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Impact of environmental factors on health
The link between health and environmental determinants
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Throughout the film many statements are made and sources are provided, but how reliable they really are is a questionable matter as it is apparent that some fallacies are made that could change how effective this really was. One of the more noticeable fallacies is the one previously addressed that they would make claims such as that food industry is growing and so is diabetes and obesity therefore the food industry is the main cause for health issues. This is an example of post hoc ergo propter hoc that appears, where in these instances they connect the food industry’s growth to the development of some other negative event and imply that the food industry is the cause for all of these negative events without solid and expert proven evidence
or acknowledgement of other factors involved. Though it would often go unnoticed by the casual viewer, this film does have its shortcomings as though it does provide many facts, it fails to truly connect it to their claim causing a weaker claim that remains reliant on emotional appeal. To further demonstrate this is their use of certain individuals such as the woman whose child died of E. coli. Though her experience is real there was no scientific basis to her claim that the death was completely the food industry’s fault, and as such she cannot be hailed as an expert and they therefore appealed to false authority in their claims relying on the emotion, not solid information for their basis. Moreover it continues to weaken how strong their evidence truly is for their argument.
The audience uses logic to understand that an overwhelming amount of their own tax dollars are being put into a cause that is unnecessary and could even be harming their health. The statistics provided helps Pollan prove his point and achieve his purpose by angering readers into being against the growth of additional corn crops. The statistical evidence has an effect on readers to feel concerned with the shocking numbers that have a direct consequence on Americans’ wallets. As the article continues, Pollan argues with cause and effect strategies. He begins by stating a cause: Congress decided to dedicate “125,000-square mile (of) American habitat” to corn. This then leads to the effect: Recently, there has been a rising “epidemic of obesity and Type 2 diabetes in this country.” Pollan reveals this connection to prove to Americans that the over-consumption of corn damages their health. This cause and effect helps Pollan achieve his purpose of persuading the audience that overproduction of corn can lead to serious medical problems. The author concludes his argument by introducing a metaphor that reveals a deeper meaning to
Moss uses more real-life examples and understands how to appeal to readers to prove his point and figures out the perfect combination of ethos, pathos, and logos in the stories to build his case, a great example of this being Jeffrey Dunn’s story. Dunn worked as an executive for Coca-Cola in 2001 whose main goal was to drive Coca-Cola into poor areas and convince “heavy drinkers” of the soda to drink more. On a business trip to Brazil, Dunn realized that “these people need a lot of things, but they don’t need a Coke” and decided to push the company in a healthier direction. This choice led to Dunn’s eventual firing, and the tale ends with Dunn marketing baby carrots as a snack food (Moss, 491-494). This story not only appeals to pathos by getting to readers’ emotions, but also to ethos and logos because Dunn is a credible source and gives an authentic experience that adds to the credible feel of the article. Pollan’s article has a very different connotation than Moss’s article, and reads as an appeal to authority right from the start. Pollan’s primary occupation is described as an author of food and eating books, not food scientist, however, Pollan’s entire article is based off of his opinion of how Americans should eat (Pollan, 420). Pollan’s rules, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” might be a fine setup for a fad diet, but these rules don’t necessarily provide a reasonable solution for America’s obesity problem. Escape from the Western Diet is littered with logical fallacies that stunt its credibility, such as the False Dichotomy, Begging the Question, and the Hasty Generalization. In Pollan’s quote, “people eating a Western diet are prone to a complex of chronic diseases that seldom strike people eating more traditional diets” (Pollan, 421), the Hasty Generalization fallacy is apparent, as not every person who eats a Western diet is prone to chronic diseases. The quote, “the health care industry...stands to
A testimonial appeal stemming from the article, was taken up by Denmark, who, in 2011 said that “any foods high in saturated fat” were to be taxed, and this was passed into law. A secondary testimonial came from the United Nations, which declared that heart disease and “uncatchable” diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, etc. pose a greater risk now than ever before. Another testimonial taken from the text was this: “Western diet is now dominated by “low-cost, highly-proc...
...pened my eyes to the health risks of the food I consume. There is a lot of health risks associated with the foods on the shelves at the supermarket. A food product I ate as a child was Lunchables. At the time I just thought the food was good. Although, now that I am aware of what I put in my body I try to look at the ingredient and the food products I consume before I consume them. The book also informed me of the deceitfulness of people in order to make a profit. A prime example in Chapter eleven is the Kraft Company. The Kraft Company state they want to decrease the amounts of salt, sugar and fat in their products. On the other hand, Kraft creates new products with an increased amount of these ingredients. Many companies state that they try to fulfill the desires of consumers. This idea is wrong. The consumers study what our body craves and uses it against us.
