture (1) defines

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.

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.

They both want what is good for consumers and they want to inform the public. However, they both fail to include important parts to their argument. Balko brings up several ideas that some would think to be ridiculous and his explanation for these ideas is too-flawed to be taken seriously. Pollan’s “mostly plant” diet sounds like a good idea but chain-grocery store vegetables and fruits have gone through just as much de-naturalization as the beef industry that he points out. Overall, I would say that Pollan’s solution to the western diet would be much more effective than Balko’s.

In both David Zinczenko’s “Don’t Blame The Eater” and “ Radley Balko’s “What You Eat is Your Business”, the argument of obesity in America is present and clear from opposing viewpoints. Both articles were written in the early 2000’s, when the popular political topic of the time was obesity and how it would be dealt by our nation in the future. While Zinczenko argues that unhealthy junk food is an unavoidable cultural factor, Balko presents the thought that the government should have no say in it’s citizens diet or eating habits. Zinczenko’s article was written with the rhetorical stratedgy of pathos in mind.

People need to take initiative to stop eating food that’s not healthy for them because at the end of the day it’s all up to you to stay healthy. Our country become less responsible for their own health and start to blame everyone else for their own health but look at us not eating right and wondering why they are not feeling good, you’re not doing the right thing. This world is full of