Creating and adhering to a nutritional plan could be the single most important thing you do in your life. A nutritional plan does not only mean covering your physical health, but your emotional and spiritual health as well. Surviving well on a healthy nutritious diet will only go so far without the spiritual nutrients of love, happiness, sorrow and pain.
“You are what you eat”, goes a famous saying. If that were truly the case, then a lot of Americans would appear to be unhealthy, chemically treated, commercially raised slabs of animal flesh. While that is not a particularly pleasant thought, it is nonetheless a description of the typical American omnivore who survives on the consumption of Big Mac’s and greasy French fries. It is true, and what have the average Americans done about this problem? Asked for seconds and tell themselves that they won’t eat much for tomorrow’s meal.
Most people already know what they should be doing: exercise, eat the correct foods and avoid dangerous substances such as smoking, drugs and other poisons and toxins. Your body needs a high level of anti-oxidants to live a long healthy life in our modern polluted world. If you’re healthy and eat a well-balanced diet based on the Food Guide Pyramid, most nutritionist agree that supplements are unnecessary (Sinai). A well balanced diet supplies not only the recommended daily allowances (RDAs) of all the necessary nutrients, but also the important non-nutrients that vitamin pills lack, fiber being one of theses nutrients. Some nutritionist also believe that taking supplements perpetuates bad eating habits by making you think everything will be okay as long as you get your “vitamins. But we must be honest with ourselves. Who seriously consumes their daily-allotted nutrients each day out of their meals? I bet your saying to yourself, well sure I do, because I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, and have a glass of milk and gram crackers for a late night snack. Hey I even get out of my chair at nights to try to find the remote, I’m healthy enough. I would be willing to put money on it, that you not reaching your daily benefits, because only 9% of adults eat a balanced diet (Sinai). Many people can’t or don’t
Ching 2 even eat some meals during the day due to their busy schedules. The typical American diet is well below what it should be. A study by the National Food Consumption Survey re...
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...r body, so are you. You then have to rest your muscles and wait a while before you can do anything again. Creatine is the most popular dietary supplement on the market. It builds lean mass and speeds muscle recovery. It would be impractical to try to supplement your diet with just whole foods; this is why creatine supplementation is so popular. It’s made talk around the world from home run king; Mark McGuire, the Russian Olympic team, world record holder;
Michael Johnson, and great body builders like Dorien Yates.
The potential role of nutritional supplements in protecting health and preventing disease should be affirmatively recognized by public and private organizations which play a role in promoting the public health and in advising consumers about food and supplement choices in the context of healthy lifestyles. In today’s society, a lot of emphasis is placed on how you look. Almost everybody wants that “perfect body”. But with all the things people have to do, not many are willing to put in the time to get it. But now you can be one step closer to that perfect body and living a healthy life. As Dr. Earl Mindell would put it “your health is the most important thing you have”.
In Escape from the Western Diet, Pollan discusses how Americans have become obese due to their diet of mainly processed foods. He makes the case that for Americans to once again become healthy, we must return to eating “whole foods”. Pollan brings up the fact that Americans don’t spend as much time nor as much money on
In the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan challenges his readers to examine their food and question themselves about the things they consume. Have we ever considered where our food comes from or stopped to think about the process that goes into the food that we purchase to eat every day? Do we know whether our meat and vegetables picked out were raised in our local farms or transported from another country? Michael pollen addresses the reality of what really goes beyond the food we intake and how our lives are affected. He does not just compel us to question the food we consume, but also the food our “food” consumes.
In the book published in 2006, the Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural history of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan, is a non-fiction book about American eating habits and the food dilemma that many Americans are facing today. Pollan begins the book by discussing the dilemma of the omnivore like ourselves, a creature with many choices of food. Pollan decides to learn the root to the food dilemma by examining the three primary food chains: industrial food chain, the organic food chain, and the hunter-gathering food chain. His journey begins by first exploring the industrialized food industry. Pollan examines the industry by following both corn and cow from the beginning through the industrialized process. The work on the corn fields of George Naylor shows him that the industrial system has made corn appears nearly in all products in the supermarket (Pollan 33-37). Pollen then decides to purchase a steer which allows him to see the industrialized monoculture of beef production and how mass production produces food to serve the society. Following his journey, Pollan and his family eat a meal at McDonald's restaurant. Pollan realizes that he and very few people actually understand how such a meal is created. By examining the different food paths available to modern man and by analyzing those paths, Pollan argues that there is a basic relation between nature and the human. The food choice and what we eat represents a connection with our natural world. The industrial food ruins that ecological connections. In fact, the modern agribusiness has lost touch with the natural cycles of farming. Pollan presents the book with a question in the beginning: "What should we have for dinner?" (Pollan 1) This question posed a combination of p...
When we think of our national health we wonder why Americans end up obese, heart disease filled, and diabetic. Michael Pollan’s “ Escape from the Western Diet” suggest that everything we eat has been processed some food to the point where most of could not tell what went into what we ate. Pollan thinks that if America thought more about our “Western diets” of constantly modified foods and begin to shift away from it to a more home grown of mostly plant based diet it could create a more pleasing eating culture. He calls for us to “Eat food, Not too much, Mostly plants.” However, Mary Maxfield’s “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating”, argues differently she has the point of view that people simply eat in the wrong amounts. She recommends for others to “Trust yourself. Trust your body. Meet your needs.” The skewed perception of eating will cause you all kinds of health issues, while not eating at all and going skinny will mean that you will remain healthy rather than be anorexic. Then, as Maxfield points out, “We hear go out and Cram your face with Twinkies!”(Maxfield 446) when all that was said was eating as much as you need.
