The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan

1632 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Thesis on the american diet

The American diet is full of on-the-go amenities from an array of different meals; however, is this fuel actually causing harm to the body in the long run? What is in the American diet that sets American’s health apart from other parts of the world? The documentary Forks Over Knives states that “We spend 2.2 trillion dollars a year on health care, over five times more than the defense budget. In fact, we pay more per person for healthcare than any industrialized country in the world, yet we’re sicker than ever” (Forks Over Knives). Studies are finding that the excessive consumption of sweeteners, meats, and dairy products are many of the leading causes of American’s health failure.
Michael Pollan, a writer for New York Times and author of New York Times bestseller The Botany of Desire and named best book of the year by Borders, Amazon, and the American Booksellers Association, discusses some of these harmful effects along with many other facts in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Pollan discusses how corn syrup has consumed our nation in chapter six of his book. He discusses how high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has snuck its way into the food of the American’s every meal. As restaurants line roads and food lines pantries, HFCS lurks in almost every meal. Marlene Bishop, editor of Chocolate, Fast Food, and Sweeteners: Consumption and Health, states: “In the last 35 years, high fructose corn syrup has replaced the use of sucrose by food manufactures in the US due to its steady price and availability (White, 2008)" (3). Because of the excess corn and low price to make HFCS, it continues to pour into the ingredients of the American’s diet.
In 1980, HFCS was introduced to the human diet and quickly took off with its high achie...

... middle of paper ...

...York, NY: Happer & Row, 1979.
Print.
Hippocrates. "A Quote by Hippocrates." Goodreads. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
Horovitz, Bruce. "Chick-fil-A Wings in New Direction after Gay Flap."Washington Post.
The Washington Post, 09 Apr. 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
Melina, Vesanto, M.Sc., R.D., and Brenda Davis, R.D. Becoming Vegetarian: The
Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Vegetarian Diet. Rev. Ed. ed. Toronto,
Ontario: Wiley, 2003. Print.
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York:
Penguin, 2006. Print.
Simon, David Robinson. Meatonomics: How the Rigged Economics of Meat and Dairy
Make You Consume Too Much-- and How to Eat Better, Live Longer, and Spend
Smarter. San Francisco, CA: Conari, 2013. Print.
Simon, David Robinson. "Strange Ways." Meatonomics: The Bizzare Economics of
Meat and Dairy. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing the Japanese and American Health Care Systems

    1650 Words  | 4 Pages

    The population in the United States as of 2009 was 307,006,550 the younger population is projected to slightly increase and eventually plateau though the older population has been steadily increasing and projected to continue on an upward trend (Vincent & Velkoff, 2010). The lack of a healthier diet is something that has been highlighted in the media for the past decade and more often than not we are seeing the effects of overindulging and the consumption of highl...

    Read More

  • The American Paradox, By Michael Pollan

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan

    870 Words  | 2 Pages

    Beauty can be defined in many ways. Though, regardless of its definition, beauty is confined by four characteristics: symmetry, health, vibrancy and complexity. Michael Pollan, in the book The Botany of Desire, examines our role in nature. Pollan sets out to discovery why the most beautiful flowers have manipulated animals into propagating its genes. Most people believe that humans are the sole domesticators of nature, although, beauty in some sense has domesticated us by making us select what we perceive as beautiful. In flowers, for example, the most attractive ones insure their survival and reproductive success; therefore the tulip has domesticated us in the same way by insuring its reproduction. Whether it is beauty or instinct humans have toward flowers they have nevertheless domesticated us.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The American Paradox By Michael Pollan

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan

    950 Words  | 2 Pages

    Every garden has their own purposes that make gardeners devote a great amount of time to take care of them. Gardeners are coming up with their own unique ways of taking care of their gardens, especially when they make profits out of it. In his book, The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan claims the best gardeners of his generation have devoted themselves to growing cannabis, popularly known as marijuana. Intrigued with Pollan’s argument, I completely agree with him. Marijuana growers are the best gardeners because they perfected the plant in growing them indoors, they make good business out of it, and the plant itself fills the need of humans for transcendent altered states of consciousness.

    Read More

  • botany of desire

    1397 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Michael Pollan's chapter of Botany of Desire, he talks about genetic modification; injecting genome into the DNA of other crops with the sole purpose to change their characteristics. Pollan genetically modifies a potato and is named the “NewLeaf”. Pollan’s research question is about creating a New Leaf Potato by injecting a bacterium called Baclilus Thuringiensis (bt) in the potatoes DNA. By doing this, it allows the potato to defend itself from their biggest threat, which is the Colorado beetle. Throughout this chapter, Pollan shows the reader that he has an opinion on genetically modified crops and how it can not only affect us today, but also in the future. He gives us some historic background regarding the New Leaf potato with the intention to get across his concern of monoculturalism. Pollan realizes that his potato is considered a pesticide when he comments: “the small print on the label also brought the disconcerting news that my potato plants were themselves registered as a pesticide with the environmental Protection Administration” (190). Throughout the chapter, he also brings in farmers from different areas and methods of plantation to give an opinion on the genetic modification and the future of these crops.

    Read More

  • Comparing And Contrasting High Fructose Corn Syrup

    605 Words  | 2 Pages

    When comparing and contrasting high fructose corn syrup with sugar, the similarities outweigh the differences. For instance, in the “myth vs facts” article it claims that HFCS is the same as sugar when it comes to the number of calories, composition and absorption in the human body. In addition, when it comes to sweetne...

