What Makes A Good Nutritional Diet?

The key to a nutritious and healthy life is something that has always been debated, studied, and questioned. How should we shop for ourselves? Should we be eating less or eating more? Are organic foods a necessity or are they a waste of money? Should we believe all that we read on a label? All of the information to answer those questions and more are in Marion Nestle’s book, “What to Eat”, which was published in 2006 by North Point Press. Nestle is one of the most respected names when it comes to nutrition, she is chair of the Council on Nutrition Policy, which is a smaller branch of the National Association of Public Health. In “What to Eat”, Nestle addresses every aspect of the food and tries to debunk every myth out there by making reference to her other colleagues work and using her own knowledge through her years of being a nutritionist. She does this because Nestle believes that the best way to make nutritious choices is to be informed about the food industry. At one point in the introduction of the book, Nestle states, “This book is about how to think about the food you eat.

This gap has lead people to become “passive consumers” that are ignorant towards the origin of their food, how it is produced, and their role in the modern food industry. Berry argues that the pleasure of eating cannot be known without understanding that eating is involved in the agricultural process. He urges people to look into where and how their food is produced and under what conditions. He asserts that food is now a product of industry meaning the food industry no longer cares about the quality of food and how healthy it is, but how much can be produced at a small price. Berry then gives seven suggestions that can help people eat responsibly and understand the pleasures of eating. By being active in our world and in how we eat, people can eat with the fullest pleasure by being connected with the world around them and eating with understanding and gratitude

As a culture and as individuals, we no longer seem to know what we should and should not eat. When the old guides of culture and national cuisine and our mothers’ advice no longer seem to operate, the omnivore’s dilemma returns and you find yourself where we do today—utterly bewildered and conflicted about one of the most basic questions of human life: What should I eat? We’re buffeted by contradictory dietary advice: cut down on fats one decade, cut down on carbs the next. Every day’s newspaper brings news of another ideal diet, wonder-nutrient, or poison in the food chain. Hydrogenated vegetable oils go from being the modern alternatives to butter to a public health threat, just like that. Food marketers bombard us with messages that this or that food is “heart healthy” or is “part of a nutritious meal”. Without a stable culture of food to guide us, the omnivore’s dilemma has returned with a vengeance. We listen to scientists, to government guidelines, to package labels—to anything but our common sense and traditions. The most pleasurable of activities—eating—has become heavy with anxiety. The irony is, the more we worry about what we eat, the less healthy and fatter we seem to become.

“Food is essential for life but what we eat is subject to a wide range of

Proper nutrition is important in maintaining a long and healthy life. Most Americans are rushed due to their busy work schedules, and do not take the time to plan their diets properly. Like me, most Americans are unaware of the importance of eating a healthy diet and consume too many foods without the proper nutrients. Throughout my life I have been fortunate. I have not had any major health problems, and have been able to consume most foods without having to worry about gaining weight. These last two years, however, I started to gain weight and have become concerned with my diet. Changing my poor eating habits has been difficult for me, however, having this assignment has taught me that it is not as difficult as I previously

* Explain individuals about the importance of a healthy diet and encourage and support the m to choose healthy options and alternatives.

How much should a person truly value his or her health? According to Michael Pollan’s views, people should take what they put into their body serious because diet is the main difference between life and death. Michael Pollan, who has written multiple books about food and eating, focuses on the Western diet in his essay, “Escape from the Western Diet.” In the essay, he argues that people need to stop eating a Western diet because it leads to health complications, such as chronic disease. The standard way of thinking about health has it that the Western diet is an acceptable lifestyle choice; however, Pollan argues that escaping the Western diet is the best lifestyle choice because the diet promotes disease. On one hand, I agree with Pollan; on the other hand, I believe that consuming organic food is key to improving health as well as the environment rather than just escaping the Western diet.

