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. 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. He builds credibility in his knowledge of the situation and potential ways …show more content…
Proving statistics of type 2 diabetes, deaths related to unhealthy eating habits, how it affects Americans as well as farmers, and how the President himself could make the change, but at the same time he showing the controversy of "Michelle Obama warning Americans to avoid high-fructose corn syrup at the same time the president is signing farm bills that subsidize its production." In doing so Pollan is exploiting the facts, but also being persistent on how the Government can make the change, but how they appear to be inconsistent. Nowhere does Pollan provide his readers with information on healthful foods that can be consumed, things to keep an eye out for, or changes that us as Americans can make ourselves have a healthier
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.
“Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat”, is a famous quote by the well known philosopher Socrates, who believed this is the perspective we should take when we are eating food. Unfortunately, the times have changed and so has the way we eat. We no longer have to go hunting for our food, or grow crops to receive all of our fruits and vegetables. Because we have become a society that has grown into the new world of technology, there would be no need to rely on ourselves for what we need-- we can simply gather our resources from other people. In the book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, written by Michael Pollan, takes us on a journey full of concerns of the “Food Industrial Complex”.
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
With the help of appealing strategies and literary devices, guidance is provided to us which gives a clearer comprehension of the book itself. Especially the logos strategy gives the readers a sign that Pollan tries the best to get involved with the dilemma for understanding it better than just the obvious. Setting his unique tone throughout the book, Pollan provides his critical attitudes towards the phenomenon that the industrial farms are taking advantage of the ignorance of people’s knowledge of what they are eating, making large profits regardless the health and safety of people. The purpose of informing people what they are eating and what goes behind the food is reached with his investigation and observation expressed throughout the book, bringing the awareness of knowing the truth to the
The three essays assigned this week had several common threads running through them. The strongest core theme is the rapid change in the food cycle in America and the vast changes that have taken place in the way by which we grow, produce, and process the food that average Americans eat. The food we eat now is drastically different from what our grandparents grew up eating and the three essays each examine that in a different way. Another theme is the loss of knowledge by the average consumer about where their food comes from, what it is composed of, and what, if any, danger it might pose to them. “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear” by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele is a harsh look at the realities of food production in a country where large corporations, like Monsanto, have been allowed to exploit laws and loopholes to bend farmers and consumers to their
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
The belief of this interest group to transform the public conversation on food policy by teaching the public on exactly how legislators are casting their vote on these topics. During the course of teaching the public, people will be equipped with the statistics they require to choose with their utensils and help pick other food policy organizers through the United States. Hence, the Food Policy Action is core belief is to put emphasis on the importance of food guidelines and to encourage strategies for better eating, hunger reduction, cleanliness of food, and reduction of environmental factors on food production. So, the Food Policy Action supports positive procedures through learning and journals, which can have a significant impact on politicians and the
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.
He continues the rest of the chapter talking about how most foods have traces of corn in them, by following the industrial food chain. All foods by the FDA must have their ingredients posted on the wrapper, so buyers know exactly what they are eating. Michael Pollan knows he has to look at the wrapper and see where all those ingredients are from to really see where the food he is about to came from. 2. Pollan describes American farmers today as “the
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.
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
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.
The overarching idea behind the program is that good nutrition prolongs and enhances the lives of its citizens, therefore accomplishing the general will of the people. As a result, the government must act in such a way to better nourish its citizens. However, the state also recognizes that individuals know themselves and their preferences best, so the government, therefore, provides a stipend to subsidize the purchase of healthy, unprepared foods so that its citizens have enough to feed themselves (USDA, 2014). In the program, individuals purchase unprepared food from local grocery stores with the government subsidy (USDA, 2014). This mode of implementation resulted in an efficient program that helped millions.
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
The Washington Times studies show that, “access to healthy foods like fruits and vegetables is limited to nonexistent in some areas of the country.” The government should try to make healthy food available to everyone. These are some solutions that may reduce future obesity rates, although they may come with a huge cost, even when the government has already spent so much