Nutrition and health have become more popular in today 's society. Our generation is becoming more and more indebted to the idea of being healthy and eating nutritious meals. However, in “The American Paradox,” by Michael Pollan he argues that our unhealthy population is preoccupied with nutrition and the idea of eating healthy than their actual health. He also mentions the food industry, nutrition science and how culture affects the way we eat and make food choices. While Pollan is right about all these factor that affect our eating habits, there is more to it than that. Convenience, affordability and social influence also affects our food choices making them inadequate.
“Food as thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating,” is an article written by Mary Maxfield in response or reaction to Michael Pollan’s “Escape from the Western Diet”. Michael Pollan tried to enlighten the readers about what they should eat or not in order to stay healthy by offering and proposing a simple theory: “the elimination of processed foods” (443).
In his essay “The American Paradox”, Michael Pollan illustrates his conclusion that Americans who focus on nutrition have a higher probability of decreasing their well-being. Pollan defines the American paradox as “a notably unhealthy population preoccupied with nutrition and the idea of eating healthily.” For most of our human history, our parents and culture have influenced our diet. However, today the idea of what to eat has been based on the opinions of scientists, food markets, and nutritionists. I agree with Pollan’s argument that being preoccupied with what we eat makes us unhealthy, however, we need a balance and a sense of responsibility in what we eat.
With all the unregulated dietary supplements being sold and recommended, our health insurance costs will continue to rise. If the product causes severe side effects, it should no longer be permitted to be sold in stores. The only way to touch the minds of many people is to inform them of the dangers of consuming dietary supplements. Disposing of all incorrect information in product labeling and ingredient lists is important. People need to recognize the faults that plague many advertisements. In addition businesses should promote safe products instead of the harmful ones that they advocate for. The United States Congress should consider regulating dietary supplements to maintain safety. If people are aware of the many lies companies present, then dietary supplements will be one less problem to worry about.
“About 150 million people in the US use dietary supplements; about 79% use it on a daily bases, and 10% taking 5 or more per day” (Ranjani 478). Dietary supplements range from sports performance products, weight loss products, to a variety of herbal remedies. These supplements are used widely to help maintain or improve the health of the human body. While buying these products many assume that they are regulated and are safe for human consumption, however it may not be the case. “Supplements face no FDA requirements for premarket testing. Supplements can be placed on the market at the will of the makers and then remain legal for sale” (Quinones 32). Dietary supplements should be regulated like prescription drugs because it’s a safety hazard, can become addictive, and may lead to dangerous health problems.
In “Bad Food” – What’s the Best Food? Tax it, and Subsidize Vegetables”, Mark Bittman suggests that the people of America should stop eating unhealthy foods so often. In the article, Bittman tells his audience that people with “heart disease, diabetes and cancer are all in large part caused by the standard American Diet” (page 35). He also states that eating healthy can result in a better health care system, saving millions of lives. The big issue is Americans eating unhealthy every day, but proposing a plan to help stop it from happening.
We make personal choices about what and where to eat. The government is not going to eliminate the unhealthy food because we think it is the cause of obesity. Ultimately, we must decide to either stay away from unhealthy food or eat them in moderation. Despite all the efforts of education, media and guidance it doesn’t prevent us from grabbing that cheeseburger with fries on the way to work. In his essay “What You Eat Is Your Business,” Radley Balko argues that society should take full responsi...
Eating is extremely important, it is also important to eat healthy. Most Americans eat without any concerns; they are not questioning or researching what they are feeding themselves or their family. A lot of that has to do with their financial stability, not having the time to prepare a meal due to their time-consuming work schedule, also lack of knowledge and education on what they are consuming. In this bibliography, I will go over all three articles and explain what they are about.
That’s why it 's imperative that you read the nutrition label so you know what healthy vitamins and minerals you are taking
Many people in America, from toddlers to the elderly, have shown numerous signs of bad health. People have the desire to keep on eating due to more, new things being merchandised as “new and improved items” from the producers. For example, nowadays, people are eating pure junk that they find satisfying on the grocery food shelf. As, stated by Michael Pollan, in his article, “Eat Food: Food Defined” he affirmed that “real food is the type of things that our
In order to function correctly, the body needs vitamins, and other compounds. In Camilla Well’s informative essay about healthy eating habits, she states that “Dieters often neglect nutritional balance, sticking to a diet that is not healthy for them in the long run” (Wells). It is vital to have all the necessary vitamins, for without them dangerous health problems can occur (S. L. Peters et al.). When people go on short-term diets, they cut out high calorie nutritious foods,and eat nutritious low calorie replacements. These foods will help them cut down on calories, but will also cut out important nutrients. People not only need to learn what to leave out of their diet, they also need to learn how to replace the vitamins and nutrients. For example, a vegetarian would need to eat extra nuts to replace the protein that they are not getting from meat. Short-term diets often cut out vitamins, which leads to dangerous