Michael Pollan’s “Escape from the Western Diet

Pollan is a well-known nutritionist and author who has published extensively on diet and feeding. Pollan urges people to live a healthier lifestyle free of the Western diet in his article “Escape from the Western Diet.” He advises Americans not to consume fast food. He also claims that the fast snacks we eat on a regular basis, such as sugar, processed foods, and ice cream, are slowly and unwittingly destroying us. He not only encourages them to avoid or limit their intake, but he also recommends that they devise a solution to the problem. The key explanation he believes that Americans should abandon their Western lifestyle is the negative effect it has on their welfare. For instance, the ingestion of fast and processed foods can be dangerous to one’s body because it can cause diabetes, heart disease due to a lot of cholesterol contained in cooking fats (Pollan 426-27).

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Pollan begins his essay by alluding to studies carried out on theories about the lipid, carbohydrate, and the neo-lipid hypothesis and other nutrients required for the nourishment of the body. With an understanding of these nutrients, their nutritional value and their possible ratio uptake, some basic conclusion can be made where he declares that people eating a western diet are prone to attack by western diseases. He further points out to the idea that if one eats a lot of fast food on a regular basis and does not exercise to burn off some calories, he is likely to get infected with diabetes. According to Kanoski, Scott & Terry (59-68), regular exercising helps in the burning off of calories in the body giving room for metabolism to take place. In America today, the number of people diagnosed with diabetes has increased necessitating new treatments and procedures to either prevent, correct or treat these disease.

In another instance, Pollan reminds the Americans the fact that on every street there is fast food cafeteria. The fact that the cafeterias are many and in almost every other street more so in the towns and cities means that people will eat more junk food causing more people to get prone to heart diseases. A famous English doctor stationed in Africa during World War II, Dennis Parsons agrees to these facts when he declares that ”The only way we are going to reduce disease is to go backward to the lifestyle of our ancestors.” (Kanoski, Scott & Terry 60-62).

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Zhu et al. (965) in support of Pollan’s assertion concerning western diet reasoned that if people went out and hunted for their food like our ancestors did, then there is a possibility of a reduction in western disease instead of going to public and buying meat, chicken, and fish. In the essay, Pollan noted that food companies deliberately include cholesterol in the processed foods and this hurts the health of the people (Pollan 438). If people stopped eating junk foods, then there was a probability of leading healthy lives now and in the future.

Also, Pollan notes that the problem with the conventional western diet is the high costs people incur in purchasing these foods. It is well known that healthy food is not cheaper out there, but if people deliberately and continuously put all out their money and time into buying and eating processed foods then, they will probably not have much left to purchase healthy foods. The health status of any given nation is positively correlated to the considerable amount of consumption income directed towards feeding its citizens. It is, therefore, such a time that governments and individuals take this matter serious and put the right attention on their health. Doing this will most assuredly sustain the current and future generation. The higher the number of individuals making this effort, the higher the chance that the state will have productive and healthy.

Pollan presents an excellent explanation in his essay which is paramount, and all Americans need to agree that taking shortcuts when preparing food decreases its quality and nutrition values. Reducing any portion of one’s diet, be it real meals or particular vitamins or nutrients is a dangerous and unprecedented notion. Eating smaller portions can lead to a better diet (Kanoski, Scott & Terry 64-65).

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Despite his strong arguments throughout the essay, Pollan fails to surface some glaring problems with the modern day western food. Preservatives, to begin with, are equally much of a problem as processing is. Though he mentions that the environment is just as important as the quality of the food, he does not point out that preservatives are used in every food people consume. Some foodstuffs have to be transported to far distances and in specific conditions. As a result of this, the local diet may not be the safe and a resilient landing ground for the people who want to live healthy lives. Despite the bad repute that red meat has, natively modified vegetables have often and equally gone through the same degree of de-naturalization. In conclusion, while Pollan makes an adamant and persuasive argument, there exist some pitfalls and does not encompass the entire scope of the concept. Pollan presents an excellent explanation in his essay which is paramount, and all Americans need to agree that taking shortcuts when preparing food decreases its quality and nutrition values. Cutting out any part of one’s diet, whether it be real meals or just specific vitamins or nutrients is a dangerous and unprecedented idea. Eating smaller portions can lead to a better diet (Kanoski, Scott & Terry 64-65).

Despite his high quality arguments throughout the essay, Pollan fails to surface some glaring problems with the modern day western food. Preservatives, to begin with, are equally much of a problem as processing is. Though he mentions that the environment is just as important as the quality of the food, he does not point out that preservatives are used in every food people consume. Some foodstuffs have to be transported to far distances and in specific conditions. Owing to this, the plant diet may not be the safe and buoyant landing ground for the people who want to live healthy lives. Despite the bad repute that red meat has, genetically modified vegetables have often and equally gone through the same degree of de-naturalization. In conclusion, while Pollan makes an adamant and persuasive argument, there exist some pitfalls and does not encompass the entire scope of the concept.

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Works Cited

Kanoski, Scott & Terry, Davidson. ”Western Diet Consumption and Cognitive Impairment:
Links to Hippocampal Dysfunction and Obesity.” Physiology & Behaviour, 103.1
(2011): 59-68.
Pollan, Michael. Escape from the Western Diet. Web. Accessed March 21, 2017.

Zhu, Hongyan, et al. ”EGFR Signals Downregulate Tumour Suppressors’ MiR-143 and MiR- 145 in Western Diet’Promoted Murine Colon Cancer: Role of G1 Regulators.”
Molecular Cancer Research, 9.7 (2011): 960-975.