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Common sense seems to dictate that we are all going to die one day. As we all get older we crave to keep our youth, and to stay young forever is the ultimate dream. The thought of a possible immortality is just an added benefit. Even though we have strived towards this goal for centuries, have we obtained advances in successfully staying young forever? In Bill Gifford’s book “Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (Or Die Trying)” he explores these ideas of life and aging further. In this novel, he goes on a journey to try and debunk the mysteries and questions behind the new science of aging. He gathers information from tests and scientists from around the country to discover what really works to prevent or delay aging and what is just a hopeful hoax. He helps us figure out why we age and why aging …show more content…
Through his stories and his own research, I feel convinced that modern aging research and lifestyle modifications hold the secret to longer and healthier lives. 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
Mary Ray Worley does an excellent job of using her personal experiences as “proof” of the points she makes. When she attacks the idea of dieting she states, “Many fat people have made numerous efforts and spent thousands of dollars throughout their lives to lose weight and each time regained the lost pounds plus a few more” (Worley 165). She makes this point and backs it up in paragraph 11 with her personal experience with dieting and how she gave up on it. She states, “After years and years of dieting it slowly dawned on me that my body rebelled when I tried to restrict my food intake. All those years I figured that it was me who was failing, and then I began to realize that it was the method that was failing” (Worley 165). To certain audiences this article is effective due to this kind of approach. It is especially effective to people who can relate to Worley. Those who can relate to her personal life are more likely to believe what they
Geissler continually argues that one should make their own choices and others should worry about themselves (Geissler). She also makes the point that dieting is without positive results, supported by her quote from Allison which states, “suffering does not enable; it destroys” (Geissler). While in extreme cases dieting can be dangerous due to the risk of starvation that extremists may put themselves at, healthy eating of smaller portion sizes a proven way to care for our bodies. Although dieting is not guaranteed to give remarkable results, it is the stepping stone for many to climb out of obesity. The viewpoint used by the author in her argument tends to constantly turn a blind eye to normal circumstances, and it instead looks for the negatives that support her.
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
American health, specifically our obesity epidemic, has grown into a trending media topic. A quick Google search will bring up thousands of results containing a multitude of opinions and suggested solutions to our nation’s weight gain, authored by anyone ranging from expert food scientists to common, concerned citizens. Amongst the sea of public opinion on obesity, you can find two articles: Escape from the Western Diet by Michael Pollan and The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food by Michael Moss. Each article presents a different view on where the blame lies in this public health crisis and what we should do to amend the issue. Pollan’s attempt to provide an explanation pales in comparison to Moss’s reasonable discussion and viable
He claims that a better diet requires spending more time and resources on food, just like the people of the past did. Pollan attributes their surpassing health to this practice, but in his article “How Junk Food Can End Obesity”, David Freedman paints a different story. Freedman describes how examinations of ancient non-Western remains revealed “hardened arteries, suggesting that pre-industrial diets…may not have been the epitome of healthy eating” (514). This discovery seriously undermines Pollan’s assumption that we should follow the lead of our ancestors because even though they spent a greater amount of resources on food and ate absolutely no processed foods, they still suffered from some of the same diseases which Pollan claims his eating habits will curb. As an opponent of processed foods, or “foodlike products” (Pollan 426), Pollan advocates eating whole foods. As many people have a similar opinion, he is not alone in this, but he is misinformed. Freedman reveals that after examining the nutrition labels on various unprocessed, whole foods, he found that many contained more fat, sugar, and sodium than processed foods (512). If unprocessed foods underwent the same scrutiny as processed foods, perhaps this common misconception could be prevented. The basic premise of Pollan’s essay is that a better diet will lead to better health. While we could all benefit from a better diet, “findings linking food type and health are considered highly unreliable (Freedman 518). Freedman discusses the multitude of nondietary factors such as air quality and exercise that render such studies untrustworthy. Pollan might be a well-respected author of nutrition books, but this does not mean that his theories are free of
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.
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.
-- Contrary to some clinical studies, there is inconclusive scientific evidence to support the theory of increasing a person’s lifespan
...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.
In “Bad 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 have “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 to 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.
Life longevity, a controversial subject that everyone has been trying to figure out. A subject that has most of the American society obsessed with the idea that we are capable of living many more decades and the other half of society feeling that it’s a bad idea for the society. When it comes to the findings of life longevity there's still not a certain answer to what causes it, as of now there's only assumptions. This research has been going on throughout many years and has been one of the hardest research to crack down. Not even the centenarians knew what was the secret that kept them living such a long life, many would say it was elixirs that they took, others believed there
A sad fact in American society is that thousands of people search for the elusive dream of being thin. On any given day, one finds neighbors, friends, and relatives on some kind of diet. Dieters assume various disguises, but the noteworthy ones are the "bandwagoneer," the "promiser" and the "lethal loser."
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”.