Thursday, February 18, 2010

Response to In Defense of Food

Meat or Plants, does it really matter food is food right? As long as I get filled up and have energy to perform my daily tasks it doesn't really matter what I eat, right? In Pollan's In Defense of Food he basically is continuing the argument of which foods are truly healthy and which are not. He talks about the process over time of how food has changed and in changing this "Western Diet" has developed. Pollans main arguments consist of how over time the food we eat has slowly become science instead of naturally and organic food. Once people started to worry about food and the nutrients behind it, food became less real and more of just artificial food. Although I agree with some of Pollans points I also feel that he exaggerates some of his points also about food. Pollan argues that over the past half century we have been advised to replace fats in our diets with carbs, but instead of getting healthy we got less and even more obese. This point that Pollan makes is a valid when. According to the CDC Over the past half century also obesity rate according to the BMI index at rating over 30 is considered to be obese. Within the United States over this time obesity has steadily occurred and increased to a point where within the United States there is no state with an obesity rate of less than 20%. Pollan has the percentages and the supporting facts, but some things I feel that he's missing that is necessary is what type of people are getting obese. Meaning which ethnicity contributes the most to obesity and age, basically the demographics. I feel like there it to much information being left out that you can't get a solid answer on whether it really is the food you eat that makes you unhealthy.

Friday, February 5, 2010