Food Inc. : A Healthy Menu For My Family

In David Freedman’s article, “How Junk Food Can End Obesity” (2013), he begins by discussing his endeavors to search for wholesome food. He continues to come across food items that claim to be healthy and void of processed junk, but all he finds are items high in calories or the expense is too much for an average American. He argues that wholesome foods are actually just as bad, if not even worse, than junk food and that the Big Food industry has the technology available to make food healthier, but still retain its appeal. Freedman mentions continuously throughout his article that Americans who are most at risk of becoming obese are those who cannot afford healthy foods, completely defeating the purpose of the wholefoods movement. He

Take a gander around your local mega-mart today, and what do you see? An epidemic of food like substances taking over the supermarket shelves; an epidemic that has substituted real food for fake, shown links to obesity, and has altered our eating habits. There is, however, a solution that allows you to stick to the healthy foods you want to eat and avoid the foods you don’t.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, written by Michael Pollan, gives light to the question, “What should we have for dinner?” that he thinks Americans today cannot answer simply due to the fact that there are too many food options. This book serves as an eye-opener to challenge readers to be more aware and accountable of what is consumed daily. In order to understand fully where our food comes from, we must follow it back to the very beginning. Pollan goes on to discuss three different modern food chains in which we get our food: the industrial, the organic, and the hunter-gatherer. By tracing our food back to the beginning, we can understand that most of the nutritional and health problems America is going through today can be found on the farms that make our food and the government that can decide what happens. America deals with many food related illness such as, heart disease, obesity, and type II diabetes. Majority of a human and animals diet consists of being corn-fed leading to a high cause of obesity in the United States these are just some of the many diseases that come with over processed foods and diets we are unaware of. In this study, we will highlight the environmental and health issues and impacts related with modern agriculture and how these systems can be made more sustainable.

Journalist and novelist Michael Pollan writes about the trials and tribulations surrounding food in North America and raises questions regarding Western diet, which is mostly comprised of refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup and corn in general. He reiterates that chemically generated food is creating disease in North Americans; If we eliminate these factors and adopt the eating habits of less industrialized places in the world will we in our lifetime see rates of heart disease, type two diabetes and obesity decline dramatically? The western diet has evolved drastically in the last sixty years, so much so that people have become codependent on the government, dietitians and food agencies regarding their health and what to consume. The land is suffering from pesticides and singular plant farming, the alternative to this is to buy organic but at a higher price. Media has influenced the consumer to read the label and accept and trust the daily vitamin percentages on the box, as this is what is best for them. Money is the key factor in all of this and the government, scientific research and media know that, therefor the public is in for a shock when they realize that the very labels that are supposed to save them have fooled them.

David Zinczenko's article "Don't Blame the Eater" discuses with regard to a series of health-related topics involving food that most people and, particularly, young individuals eat today. The article is meant to raise public awareness concerning the risks associated with consuming particular foods. These respective risks are generally ignored because companies selling the products refrain from emphasizing the exact effects that consuming their food can have on someone's health. The reality is that cheap foods are an appealing alternative for young people who are more concerned about the quantity than the quality of the foods they eat.

The food industry has a large impact on individuals and will affect wider communities in the future. The rush of today’s society has pushed food production to become more commercialized with prepackaged/premade based foods. For numerous reasons such as time, work and costs of living, people are wanting meals that are cheap, fast, easy and don’t require much effort. This is due to many obligations and priorities in life that are put above

It’s no secret, Americans love their processed, energy-rich foods. And undeniably, this love affair has led to an obesity epidemic. In spite of the evidence against processed food, however, there are some who believe the problem may hold the key to the solution. David Freedman, author of “How Junk Food Could End Obesity,” criticizes Michael Pollan for his argument in support of unprocessed, local foods due its impracticality. Freedman’s criticism is based on the idea that “It makes a lot more sense to look for small, beneficial changes in food than it does to hold out for big changes in what people eat that have no realistic chance of happening” (Freedman Sec. 1). He contends that processed foods already play a big part in our diets, so instead of trying to expand the wholesome food business, we should try to make processed foods healthier. Freedman’s argument, however, overlooks many negative effects of processed foods and conventional farming. Michael Pollan’s wholesome food movements takes into account not only the obesity problem, but also the quality of the environment and the rights of farmers. Although Pollan’s solution to obesity may not seem the most efficient or time effective, the trades offs it provides in terms of environmental sustainability and the well-being of farmers outweigh the loss of efficiency.