    Read More

  • Health Effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup

    1668 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Japanese first developed high fructose corn syrup. When they saw that it is more cost effective than other sugars, other companies started to use high fructose corn syrup in their products. High fructose corn syrup is a sugar made of fifty-five percent fructose and forty-five percent glucose. Compared to normal table sugar, which is fifty percent fructose and fifty percent glucose, it doesn?t seem like much. Yet the fructose in high fructose corn syrup is less attached from normal sugar. This fructose that is free from the glucose part is more harmful to the body. It was first introduced in 1970 but it hasn?t been actively used until the late 1900?s. Yet because we started to use high fructose corn syrup, it is now causing a lot of problems. It has many negative side effects after consumption, and most of the consuming is done in the United States. Two of the main problems caused by high fructose corn syrup are obesity and type two diabetes. Some of the other branches of these problems are liver and heart disease, osteoporosis, an increase in triglycerides, and many other kinds of health problems. Since high fructose corn syrup is very common in our daily diets, ranging for drinks to desserts, it is becoming a huge problem. (Severson, K. 2004)

    Read More

  • High Fuctose Corn Syrup Research Paper

    473 Words  | 1 Pages

    High-fructose corn syrup is fructose produced from corn and concentrated for use as a sweetener for such commercially made food items as fruit-flavored drinks, carbonated beverages, baked goods and spaghetti sauce. High-fructose corn syrup is close to naturally occurring fructose found in fruits and vegetables, but this sweetener is slightly higher in fructose. In addition, the fructose is "free," meaning it is not bound to glucose the way it is found in nature. While HFCS serves as a cheap and readily available sweetener, it has also been linked to the epidemic of obesity that has plagued the world since shortly after HFCS was introduced to the market. Though there are likely many causes for the obesity crisis, this discussion will focus

    Read More

  • Republic Of Fat Analysis

    1716 Words  | 4 Pages

    As we know, Government’s policies often will result in the change of price on agricultural products accordingly affect people’s dietary under their budget constrains; in order to promote healthy food to the public, government should set up price floor on certain agricultural products, such as corn and soybean. In the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan raises the concern of obesity as a health risk to our nation. According to the surgeon general, “obesity today is officially an epidemic; it is arguably the most pressing public health problem we face, costing the health care system an estimated $90 billion a year (102)”. Cheap corn price is the main culprit that leads to this nationwide obesity. Food industries are willing to transform cheap corn into value-added consumer products, such as McDonald’s chicken nuggets and Big Macs, in order to maximize profits. This will make our dietary contains much more calories than before. In addition, the byproduct from corn, such as high-fructose corn syrup, has become the leading source of sweetness in food industries since it can provide same level of sweetness with a low cost. Simultaneously HFCS improves the taste of the foods, thereby increasing our consumption on those high calories foods. All these factors eventually lead us to a Republic of Fat. Government’s policies have put a very negative repercussion on people’s dietary. Because In 1970s, the US government embraced a cheap-food farm policy and dismantled the prevent overproduction policy (103). After that, American farmers were producing far too much corn, which directly causes the price of corn decreased in the next few years. As a result, the price of unhealthy foods and drinks decrease significantly since

    Read More

  • Adm Company Mission Statement

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a leading producer of high fructose corn syrup, they are processing corn in a way that makes it unhealthy. According to the Mayo Clinic, as the increased use of HFCS in soda and fruit flavored drinks so has there been an increase in obesity and type 2 diabetes. They do go on to say that there hasn't been a study that can directly link them. There are however more companies offering their products without HFCS everyday. Many food companies, including restaurants and grocery stores have moved toward more healthy products. The consumer today is far more informed than they ever have been in the past. In 1950 there were more than 700 food additives in use in food being sold at the time, only 428 were known to be safe for consumption. These additives add shelf life and flavors to products for companies around the world and are able to cut costs giving the consumer a choice to eat or drink

    Read More

  • The American Diet

    1162 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most Americans do not care enough to take a look at the nutritional values of the food that he or she is consuming. That is why America has the highest percentage of obesity in the world. This is a serious problem because one in every three adults is obese, and one in every six children is obese. There are many factors that go into the regular American diet, but most of those factors are not appealing nor is it healthy. Americans put way too much processed food into their daily diet. Some would say that other countries diets superior the American diet because of nutritional values that it carries. Other countries have proven that an active lifestyle is a huge element in the average weight of the country. There are many things that Americans could change about their diets and lifestyle that would help them to become healthier.

    Read More

  • Botany Of Desire Summary

    285 Words  | 1 Pages

    The video, Botany of Desire, and the story, Apple Juice: Product of Michigan China, of Kelsey are very interesting and useful. Both stories have apple in common; however, they tell two different aspects of apple.

    Read More

  • Ayala, Co-Founder: Herbal Water Inc.

    634 Words  | 2 Pages

    The astounding finding by doctors is that ⅓ americans are obese the surplus of processed and sugary foods is killing us with diseases, that also are making it harder to buy healthy alternatives. The obesity rate is taxing on the mental and physical level. Alot of people do not know how much sugar affects the calorie count (if you count them) and the reaction it causes after it is digested. It is a natural drive to keep calorie packed foods for survival but we are starting to find we can differentiate the survival food and good foods. It was good for ancient times for food shortages happened. But they're cheap now and in abundance out the wazoo. They cause (the sugar added in our foods) diseases like type 2 diabetes, fatty liver diseases, belly fat, joint pain worsening

    Read More

  • Componants Of Life

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    “You are what you eat”, goes a famous saying. If that were truly the case, then a lot of Americans would appear to be unhealthy, chemically treated, commercially raised slabs of animal flesh. While that is not a particularly pleasant thought, it is nonetheless a description of the typical American omnivore who survives on the consumption of Big Mac’s and greasy French fries. It is true, and what have the average Americans done about this problem? Asked for seconds and tell themselves that they won’t eat much for tomorrow’s meal.

    Read More

More about The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan

Open Document