One of the most important parts of any persuasive essay is the counterclaim. This is where the author states the opposing side’s opinion, and then states why their opinions are wrong. In the article “The Skinny on Low-Fat Diets”, the author talks about the why some people continue to follow the low-fat diet, and why they think it works. It is not only important that the author includes this in his article, but it is mandatory. The counterclaim is what really pushes the article that extra mile to persuade the reader. Although all persuasive articles and essays need a counterclaim, the author of “The skinny on Low-Fat Diets” did have a reason to include this information. This was to show that he did understand other people’s opinions on the topic of fat consumption, and wasn’t just putting them aside. In the fifth paragraph, the author of the article provided evidence explaining how a low-fat diet had no health benefits, and then right after this said, “Some experts did not agree with the studies findings. Dr. Dean Ornish, an advocate of the low-fat diets, felt that the study did not follow the participants for a long enough period to show how low-fat diets can affect health.” The author is trying to state other people’s opinions on the subject, so that the reader knows that he understands other points …show more content…
These few sentences are the most effective in contradicting everything that the author has said previously in the article. The text states, “These study’s findings will not persuade everyone where low-fat diets are concerned. Some people may continue on these diets because they have lost weight or feel their health has improved.” Although right after these sentences the author continues to discuss why low-fat diets are bad, these sentences show us that the author understands other people’s point of
In the article “Paranoia about Fats is Driven by Junk Science” by Jill Richardson discusses the idea of how many Americans’ have false beliefs on the consumption of fats. Many think fats are bad and unhealthy for our diets, when in reality; we need them to maintain a healthy diet. For me and just like many others, I had the wrong impression on fats. Since many products today contain the label fat-free, I always believed that this was bad for diets. Since reading this article, it helped me take into account that eating omega-3 and omega-6; such as fish, greens, seeds, and oils are part of a well-balanced diet. This can be related to chapter 3, as omega-3 fatty acids are essential in preventing
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
As the rising epidemic of obesity has attracted considerable media attention, so has the promotion for maintaining healthy wellbeing. Tom Naughton’s documentary, Fat Head, is a stellar model of this media attention. It examines the exact cause of weight gain, and the reliability of the Government’s nutritional guidelines. The contention of Fat Head is that the U.S Government and Morgan Spurlock (the creator of Super Size Me) present misleading information. However, Naughton’s bias becomes apparent through the careful selection of film techniques, and the silencing of certain characters, who may express opposing viewpoints. The ideal audience of this documentary, parents and concerned parties such as medical professionals, are invited to agree that the U.S Government and Spurlock are deceptive.
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.
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
No one wants to be or feel like they are overweight, unhealthy, or unattractive. When someone in the general public looks in the mirror or steps on the scale, and they are not satisfied with what is being shown, one of the first ideas to bubble to the surface is dieting. There are so many dieting solutions out there and one of the most popular are the fad diets. Dieting should be about getting healthy and losing weight in a healthy way. Fad diets however, are about losing a lot of weight in a disproportionally short amount of time. Due to the loss of weight that the dieter wanted, when they reach their goal weight, they stop doing the fad diet and go back to their regular diet. This causes the weight that they shed to be put back on again in a disproportionally short amount of time, which is also just as unhealthy. This cycle of losing and gaining weight is only one of the many dangers of fad diets.
After taking a closer look at the American diet, it 's clear to see Americans are in a lot of trouble. The average American diet is filled with lots of greasy fast food, large cuts of meat, salty junk food and sugar-laden sodas. This tradition is then passed on to the children and creates a legacy of ailments, disease and a lower quality of life. To many people, plant-based eating sounds like a death sentence. In reality, it 's all about getting creative with the foods you already like. It also involves intentional meal-planning and organization. However, your health is worth it. The ability to experience a better quality of life should be motivation enough to start changing your eating habits. Consider a few of these simple ways to incorporate plant-based eating into each meal without eliminating delicious taste.
This basically means Maxfiled believes obesity and what you eat has nothing to do with your human body system. She also mentions that there is no correlation between health, diet and weight. However, there are many tests and research that shows a poor diet and weight gain can lead to many other problems. Throughout this article Maxfield contradicts herself. On one hand she argues that Michael Pollan doesn’t support his arguments with facts, but then she makes statements without backing them up with facts herself. For example, she says that being fat is not necessarily a bad thing and that being fat can be a healthy thing, but gives no evidence to support such an foolish statement. There are those people who will agree with Maxfield and do not want agencies or anyone else telling them how they should live their lives. Maxfield’s formula of trusting our body, ourselves, and meeting our needs is completely wrong because Americans need to eat healthy, be active, and live healthy. Today Americans have a lot of health issues and have the highest obesity level which Maxfiled did not state. In conclusion Americans need much more reliable information especially on such an important issue
The article “The Skinny on Low-fat Diets” by Alan Ling is about the drawbacks of low-fat diets. The author talks about how low-fat diets don’t necessarily work and uses facts to strengthen her claim. One of the ways the author strengthen their claim is by showing the other side of the argument. The author includes this information to strengthen her claim and show readers that they can defend their argument from others.
Haygood, Wil. "Kentucky Town of Manchester Illustrates National Obesity Crisis." "They Say/I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing: With Readings. By Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel K. Durst. Vol. 2e. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2012. 406-15. Print.
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
They both are right and wrong at once, when reading the articles I could not help but to think of the Morgan Spurlock’s documentary “Super Size Me,” for those that don’t know in this film Morgan goes on a one month McDonald 's only diet, during which he gets the oversized portions and eats every hyper processed food on the menu. Turning the average relatively fit adult American into a sluggish shadow of what he was before the one month. Morgan did both things that Pollen and Maxfield wanted to avoid. Pollen a processed diet and Maxfield a feast beyond your body’s
According to recent statistics, every year Americans spend about $50 billion on products and services promoted to help them lose weight. Many of the overweight and obese people that join commercial weight loss programs are looking for a quick fix to lose the weight, such as fad diets and dietary supplements that are marketed to burn fat fast. However, many of these diets offer little success or success for a short time, resulting in many gaining the weight back a short time afterwards. Fad diets are “a trendy practice that has widespread appeal among a population. After a period, however, people lose interest in the practice, and it becomes no longer fashionable. People often lose weight while following fad diets, but usually regain much of
Eating Responsibly To eat responsibly means to know what you are eating and knowing what you are putting into your body, whether it is healthy for you or not. It’s a sad fact that the typical American diet (high in meat and processed foods) is not healthy. There are a lot of different ways to stay healthy, but it can also be very difficult to follow a good diet plan all the time. I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I have tried to eat well before all of my classes. I include the necessary protein of eggs and sausage, and include a fruit of some kind.
A healthy lifestyle is usually picked up as we get older. However, think of how much more beneficial it would be for our bodies when we get older, if we would have learned and adapted to a healthier lifestyle when we were younger? Teaching your kids how important a healthy diet is, will help them maintain that lifestyle in their older years. Not to mention have lower health risks, higher self-esteem and it will give them the energy they need to keep up with their eating habits and maintain their body weight.