More and more studies have gone into how to eat healthier; and while many believe that they have the best idea to fix the issue there are few who actually know what they are talking about. David Freedman does not particularly have all the answers but he does have a good idea of what he thinks is right. His views may not be the best, but to him and many others the views that are embodied in his article are far superior ways to handle it than many others believe. The author believes that through technology we can create foods that are more appealing and more healthy. The main purpose of this essay is to analyze Freedman’s article and take a deeper look into how his beliefs, like the one stated in the previous sentence, are right or wrong.

Have you ever thought, you 're doing a great job slowly killing yourself and the Earth while walking through the supermarket pushing a shopping cart filled with an assortment of western dietary staples? Probably not, right? If you 've recently watched the Netflix documentary Cooked, released in early February 2016, this self-analysis may be a part of your shopping trips for the foreseeable future. Cooked was produced by Alex Gibney, and narrated by the man whose book, by the same name, inspired the series itself, Michael Pollan. Michael Pollan is a professor of journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and food activist with many accolades, including several New York Time best-selling books. Cooked is filled to the brim

A goal of mine is to modify how much processed food I eat because I want to live a healthier lifestyle. In, “Eating Made Simple” by Marion Nestle she discusses ideas on how to become healthier. Nestle notes, “eat less, move more; eat fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; and avoid too much junk food” (37). Nestle argues that experts disagree on most notions concerning what is healthy and what is not. Nevertheless, they all came to an agreement in the basic idea of healthy eating. This suggests that living a healthier lifestyle could be rather simple if you follow these simple steps. My family and I eat an enormous amount of junk food, and I would like to change that so we can live a healthier lifestyle.

Recently, parents began to swap out sugary cereals for ones that claimed to “contain less sugar” and filled their pantries with snacks that had “less artificial additives” (Kellogg Company). What parents may not know is that some of these substitute foods, like Welch’s reduced sugar fruit snacks, and fat-free turkey, are not nutritious and actually contain more sodium than the daily requirement, are highly processed, loaded with even more sugars, fats, and chemicals like diacetyl than the original product. (Jacques). It is no secret that processed foods are harmful and unhealthy for us, nevertheless, processed products dominate natural food in America’s kitchens and cafeterias. Our country needs to see strict regulations for school lunches that are FDA

In America, a changing environment has broadened food options and eating habits. Grocery stores stock their shelves with a greater selection of products. Pre-packaged foods, fast food restaurants, and soft drinks are also more accessible. While such foods are fast and convenient they also tend to be high in fat, sugar, and calories. Choosing many foods from these areas may contribute to an excessive calorie intake. Some foods are marketed as healthy, low fat, or fat-free, but may contain more calories than the fat containing food they are designed to replace. It is important to read food labels for nutritional

Have you ever seen “Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate” (Figure. 2) growing out of the ground? Today's society offers new options for meals every day. From fondue to fast food, there are new options everywhere you go. To clear up any curiosity, sodium stearoyl lactylate is a chemical added to Twinkies to make its processed ingredients more tolerable to the human body. Companies like Hostess and Kellogg’s are scientifically manipulating the human body, tricking them into being able to digest their chemical makeup of the ingredients. The true challenge when finding a place to eat is not only considering its availability, but also deciding which choice is most health conscious. Processed foods may taste good going down, but they actually contain many unnatural ingredients, if that is even their appropriate name, that can lead to obesity and health problems throughout one’s life. Many of these processed foods are, unfortunately, the most readily available. The debate of processed versus organic foods is a common conflict in society today. Whether it is due to lack of income, or pure laziness, people choose every day to put toxic, unnatural foods in their body. Some foods that appear to be healthy may not be; the real trick to healthy food is being as earth-centered as possible. Organic means coming from living matter--food in its purest form. Living an organic lifestyle is, most importantly, a better decision regarding the health and wellbeing of the

nowadays, people do not know what they are eating. The majority of most Americans would not be able to pronounce the names of the ingredients listed on the package of the last snack food they consumed. Consumers “ignore certain critical questions about the quality and the cost of what they are sold: How fresh is it? How clean or pure is it, how free of dangerous chemicals? … When the food has been manufactured or “processed” or “precooked,” how has that affected its quality or price or nutritional value?” (Berry, 24) It is of utmost importance that we understand what the food that lines the grocery store shelves is actually

MacPherson (2009) relayed an important message about where our food comes from. She wrote "there is a disconnect from our food, our families, ourselves. We sit down to three meals a day and it can be such an impersonal experience. People are tired of that disconnect." To reconnect with our food sources we must take a look at their sources to understand the greater