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The importance of food choice
Factors that influence food choices
The importance of food choice
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What Influences Your Food Choices and Why? Generally speaking, as I have read in the book there are multiple reasons for the choices people make over the food they eat: flavor, texture, appearance, early influences, habits, advertisements, restaurants, convince, or even how much money is available for food. All these factors together play a huge role in what everyone in the world chooses to eat. When thinking about the food I choose to eat and monitoring what it is I do eat and the reasons for eating I slowly begin to realize just like most people I eat certain things based on the one or more of the factors I have just listed. I like to think of myself as a relatively healthy person. I watch what I eat often choosing fruits as a snack over junk food. I also love looking up healthy recipes and trying them. When looking for a new recipe to try I choose the ones that look nice, are colorful and eye catching as well as a name that seems appealing to me. Sometimes the recipes I try don’t always turn out but when they do I an granted with a new snack, lunch whatever it may be that is not only nutritious but also makes me feel better about myself. I am very …show more content…
I would eat what I wanted when I wanted and a lot of the times it wasn’t fruits or vegetables it was junk food. Around the end of the seventh grade I decided this was not who I wanted to be. I decided to give up eating snacks after school and before bed and to also start eating more fruits, I loved them so why not eat them more often as opposed to the junk food I was eating. As I did this I soon began to realize how much better I began feeling with myself and that was just the beginning. I have continued to change my eating habits as well as try to help people who ask me how I did it. It make me feel good inside to know that I can help someone by sharing my story with
When it comes to the topic of eating healthy, most of us will readily agree that we all need to. Where this argument usually ends, however, is on the question of how and why. Whereas some are convinced that we don’t need to all be eating healthy foods that are over priced to stay healthy, and others maintain that there is no other way. Bill Gifford talks about a proper diet throughout the book, but one chapter in particular really stands out when it comes to how diet affects our bodies and ultimately our heath. In the chapter Phil Vs. Fat, Gifford tells a story about a man who beats all odds when it comes to changing his life. Our new friend Phil was morbidly obese and had become highly diabetic. Through exercise and eating a more refined diet, he was able to completely reverse his body and his health. Gifford continues to emphasis on Phil’s great feat when he writes, “The doctor was astonished: Bruno’s insulin resistance was gone, his blood values
Kingsolver desired to embrace “a genuine food culture” which is “an affinity between people and the land that feeds them” (Kingsolver 20). Having a true food culture can limit calorie intake and represent a cultural connection to the land that you live on. Kingsolver seeks to establish that a food culture is not just for the privileged, but rather is a result of cultural regulation of impulses (Kingsolver 16). A real food culture “arises out of a place, a soil, a climate, a history, a temperament, a collective sense of belonging,” all of which mitigate the impulse to eat fats and sugar (Kingsolver 17, 15). Kingsolver then states that to live without these natural regulations of diet “would seem dangerous”, and that the United States has no food culture.
In the article by Wendell Berry titled “The Pleasures of Eating” he tries to persuade the readers of the necessity and importance of critical thinking and approach to choosing meals and owning responsibility for the quality of the food cooked. He states that people who are not conscious enough while consuming products, and those who do not connect the concept of food with agricultural products, as people whose denial or avoidance prevents them from eating healthy and natural food. Berry tries to make people think about what they eat, and how this food they eat is produced. He points to the aspects, some which may not be recognized by people, of ethical, financial and
He says this has partly stemmed from the fact that food is so heavily doctored in media and advertisement that we fail to appreciate the individuality of it. He also states that most consumers wouldn’t want to know where their food came from as it would just make them feel bad. He then goes on to start providing solutions for the problems we face. One major way to eat responsibly is for one to grow their own food. This allows one to become acquainted with how food is really produced and really appreciate it as a labor of love. Another key thing Berry mentions is the preparation of one’s own food. One should be able to cook as it is cheaper and again makes one closer to what they are eating. A last main point is one properly learning the history of their food. He states this is all important because one can then truly enjoy all parts
There are many different beliefs about the proper way to eat healthy. People are often mislead and live unhealthy lifestyles as a result. Both Mary Maxfield and Michael Pollan explain their own beliefs on what a healthy diet is and how to live a healthy lifestyle. In the essay, “Escape from the Western diet” Michael Pollan writes about the flaws of the western diet and how we can correct these problems to become healthier. In the essay, “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating”, Mary Maxfield criticizes Michael Pollan’s essay about eating healthy, and explains her own theory on how to be healthy. She believes that Pollan is contradicting himself and that what he is stating is false. Mary Maxfield ponders the
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.
Eating the pizza instead of the salad seemed like a good idea at the time, but now one is stuck in this sloth like state hours later. It seems letting cravings control what and how to eat is not the best strategy to healthy living. Mary Maxfield, in her article “Food For Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Food” discusses her views on how people should eat. She believes people crave what their bodies need, therefore, people should eat what they crave. Maxfield claims that diet, health, and weight are not correlated with each other, and because of this, people view obesity as unhealthy, thus forcing them to distinguish “right, healthy” foods from the “wrong, unhealthy” choices. As a result, she concludes that science has nothing to do with
“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).
...e has a very sensitive and personable narrative throughout the book that transcends to showing how caring of a person she is. That aspect, who the writer is, is very important to me especially when discussing such important topics that needs to be coming from someone I trust and believe in. Since food and eating habits is something that every human all has in common it is a very good book that is able to affect anyone on a personal level. For me it has drawn an even further connection to the things I have learned in this course. My family has always been health conscious because my mother has been having health problems for 20 years so the importance of health and exercise is something that I have been raised with. With textual evidence the class and this book has presented to me I am very confident in my health habits and choices today and for the rest of my life.
To follow Berry’s advice at the dinner table, shopping is one of the most important steps. Berry says that “people what they want—or what they have been persuaded to want—within the limits of what they can get. They pay, mostly without protest, what they are charged (Berry 37).” That is because most shoppers are in a rush and don’t have time to analyze the product. Also, some people don’t have enough money in their pockets, so they just choose a random product without thinking that healthy food choices keep you healthy. When people don’t consider food choices, they end up having illnesses. “They mostly ignore certain critical questions about the quality
One of the reason’s why I felt my nutrition needed to changes is because nutrition is a huge part of a healthy lifestyle, the way that we eat and what foods we consume can have a huge impact on our everyday lives. Nutrition plays a huge role in multiple facets of a person’s life energy, health, skin, weight, confidence, and more making having a good control on your eating habits extremely important. How we eat over the years and what foods we routinely choose to eat can eventually have a lasting effect on use and what we consider to be most appealing and appetizing at any given moment. Having these craving and routine habits makes eating, diet, and nutrition both a behavior and a lifestyle choice that can be changed over time with help from the theories learned in this class.
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 the book, In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan explores the relationship between nutrition and the Western diet, claiming that the answer to healthy eating is simply to “eat food”.
Previously to taking this class, I had never given much thought to my eating habits. I always thought of the way I chose to eat as one of those things I didn’t need to concern myself with too heavily now because I’m a young broke college student. The way I eat is pretty similar to the way most of my friends eat and when you live away from home, that seems like the norm for people in college. However, after applying what I’ve learned in this class to my life, I’ve realized that the dietary choices I make now affect not only my current health, but my future health as well. So overall, I would say that my eating habits are pretty bad, but I’m working on making them better.