Student Name: Mia Bozeman ENG 111 Fall 2023 Paper 2 First Draft. Guilt Trips And Fad Dieting: How Commercial And Cultural Influences Affect Our Eating Habits. In her article “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating,” author Mary Maxfield explores the relationship between cultural influences and our relationship with food. Maxfield believes that self-proclaimed experts have exploited Americans' desire to live a healthy lifestyle by commercializing dieting and eating habits. The writer supports her claims by pointing out that other cultures indulge in what would be considered less balanced eating habits, yet tend to be healthier than most Americans. Additionally, Maxfield argues that diet and health experts often contradict themselves …show more content…
Race, religion, ethnicity and geographic location are all cultural influences on our diets. For example, those practicing Islam or Judaism have strict diet restrictions that correlate with their religious beliefs. Asian and Latin Americans have distinct dishes and flavors that are signatures of their culture and homelands. Mid-Westerners enjoy lots of hearty casseroles and Dutch-inspired dishes, while Southern Americans enjoy soul food staples and sweet tea. We can zoom in further to specific states, towns and boroughs; citing Chicago for their deep-dish pizza, Baltimore for crab cakes and pit beef, or North Carolina for its BBQ ( this one can even be dissected into eastern and western, it’s a pretty serious debate!). These dishes that are special to us exemplify the huge influence that our culture has on our identities as well. We should all be able to celebrate these unique delicacies without fear of judgement or remorse afterwards. Negative thoughts imposed by the health and diet industry would have us avoiding a lot of these options, and therefore, negatively impact how we view ourselves. It is interesting to note that there are both positive and negative cultural influences related to the same foods, no wonder most Americans second guess themselves when it comes to their dietary habits! Fundamentally, food is something that should be enjoyed. All of our holidays, bad days, and special moments are centered around food. Opinions of experts and nutritionists are bound to vary and change. People will always struggle with obesity, anorexia, diabetes and the stigma attached to weight. Saying that it is wrong to consume or not consume certain food only contributes to these stereotypes and unhealthy attitudes towards food in general which could exacerbate the issue for those already suffering. By taking the moralization out of food, we can dismiss the critics
In Lavanya Ramanathan’s Washington Post article published in 2015 titled “Why everyone should stop calling immigrant food ‘ethnic’”, she discusses about people’s preconceptions on the type of food that should be labelled ethnic. Ashlie Stevens also touched on a similar topic in her Guardian article published in 2015 titled “Stop thinking and just eat: when ‘food adventuring’ trivializes culture”. She talks about how people assume that just by eating food from a certain culture, they are able relate to the culture as a whole. Both authors acknowledge the importance of appreciating authentic cuisines, but takes different approaches to convince the audience. Both authors establish credibility by using a wide range of substantiated evidences. While,
Kingsolver asserts that this lack of a food culture is the cause of America’s obesity epidemic, supporting her assertion with statistics that state that we produce twice as many calories as we need. Kingsolver also describes the process by which almost all of the produce, such as corn and soy, are turned into oils or fed to livestock in factory farms. Those high calorie oils make their way into all of our foods, especially into junk foods. Junk food ads specifically target children, and yet when the children become obese, it is portrayed as a “failure of personal resolve”, leaving the companies producing the
The food is not forced into anyone’s mouth, therefore it would be unethical to cast blame for the aftermath of consuming the foods. Even if, for the sake of humor, we did blame the food chains, we still could not assume the blame for a person being overweight was purely based on eating those foods. With an active lifestyle, it would be very difficult to become overweight. David Zinczenko himself states that had it not been for joining the Navy in college, he would still be overweight. Which has nothing to do with dietary habits. Between these two facts, we can confidently state that the viewpoint similar to the points made in “Don’t Blame the Eater”. Personal health should be as it sounds, personal. If you have the freedom to choose what you put into your body you should take the responsibility for the precautions that come with it. Like it is argued in “What You Eat is Your Business”, if we put more money/emphasis on these problems being a matter of our own conviction, obesity levels would drop. Health care costs would drop, and America would be a much healthier
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
In “Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating” by, Mary Maxfield (pp.442-447), she affirms a bright argument about how food is not moral or immoral. Therefore, you can eat whatever you desire and not suffer any negative side effects, which she ignores. Her key points including stated facts such as “Culturally,we resist these scientific findings,” that people can be fat and healthy, “in favor of a perspective that considers fatness fatal and thinness immortal.”(pp.445) The main point to Maxfield’s claim in healthy eating, is being active and living a fit lifestyle. In “Escape From The Western Diet” (pp.420-427)by Michael Pollan, his argument is to help the American community be enlightened with
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).
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.
Michael Pollan makes arguments concerning the eating habits of the average American. Pollan suggests, in spite of our cultural norms, we should simply “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.”
Today, telling people what to eat seems to be the right thing to do now, huh? And telling people to eat whatever they want is seems to be extremely controversial. You know why I think it’s controversial? Not simply because we live in a culture that’s messed-up, foodwise, but because we, as a culture, seem to take the worse possible opinion of human nature. It should be no surprise to anyone that our society views food as a moral issue. Better yet, a possibly risky moral issue. Not to get too deep into the discussion of ethical and religious views on food, but in my opinion food isn’t moral. It’s not immoral, either. I would say it's morally neutral. Sadly, in today’s society, we live in a time and a place where ice cream is frowned upon. We tend to take the most pessimistic view of humans if they’re seen stuff their face with ice cream. Kass raised a controversial point in chapter 2 of his book, “The Human Form.” In it he gives us what he calls the "gap betwe...
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.
American culture is changing dramatically. In some areas it’s a good thing, but in other areas, like our food culture, it can have negative affects. It is almost as if our eating habits are devolving, from a moral and traditional point of view. The great America, the land of the free and brave. The land of great things and being successful, “living the good life.” These attributes highlight some irony, especially in our food culture. Is the American food culture successful? Does it coincide with “good living”? What about fast and processed foods? These industries are flourishing today, making record sales all over the globe. People keep going back for more, time after time. Why? The answer is interestingly simple. Time, or in other words, efficiency. As people are so caught up in their jobs, schooling, sports, or whatever it may be, the fast/processed food industries are rapidly taking over the American food culture, giving people the choice of hot