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The dangers of eating processed foods essay
An essay on food additive and preservatives
An essay on food additive and preservatives
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Recommended: The dangers of eating processed foods essay
“Why is Processed Food So Bad for You?” by Michael Hobbes is an informative article discussing the negative aspects of processed foods. In the article, the author talks about his famous homemade marinara sauce. He goes on to talk about how his sauce could never make it in the processed food world because of the standardization, preservatives, thickeners, and emulsifiers. All processed foods have to be standardized so that every jar, box, and package taste exactly the same. Preservatives are added so that the foods can last on the shelves and not go bad by the time the consumer reaches them. Finally, thickeners and emulsifiers are added to give the product the right consistency. By the time all of these things are added, Hobbes’ sauce will taste nothing like it did originally. Processed foods are very unhealthy and are made this way to keep up with competitors. Many processed food companies have tried to go healthy. Kraft, for example, tried to reduce the amount of calories in their Oreos and even started selling them in 100-calorie packs in the early 2000s. Not long after, in 2003, Hershey’s released a new s’mores cookie that was more fattening and tasted better than Kraft’s new and healthy Oreos. Kraft’s business started to decline, so they decided …show more content…
In this article Host discusses two drawbacks of processed food: the loss of nutrients and the adding of harmful chemicals. In order for processed food to have longer shelf life, it has to go through many cycles of heating and cooling. This causes the food to lose many important nutrients, as well as flavor. This means that in order to get all of our necessary nutrients from processed food, we will have to eat mass quantities of it. This is very unhealthy and not suggested. Instead, we can get all of our necessary nutrients from fresh foods that are not processed, and we only have to eat a small quantity of
Pulitzer Prize winning author, Michael Moss, talked about how food industries are spending trillions of dollars on processed food which essentially caused an increase of obesity over the past couple centuries. His #1 New York best-selling investigative report, Salt, Sugar, Fat, discusses a time when he visited the Kellogg’s company headquartered at Battle Creek, Michigan. After talking to representatives from this company about their food and how there is so much salt in their branded products. The company invited Moss to test their food products that did not incorporate any salt in the ingredients and as expected, the taste was bland. From this taste test, the company showed Moss why salt was so important in their products. Salt gives
The problematic aspect of processed food is all the added hormones, preservatives, and antibiotics that are injected into the food. Organic foods have none of these additives, and the pure characteristic of organic food is a valuable thing. Pollan (2008) agrees with this when he writes, “instead of worrying about nutrients, we should simply avoid any food that has been processed to such an extent that it is more the product of industry than of nature” (p. 424). I have a medical condition in which I am not supposed to eat any foods that have added preservatives, hormones, or antibiotics. This is because my body is hypersensitive to chemicals and, especially, added hormones. It can easily cause serious health problems. Pollan (2008) also added an opinion made by a food politics and policy lecturer, Gyorgy Scrinis, who believes that, “the most important fact about any food is not its nutrient content but its degree of processing” (p. 423). If everyone would stop their constant consideration in nutrient content and turn their attention to additives; America could become a much healthier
Warner raises several main questions throughout her text. While she never directly asks the reader to consider the following questions, a reader will question the healthiness of eating processed foods, if there is proper moderation of additives, and what steps they can take to choose a healthier lifestyle. The main goal of the text appears to be to inform about processed foods and how they came to play such a major role in the American diet. This is demonstrated with the heavy amount of history and statistics intertwined in the book. Interestingly enough Warner claims that she wrote the book, “As an argument for eating foods closer to the ground” (Warner 223). Yet the book doesn’t feel like an argument. She effectively makes one question what they’re eating but her neutral tone keeps the book from being an
In recent studies, it was discovered that most of the foods that Americans consumed are foods which had gone through so many processes and thereby losing most of its nutritional values. Unhealthy nutrients are also been added to foods as additive during production to either preserve flavor or enhance its taste and appearance. An individual cannot simply trust what he or she is consuming at a fast food restaurant or even a cheap prepared meal at a grocery store. Processed food or western diet needs to be replaced and totally taken out of the American life and diet; this will help the Americans to live a healthier life, and spend less on medical bills.
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
In her essay “In Praise of Fast Food”, Rachel Laudan discusses the differences between natural and processed foods and which are healthier. She also discussed her personal experiences with the topic. Laudan knows a great deal about this particular debate because she grew up on a farm eating “natural foods” as well as using natural recipes herself. “My culinary style, like so many people’s, was created by those who scorned industrialized food; culinary Luddites” (Laudan 331). She does not, however, completely agree that all natural foods are healthier than processed foods, using history as a large part of her argument. This essay had a very clear motive and made numerous key points about this debate, making it
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.”
