Summary Of How Junk Food Can End Obesity By David Freedman

In The Atlantic article ‘How Junk Food Can End Obesity’ David H. Freedman asserts that junk food is superior to wholesome foods. He does this by bringing up points saying processed foods are not the reason why America has problems with diabetes and obesity; he is critical of the nutrition, cost, and stigma of wholesome foods. While nutritionists advocate that consumers should avoid processed food, Freedman presents evidence that junk food is as healthy aa wholesome if better in reducing the populations obesity. Freedman claims that wholesome foods may not live up to the robust expectations instilled in people’s minds.

There are multiple instances spaced throughout the article in which the author brings about statistics and numbers to substantiate

his claim. These various numbers include calorie counts, the costs of foods, and sometimes even portions of meals/beverages. When discussing his own experience with a whole-foods store known as Café Sprouts Freedman is quoted saying:
“The result was tasty, but at 300 calories (by my rough calculation) in a 16-ounce cup, it was more than my diet could regularly absorb without consequences, nor was I about to make a habit of $9 shakes, healthy or not” (Freedman, 2013).
Similar instances of repeating values can be found throughout the article.
The author is not only persistent and repetitive when it comes to comparing numerical values of wholesome foods and junk foods; he also intermittently uses the term processed foods on multiple accounts.
“An enormous amount of media space has been dedicated to promoting the notion that all processed food, and only processed food, is making us sickly and overweight. In this narrative, the food-industrial complex—particularly the fast-food industry—has turned all the powers of food-processing science loose on engineering its offerings to addict us to fat, sugar, and salt, causing or at least heavily contributing to the obesity crisis” (Freedman, 2013).
Freedman also formulates a pattern of listing articles and books written on the account of naysayers as well as people in which he agrees with. Freedman does this to not only give examples of his point as well as add credibility to his point of view, but it allows one to reach a full-scale aspect of the topic at hand.
The title page itself, as well as the subscript, is a clear-cut example of something that deviates from the norm. Freedman’s article catches the eye of readers with the shock-value of its repetition. “How Junk Food Can End Obesity” is a sentence one would likely think they would never see. The author is quoted using the subscript “Could embracing the drive-thru make us all healthier?” (Freedman, 2013). At face value, one would shoot a look of confusion at this anomalous sentence, but it is pertinent to Freedman’s purpose.
Freedman’s use of the unexpected and what we know as the ‘shock-value’ is not something that ends on the title page. Instances of what could be considered anomalous follow in following passages of the article. To state a few examples, on the ninth page of the printed article Freedman discusses a conversation held with his “professional” wellness coach. In this conversation, she had contended that it is okay to eat anything so long that it is not processed. Proposing that eating anything as long is it is not a processed food is abnormal because one can obviously eat things that are processed and still be considered healthy.
On page 10 of the article, Freedman is discussing his discrepancy with the way studies advocating for the promotion of wholesome fail to account for variables such as the type of foods being compared in the studies “It’s comparing apples to Whoppers, instead of Whoppers to hand-ground, grass-fed-beef burgers with heirloom tomatoes, garlic aioli, and artisanal cheese” (Freedman, 2013).

Without comparing similar foods, it is hard for consumers to understand what a reasonable

On page two of “How Junk Food Can End Obesity,” Freedman says, “I scarf down all sorts of raw vegetables like candy” (Freedman, 2013). Raw vegetables are obviously nothing like candy, but he uses this to paint a picture, per se and gives one background to his preferences in food, allowing the author to establish a little repour in his ability to critique the wholesome foods. It wouldn’t make sense for an NBA player to criticize anything someone in the NFL would do on game day would

it?
While Freedman has been arguing that the deadly and terribly negative stigma that happens to go hand in hand with processed and junk foods is not true and is quite the opposite. He claims that there is still “An enormous amount of media space has been dedicated to promoting the notion that all processed food, and only processed food, is making us sickly and overweight. In this narrative, the food-industrial complex—particularly the fast-food industry—has turned all the powers of food-processing science loose on engineering its offerings to addict us to fat, sugar, and salt, causing or at least heavily contributing to the obesity crisis” (Freedman, 2013). There is a long road ahead of Freedman if he really wants to convince the general population of the benefits of a less wholesome diet.
Brittany Chin Jones talks about where she stands on whether people are consuming things that are truly organic or if they are just paying attention to the labels screaming health in her article “Whole Foods vs.

Processed Foods: Why Less Is Actually Better” on the Food & Nutrition web page. “In the food industry right now, there are a lot of words being thrown around like GMO, organic, natural, fresh or local. But do all of these words really mean better for you? I recently saw a green Diet Coke can and above it the word “organic” in italicized cursive letters. Is this supposed to mean it is better for you than regular Diet Coke? Does it mean that the ingredients in it are less likely to be processed and possibly affect your health? Probably not” (Jones, 2013). It is truly ironic how food manufacturers can claim they only produce clean foods and label their goods to be healthy when in all reality their foods or drinks in the case of Diet Coke’s organic

label.
It has been found that even in peoples best attempts of eating a clean diet, the population still manages to fail. Michael Shermer says in his review of “Grown Not Made” that “Even when you try to eat pure, healthy, organic meals you will likely find yourself consuming mass quantities of unpronounceable ingredients. Consider the ever-popular Subway sandwich, a veritable icon of wholesome weight loss after Jared Fogle shed copious pounds on what became known as the "Subway diet."” (Shermer, 2013). It is unbelievable that even in this much of an advanced world that the population has a hard time deciphering the ingredients in what they are ingesting into their bodies.
It has always been common knowledge for athletes and even their observers that junk foods and sweets aren’t the best choice for them, so their bodies are able to perform at their max capacity. That belief is contested by Nancy Clark, “The article discusses whether athletes should avoid eating junk food. Topics covered include the parameters for healthy eating such as having no gummy candy, soda pop or refined sugar. Also mentioned are the benefits from sugar such as boosting muscle activities, potassium, folate and Vitamin C in the body” (Clark, 2015). Bodies of everybody, but especially athletes who require a lot of energy output need sugar to keep thriving. Sugar isn’t always a bad thing in moderation and even sugary snacks that would be categorized as junk foods are still capable of being beneficial to the human body.