Should We Ban Competitive Eating? By Sarah Mccary

In the essay Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating by Mary Maxfield, a graduate student in American Studies at Bowling Green State University summarizes Journalist Michael Pollan’s theory about Americans’s unhealthy population preoccupied with the idea of eating healthy.

Profit-oriented leaders of new diet fads surely would be infuriated while reading the words of Michael Pollan in his work, Unhappy Meals—not necessarily because of his aim to disprove diet fallacies but, rather, the possible ramifications of Pollan’s words on their bank accounts. Explained in the article, the world’s understanding of diets and their effects on the human body has improved steadily—if not exponentially—throughout recent history. Here, the advocates of new diets claim the changing world and its understanding of health requires changes in diet; the human body will adapt to the new times. To counter, Pollan argues that is definitely true, but we have to be open to the idea of the death that occurs during the process.

Cannibalism: It Still Exists By: Linh Kieu Ngo and Love: The Right Chemistry By: Anastasia Toufelis are the two selections assigned to go with the concept essay. In the Cannibalism essay author Ngo explains a different side of cannibalism. The side of cannibalism that is practiced for dietary reasons, ceremonial purposes, and survival. Toufexis’ essay on love talks about the “physical” more chemical and biological aspect of love, relationships, and romance. It delves into the comical explanation for passion and why people fall in love.

When Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma was published, many readers began questioning him for advice on what they should eat in order to stay healthy. In his more recent book, In Defense of Food, he responds with three rules, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants"(Pollan 1). This seven word response seems too simple for a relatively complicated question, but as he further elaborates these rules into specific guidelines, this summary turns out to be surprisingly complete. Using inductive and deductive reasoning, he debunks the ideas behind nutritionism and food science, and proves that the western diet is the cause for food related diseases. Inductive reasoning is when a

Finding a solution to sustain our environment has long been debated. In the essay “Go

One of the most unhealthy diets in the world is that of an American. It is made up of processed foods and a good amount of television. America easily has the most fast food restaurants in the entire world. Leave it to McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King or any other fast-food restaurant to serve extremely cheap and even unhealthier food at any time during the day or night. ”It tastes good so why not?” That seems to be the question many people are asking now-a-days. Because it is so easily accessible and processed, it is made to be very tasty and extremely unhealthy. Many Americans find his or herself indulging on the these fatty foods of America on a day-to-day basis. While it may taste good at the time, it has a terrible effect on your body

It is very easy to be amazed at the variety of products that can be found in today's supermarkets, all over the world. The United States in particular is a society of consumers, and many in this country would expect no less than full shelves of everything from produce, to meats, to snacks, etc. However, what most consumers today fail to realize is that the variety seen in most supermarkets in this country is really not too varied at all. In fact, the point that Michael Pollan aims to make in the first chapter of his book is just that: everything comes from corn. The paragraphs below will detail this author's beliefs in relation to today's consumer market, and focus on the ways in which most of us consume the products we are offered (often without questioning anything). Pollan's point will be stressed in this paper as well; namely, that today's society is suffering from poor nutrition and a lack of variety, due to the fact that 'everything boils down to corn,' as Pollan states, as well as the relative lack of education about the places from which one's food comes.

Sugary drinks and fast foods are constantly being consumed by Americans, causing an increase in health problems. Government regulation of what we eat and drink is fair because it will increase awareness of what individuals eat and can prevent higher rates of obesity. The article by Ryan Jaslow, "Sugary drinks over 16-ounces banned in New York City, Board of Health Votes" clearly supports the banning. However, “Should the Government Regulate What We Eat?" argues that the ban puts the American values of freedom at risk. Such regulations are necessary in order to maintain a healthy environment.

Obesity has grown into a rampant issue all over the United States, over the past few decades. Fast foods also have increased their outlets in the nation, in turn, depicting a success in the business venture. It is clear that fast foods have become quite cheap in comparison to healthy, homemade meals. Subsequently, people have turned to eat fast foods for economic reasons. Convenience is yet another reason behind people’s high indulgence in eating fast foods other than healthy, homemade meals. One does not need to prepare meals when dealing with fast foods; it is just a matter of walking into a fast food restaurant. However, the rampant feeding on fast foods in America has adverse effects that seem to affect even

Schools may have an ethical obligation to help in the prevention of the increasing propensity toward childhood obesity. School programs can be implemented to improve the nutritional quality of students’ diets. Students spend approximately one third of their day in school and consume one to two meals there per day, therefore justifying the importance of the responsibility to advise dietary behaviors and influence healthy decisions. In consideration of these logical methods, the ethical dilemma arises as good actions conflict with those that may be seen as a conflict of interest by interfering with the choices of children and their parents, faculty, and the community.

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) more than one third (34.96%) of U.S adults are obese. This proves that people are not taking care of their bodies and being aware of the types of foods that go in their mouths. The issue is that many people are disagreeing with the government regulating what we eat, however if this law is not enforced people will be free to buy excessive amounts of unhealthy sugary foods, leading them to a chronic disease. Even though sugary drinks and foods can have a good taste and be satisfying to many, the government should regulate what we eat because there will be less people with chronic illness, it will be less money wasted on health care for obese people, and there will be less individuals consuming trans fats.

During the first week of class, four readings were assigned. One of the readings, “Food and Eating: Some Persisting Questions,” by Sidney Mintz, discusses the paradoxes of food. Although food seems like a straightforward concept, it is actually extremely complicated. According to Mintz, there are five paradoxes, including: the importance of food to one’s survival, yet we take it for granted, how people stick to their foodways, but are willing to change, whether the government should allow people to freely choose food or if they should protect the people through regulations, the difference in food meanings according to gender, and the morality of eating certain foods. All of these paradoxes give people questions to think about, making this an extremely philosophical look at food studies. It also mentions that food must be viewed through the cultural context that it is in, which became important in “The Old and New World Exchange”, by Mintz, and “Maize as a Culinary Mystery”, by Stanley Brandes. These discuss the diffusion of foods after 1492 in different ways. The Mintz reading gives an overview of all of the foods spread from the Americas to the Old World, and vice-a-versa, but does not go terribly in depth on the social changes and effects of specific foods. Brandes focuses on the cultural impact of specifically maize on the European diet, noticing that most Western Europeans shunned it. He studies the cultural implications of this, concluding that maize was not accepted

The first reason competitive sports are good is they improve everyone’s health. Mango thinks that exercise and physical fitness is a good thing in our country where obesity is a problem. Davis thinks it will burn calories and motivates kids to eat healthier foods. According to O’Connor obesity would plunge by 26% if kids played on two sports teams per year.

All these poor eating leads to many of he chronicle diseases, which could lead to high insurance cost and a lot of medication consumption. Since humans try to seek the easiest way to do anything, for instance

This article gives a basic definition of bulimia, which states that it is the act of binge eating and then purging in a n effort to prevent weight gain. It also says that the physiological thinking behind this disorder has yet to be discovered. Over al the article and its context seem to be reliable it often refers to research and experiments that have been