The food we eat and how it impacts our day is a substantial part of being a human being. Food is very effective in a vast majority of ways and can impact a person variously in negative and positive ways. The food we eat is definitely linked to the healthiness and lifestyle that we acquire. In “Escape from the Western Diet”, by Michael Pollan and “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating” by Mary Maxfield, to the very interesting point of views are sought out, and I am firmly behind one of them. One author believes that the food we eat is an extreme determining factor in how our lives are lived, and the other believes the food we consume has no actual impact on the well being of human lives.

In “Escape from the Western Diet” Michael Pollan argues against the scientific theories of nutrition, and discusses the harmful effects, and chronic diseases associated with the Western Diet. Pollan offers an alternate view of a healthier lifestyle to escape the western diet that simply suggests that we “stop eating and thinking that way.” (Pollan 423) He explains that the food industry has changed the wholeness of our food, which causes us to eat unhealthier things such as fast food. He approaches a solution to these contradictory theories and science by focusing on a personal approach to eating that is based on the individual's view of food. Pollan three rules to create a healthier lifestyle are to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” (Pollan 426) which suggest to eat “real” food in a new balanced and healthy way that creates a pleasurable approach of eating. I agree with Pollan’s concepts about the western diet and his rules of eating simpler.

Michael Pollan is the author of In Defense of Food. He is a journalist, activist, and currently a professor of journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Pollan argues that nutrition has become overtly complicated and complex and that food is no longer truly food rather it is processed nutrients. He believes that overnutrition is emerging and that people have an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy (Pollan 9). This obsession of healthy eating has led to scientists concocting food like substances. These foods like substances are over processed foods with added nutrients and preservatives that the FDA claims have health benefits, but what is truly healthy is eating fresh fruits and vegetables. His main message is to “eat food, mostly plants” rather than these imitation foods that fill our grocery stores (Pollan 1).

In Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, journalist and writer Michael Pollen provides a set of simple rules to answer Americans’ questions on what we should be eating. Instead of offering an extreme new diet pill or exercise plan, Pollan gave the humble answer, “eat food, not too much, and mostly plants” (Pollan xv). Pollan uses facts as well as humor to combat the food industry and unhealthy eaters. Throughout this manual, he breaks down what really is food and how people can change small everyday habits to stay healthy.

Michael Pollan talks about how the food industry on one side and nutritional science on the other side, but both stand to gain much from widespread confusion about what to eat. Pollan, said, "Yet the professionalization of eating has failed to make

The purpose of this paper is to argue that Michael Pollan’s theory, to “eat food [but] not too much Mostly plants” is a good way to eat because it helps people to live longer. Michael Pollan, author of the 2007 article, “Unhappy Meals” and the book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, argues for "eating food. Not too much. Mostly plants"(Pollan). People are "better off eating whole fresh foods than processed food products" (Pollan). He argues that nutrients are not food and he is right. Nutrients are located in food and food is nutrients. Fresh foods are natural byproducts of the earth. People "should avoid food products that make health claims"(Pollan) because a health claim on a food product is a good indication that it's not really

You are what you eat, is a common phrase characterizing the idea of food and identity. Several questions that discuss the notion of using food as a cultural clue will be addressed, such as: What do food choices represent? How do food choices represent cultural identity? Is it important to recognize the difference between what you eat representing what you are and what you eat constructing who you are? Our identity

You are what you eat is an idiom that most everyone can recall being told at some point. The phrase was gotten from Anthelme Brillat-Savarin who wrote in 1826 "Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es." Translated into English it means “tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are”. Many people especially in the United States do not really give the food that they eat very much thought. The people in this country eat because of the taste of food, the experience of it, and now more than every food had become a way to help people cope with their emotions. A wonderful thing when used in the way or which it was intended food nourishes our body and keeps you alive, but when abused I can be fatal. According to an article by nbcnews.com in 1990 poor eating habits, smoking, and a lack of exercise was responsible for 700,000 premature deaths among Americans. In 2004 those numbers increased and a larger percent of them were from poor diet.