Meriam-Webster Dictionary defines food as “material taken into an organism and used for growth, repair, and vital processes as a source of energy” (Mish). Food is simple, yet humans have made it very complex. In the United States of America, food has become more of a hobby than a nutritional need. Every family gathering, holiday, and birthday celebration contains food of some sort. Types of food are customary at different times, like birthday cake at a birthday party, or stuffing at Thanksgiving. There is an entire holiday dedicated to dressing up and giving children candy (Halloween). One of the popular holiday foods is meat. An average of 10 million land animals (not including fish or other water dwelling organisms) are brutally slaughtered
The food we eat today is processed faster than ever; however, some may say this is a bad thing. A quote by Michael Pollan says “Don’t eat anything that your great-grandmother would not recognize as food.” This quote’s underlying meaning is that the food of our great-grandparents’ time is more nutritious and healthier than the food of today. Even with today’s processed foods, the food is still healthier than the food of the past.
Michael Pollan discusses two categories of food: one is real food (the kind our great-grandmother would recognize), while the other is “edible food-like substances”. The category that needs defending according to Pollan is the real food. This category of food is minimally processed, fresh (will eventually rot), and includes mostly things that are taken straight from the source (the ground, tree, etc.). When one walks into a store, they should look for and pick the foods that are more “quiet”such as fresh produce than the ones that have more labels that say they are more healthy, or better for you.
Food has been a common source of necessity in our everyday lives as humans. It helps gives us nutrition and energy to live throughout our life. Over several decades, the development of making foods has evolved. They have changed from natural to processed foods in recent years. Nowadays natural ingredients are barely used in the making of foods like bread, cheese, or yogurt. The food industry today has replaced natural food making with inorganic ingredients. The cause of this switch is due to processed foods being easier, cheaper and faster to make. Artificial nutrition and processed foods have been proven to last longer in market shelves then natural foods. Also, due to artificial additives in processed foods they help satisfy consumers taste more than natural ingredients. The method of producing processed foods is common in today's food industry and helps make money faster and efficiently for companies. Examples of this can be found in all markets that distribute food. Even though processed foods may be easier and faster to make, they are nowhere near as healthy for consumers compared to natural foods. Natural foods are healthier, wholesome, and beneficial to the human body and planet then processed foods.
Impossible Foods, and their flagship product ‘the Impossible Burger’ is the perfect example of Margaret Graham’s measure of spotting a ‘tech winner’ (Graham & White). The Impossible Burger personifies the growth of a product from having inventive merit to embodiment merit when the company was able to design a faux meat product from the iron compound ‘heme’. As well, Impossible Food’s recent process plant acquisition in Oakland and enrollment of extensive advertisement campaigns displays the potential for the product to be properly scaled, operationalized, and ultimately marketable. However, the Impossible Burger has only recently become marketable, with restaurants only beginning to sell the burger in 2016. Therefore, the company has a lot
America is a capitalist society. It should come to a surprise when we live like this daily. We work for profit. We’ll buy either for pleasure or to sell later for profit. It should come to no surprise that our food is made the same way because we are what we eat. We are capitalist that eat a capitalist meal. So we must question our politics. Is our government system to blame for accepting and encouraging monopolies?
Food is “composed of synthetic chemical additives, such as colorings, preservatives, sugar substitutes and trans-fats” (Fitzgerald, 2006, p.72). Fitzgerald reported that by the “1970s most meats and dairy products that were factory farmed were laced with growth hormones, antibiotics and a range of pesticides” (p.72). Furthermore, food that is frozen, packaged and canned is considered processed food. A brief explanation of the chemical additives in processed food. 1.
Junk food has been proven to be unhealthy long time ago. Junk food started to grow more and more recently and spread fast all over the world. Junk food reveals any food with high calories and low nutritional value. A big problem with junk foods is that satiation value of them is low, that means people need to eat a large amount of that unhealthy foods to feel full. So it is like eating a lot of poisons for a long time, what do you think the result will be on the health condition of the humans? Another problem of junk foods tend to replace other healthy foods; people who drink a lot of soda there is no room for healthy natural fruit juice in their stomach, people who are snacking on cookies, they’re not eating fruits and healthy vegetables (WebMD