The "Palaeolithic diet" (Paleo) is a highly popular raw food diet which made its official debut in the mid-1970s. Since then, the evolutionary diet has been promoted and adapted by several researchers and is featured in a number of academic journals.
Of controversial origin, the Paleo diet was first developed and marketed by gastroenterologist, Walter L. Voegltin who advanced the notion that the diet is the ideal food for mankind.
The concept put forward by Voegltin is not new. It is based on the premise that modern humans are genetically adapted to the diets of our earliest ancestors, and diseases which trouble modern man are the result of industrialisation and affluence. In general, the diet of our ancestors had the proper balance of nutrients to reduce chronic diseases and promote health.
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Proponents of the diet:
The diet has received rave reviews and accolades from users and researchers alike; it is described as an invaluable nutritive way of eating, filled with elements to restore tissue cells.
In one study, Loren Cordain, PhD, at Colorado State University, commented: "Clinical trials have shown that the Paleo Diet is the optimum diet that can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, blood pressure, markers of inflammation, help with weight loss, reduce acne, promote optimum health and improve athletic performance."
Critics of the diet:
Critics of the diet have argued that it lacks credibility and logic. The main views expressed were in disagreement with the facts promoted, that hunter-gatherers were generally free of illnesses unlike their compatriots in "civilized societies" who were beset with common afflictions and ailments.
The critics also dismissed the premise that our human makeup is genetically programmed to eat like our Palaeolithic ancestors. They believe that modern civilization developed due to advanced thinking, and with it inherent biological
In turn, he provides his own rules for escaping the western diet as well as the idea of nutritionist set forth by scientists. Then Pollan explains that scientific theories of nutritionist focus on individual nutrients rather than foods as a whole. He further goes on to refute this claim mentioning that these scientific theories contradict with one another. Pollan explains “the scientists who blame our health problems on deficiencies of [micronutrients] are not the same scientists who see a sugar soaked diet leading to metabolic syndrome and from there to diabetes, heart disease…” (Pollan, 421).
In chapter one (Escape from the Western Diet) of Michael Pollans book In Defense of Food, Pollan informs people about what he believes needs to happen in order to change the health issues that many people in American are facing today. Pollan begins the chapter by discussing the many different scientific theories that have been presented in response to the western diet and the western diseases that follow. He informs the readers that many of the theories conflict with one another and that even scientist gravitate towards simple one part solutions that many time fail to see the bigger picture of the problem. At this point in his book Pollan (2008) states one of his many thesis’s that, “People eating the Western diet are prone to complex of chronic
Dr. Moalem’s unique view on disease and humanity’s complex relationship with it inspired many questions in the mind of the reader. He theorizes that diseases passed on genetically remained in the gene pool because they may have provided advantages to our ancestors, and this theory casts a new light and creates a new perspective on such diseases. The diseases discussed in the book, such as hemochromatosis, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia, would ordinarily be considered harmful. However, the author explains that under different circumstance, these illnesses might have been viewed as beneficial instead, and that these benefits are worth
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
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.
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
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.
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
Ambar Delacruz Essay 1: The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma addresses a variety of concerns about food production and consumption. One might ask what exactly is the omnivore’s dilemma? And the basic answer to this question is “what should we eat for dinner”?
In recent years, there has been an ongoing debate as to what caused the extinction of the Neanderthals around forty thousand years ago. Some researchers speculate that Neanderthals did not develop sufficient tools that would allow them to gather and hunt food efficiently while others speculate that early modern humans introduced deadly pathogens into Neanderthal populations which led to their extinction. However, researchers led by zooarchaeologist Jamie Hodgkins have found that frequent and lengthy glacial periods may have led to the extinction of the Neanderthals. They hypothesized that glacial periods may have reduced the quantity of prey that the Neanderthals hunted therefore they were unable to intake the required amount of food to survive.
Americans follow these “food fads” and so they don’t have consistent eating habits through time. The book says “We don’t have any strong food traditions to guide us, so we seek food advice from ‘experts.’ This may be one reason we have so many diet fads in this
Herbivores do not only take the form of animals, but humans as well. Veganism, “a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.” (The Vegan Society). When people think about a vegan lifestyle, the first question, assumption or judgment is based off their diet. The food choices of a vegan have risen, deep concern, and question regarding whether or not this lifestyle is healthy or not.
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.