The western diet consists of foods high in sugar and fat, as well as a large consumption of red meats and refined grains. As a result, people who consume a western diet face problems with their weight and often have many diseases related to poor dieting. Pollan believes that the food industry and medical community take advantage of this. Pollan claims that the food industry will change their processed food and sell it back to the consumer rather than removing the process food all together. The medical community will treat people’s diseases instead of helping to prevent theses disease by educating people on how to make healthier life style choices. Mary Maxfield believes that these points made by Michael Pollan are hypocritical. She states that Michael Pollan is taking advantage of the consumer the same way he claims that the food industry and medical community are. Pollan would criticize the food industry and medical community but at the same time publish and sell his theories on how to eat
...ge. Moments in the film, where he gave the harsh reality of his diet made the film more relatable and made the experience real. The foods that so often consumed by society are made and grown using chemicals and although we do not see it happening, it is killing us. The film revealed how the Mc Nuggets are chickens pumped with hormones in order to have unusually large breasts. Then gruesomely placed into a machine whole, where their heads are chopped off, and they then the rest of their bodies, including feces, come out of the machine in the form chicken Mc Nuggets is a gruesome eye opener. Everyone is slowly digging a grave with fast food and ready-made products that we dish up at home. The bagged vegetables that are so useful for Sunday dinners and the Ketchup that we love to load onto French fries and burgers all are loaded to the ‘T’ with nitrates and corn syrup.
Throughout the film, various companies are exposed for promoting products in a manner that depicts the products as a healthy alternative. The ultimate exposing is done on the government and the USDA. The government is exposed for making deals with food companies to not demonize companies that sell unhealthy food. Even Michelle Obama 's "Let 's Move" campaign against childhood obesity started out bringing unhealthy companies to the light but died down by emphasizing exercise and not talking about food.This is largely in part due to a deal made with major corporations who weren’t too pleased with the original approach of “Let’s Move”. In addition, the USDA is exposed for promoting products such as cheese, milk, and high fructose corn syrup in a fictional way. They provided no information that they were unhealthy in the
Published In his article “How Junk Food Can End Obesity”, David Freedman begins by talking about how misinformed people are about wholefood restaurants and stores. These stores are run by so-called health food experts. Freedman makes himself distinguishable himself from the position of Michael Pollan and his adherents. His adherents are known as Pollanites. They are the people who believe that processed food is the reason we have health and obesity issues.
The 2009 movie Food Inc. describes the major role that food production plays within many lives. This movie revealed that there is a very small variety of companies that consumers purchase their food from. These few companies actually control what is out on the shelves and what we put into our bodies. These companies have changed food production into a food production business. Many of these companies experiment with ways to create large quantities of food at low production costs to result in an enormous amount of profit for themselves. Some of the production cost cuts also result in less healthy food for the population. Instead of worrying about the health of the population, the companies are worried about what will make them the most money.
Nutritionism and Today’s Diet Nutritionism is the ideology that the nutritional value of a food is the sum of all its individual nutrients, vitamins, and other components. In the book, “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan, he critiques scientists and government recommendations about their nutritional advice. Pollan presents a strong case pointing out the many flaws and problems that have risen over the years of following scientific studies and government related warnings on the proper amount of nutrients needed for a healthy diet. Pollan’s main point is introducing science into our food system has had more of a negative impact than a positive one, we should go back to eating more of a traditional diet. I believe food science has given us
Freedman convincingly argues that hitting the drive-thru may be a better choice for you and your pockets, rather than spending hours and all of your hard earned cash at a whole foods store. That may sound ridiculous to most people because they’re under the impression to not eat fast food because it is not good for you, while that may be true, neither is the advertised “healthy” foods.
With this concept in mind, I am going to analyze the Guardian online 2012 article “Why our food is making us fat,” by Jacques Peretti. The article mainly speaks about the rapid rise in obesity and the main contributor to it, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). The article also points out some of the economic and political influences behind HFCS. HFCS is used for almost every food product in the food industry. However, if we look at HFCS from a limited point of view, we just see it as something present in our food and not the health factors behind it.
... about how fast food, meat particularly, is processed. Not only does it open your eyes to how fast food is processed but also it shows how all food in the grocery store is not really “food”. The movie suggests that humans are “starving” themselves from the needed nutrients that we need to survive. Common snacks for kids like cereal, cheez-its, fruit snacks, potato chips, granola bars, and other easily prepared foods do not contain the nutrients that our bodies need to grow and stay healthy. What children really need to be eating are fruits and vegetables and there are endless ways that these can be prepared to taste delicious!
The emotional feel or atmosphere created by the documentary was just trying to help. You could tell that they want to help people and make sure they are all healthy and can live the right lifestyle. While watching this film I encountered many things I found questionable. I found three claims to be bias/ controversial in this documentary: it uses correlation as causation, they claim someone having health issues can be solved by cutting meat out of their diet, and lastly they only use one study to prove their method, and it is the one that one of the main people in the movie made.
One example of how the food industry is ruthless is when one of the CEOs of a fast-food chain states they are part of the problem is hired immediately. Though I don’t not find this wrong because if I was a stock-holder with my life savings invested within his company I would without a doubt have him fired for placing my money at risk. That is the harsh reality of economics, you cannot place you company in shock by either a damaging statement or bad executive move. I found most disturbing about the movie was how a case was being made against McDonalds that two obese teens did not know fast-food was unhealthy (Spurlock). Regardless of how they lived word of mouth had to have taught them fast food is not healthy, and if that didn’t health education has been in place for years now teaching us