Summary Of Escape From Western Diet

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.

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.

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.

By comparing what is, to what could be possible if a food policy were to be established. In doing so, he is using a scare tactic for readers to visualize the reality that is impacting Americans today. Pollan emphasizes the need to prevent deaths caused by unhealthy eating as a priority. Pollan's goal is aimed at "a food system in which healthful choices are accessible to all and in which it becomes possible to nourish ourselves without exploiting other people or nature. " Pollan has earned respect by readers due to his concern for the greater good of Americans.

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.

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

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 his essay "Escape from the Western Diet," Michael Pollan argues that the diet of Western cultures has led to an epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases. He believes that this is due to our reliance on processed foods, which are high in sugars, fats, and refined carbohydrates. Pollan supports his argument by presenting evidence from scientific studies and historical trends. He notes that the rise of the processed food industry in the mid-twentieth century coincided with a sharp increase in rates of obesity and other health problems. He also cites studies that show that people who eat fewer processed foods and more whole, natural foods have better health outcomes.

In the article written on April 14, 2006, NPR’s Ira Flatow talks with Michael Pollan about his book, Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals is a nonfiction book issued in 2006. In his book, Pollan asks a sincere question of what people should eat for their dinner.

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.

The nation’s traditional diet of rice, fish, vegetables, and soy products has been deemed healthiest in the world. And yet the Japanese are rapidly abandoning that diet” (242). Not only does obesity affect Japan, but it has also affects several other nations such as China, Spain, Italy, and Western Europe. The Center of Disease Control’s study is an appropriate illustration for proving Schlosser’s argument because it shows the unhealthy results of consuming fast food. Millions around the world are now obese due to the overconsumption of fast food.

According to CDC, the leading causes of death and which are related to lifestyle include heart diseases,cancer and respiratory diseases. These diseases are lifestyle related because chronic respiratory diseases are to a large extent caused by smoking. Heart diseases and various cancers are caused by eating habits of people which mostly causes high blood pressures and heart failure. Critically looking at the issue, it is apparent that various socio-economic issues contributed to the lifestyle people have adopted. Due to economic constraints many people prefer junk food which are high in cholesterol and sugars which causes the lifestyle diseases.

Behavioral Economics is becoming increasingly popular as a way of improving public health . Economic theories mostly assumed that agents are rational utility maximizer, also known as homo economics. Behavioral economics is a field that gives an understanding of why the individuals’ behavior is not rational and is influenced by self-control and temptation when making a decision. The public has an attendance of making unhealthy food choices, even though they want to be healthier.

Around the world, about one-third of the food that we produce is wasted and the food wasted can feed more than 1.6 billion people (Royte, 2016). Food waste is an economic issue. In developed countries, consumers make a great contribution to food waste. In the United States, about 40% of the food is wasted and a four-person family loses $4 per day on waste food and the amount is about $1500 per year (Save the Food). If people can stop wasting money, they can use the money to improve their life in other aspects, such as entertainment, education, and health.

There are many reasons why someone would need survival food. If a person decided to go on a camping trip and needed to take food along to sustain those, survival foods would be a good suggestion because they have value and will guarantee that the person has the correct nutrition in a days’ time. Survival foods will also be something to consider if December 21, 2012 were to happen. There will be no electricity or lights so cooking will be a challenge. People that prepare early will stand a better chance at surviving than the ones that do not prepare.