Michael Pollan, an investigative journalist, wrote the book In Defense of Food to educate on what humans should consume to be healthy. There are various ideologies concerning nutrition that tend to cause some misunderstanding. Contemporary beliefs and customs affect the diet of particular groups of people. Processed meals are not healthy and occasionally result in nutrition problems. In overcoming the challenge of better nutrition, the consumption of plants is an ideal option for regaining healthiness. The western diet contains many substitutes that do not promote wholesome living; most of it is processed and packaged.
Pollan outlines the basic rules for eating better and reclaiming fit bodies to overcome the effects of the western diet. Any knowledgeable person of a Western culture that needs to reclaim good health must embrace organic foods as they provide natural nutrients that are good for wholesome living. Natural foods must be consumed by the young and the old as they guarantee healthy living by providing fresh nutrients not developed in laboratories.
Michael Pollan is a well-recognized professor who teaches science and environmental journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. His vast knowledge about the nature and culture of people and the interaction between the two equips him with enough knowledge to come up with such a book that narrates healthy eating habits. The author is commonly known for his passion for texts exploring food’s socio-cultural impacts, such as The Omnivore’s Dilemma.
Through research and personal experience, Pollan has vast knowledge related to healthy eating habits. In his book, Pollan states that everyone needs to eat real food, not too much, and mostly plants. The advice provided is not only to literate individuals but to the entire human race with no idea of healthy eating habits. The audience is advised to eat real food like vegetables, fruits, and grains. “The consumption of edible food-like substances mainly produced in factories should be avoided at all costs. Pollan makes some recommendations that can result in better eating habits. “One, eat only food you are sure your grandmother would recognize as food” (Pollan 51). “Avoid consuming food with many nutrients that are hard to pronounce” (Pollan 25). He also advises against buying foods where we refuel our cars. Changing eating habits requires dedication to pull through (Black). It has some implications that some may find hard to get used to, including eating smaller amounts of food.
Pollan outlines three golden rules that guide us on how society needs to eat. People should eat as many natural foods as possible while trying to consume less and mainly feast on green leafy plants. Jane Black, a food writer at “The Washington Post,” acknowledges the three golden rules of Michael Pollan concerning healthy eating. She indicates that despite seeming simple, the seven words mean a lot and are a declaration of war against the current Western culture (Black). Pollan targets Westerners and their culture and offers support for realizing good eating habits.
Michael Pollan highlights the effects of the Western diet and provides guidance on healthy eating. He believes that people suffer from undernutrition and must adopt changes by consuming organic products. Natural food is far more nutritional as it contains untamed ingredients that are not developed genetically. Pollan outlines the changes people underwent, from eating raw food to ingesting nutrients that cause health effects. He identifies the Western diet as the leading cause of the health problems such as cancer, hypertension, and heart attacks. “Early in the twentieth century, an intrepid group of doctors and medical workers stationed overseas observed that whenever in the world people gave their traditional way of eating and adopted the Western diet, there soon followed a predictable series of Western diseases, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular illnesses, and cancer.” (Pollan 23).
The writer offers basic rules for healthy eating, which involve consuming plants that grow naturally. Pollan argues that industrialization has caused several transformations, from eating whole to refined meals, from quality to quantity, and from food culture to food science. Westernization of meals has resulted in the undermining of traditional food cultures, which promoted natural food consumption.
The author shows great concern about the eating trends of Western culture and hopes his book will lead people to re-evaluate their eating habits. Any person of a Western culture that desires to reclaim better healthy living through eating wholesome meals is the potential target audience of the author. In the “What’s for Dinner” article by Black (2008), the author narrates an interview she had with Michael Pollan in “The Washington Post.” Michael Pollan’s book describes all the challenges and effects of Westernized food and offers a solution (Black). In his understanding, literate individuals can re-evaluate their actions and engage in a food-centric movement that will cause a massive change in the food industry and benefit everyone.
People are advised to get over the ‘nutritionism’ brought about by the westernization of food. Michael Pollan warns people to avoid any meals processed in factories and embrace natural food. He further states that people must stop eating any meal incapable of rotting. Individuals are advised to better visit the farmer’s market rather than the supermarket that contains most processed food. “Adopting this new way of acquiring food will eventually lead to the escape from the Western diet, which is dominant in fast-food outlets and supermarkets” (Pollan 140). The book further guides the consumption of leafy plants of different kinds to acquire other nutrients essential to promoting better health.
The audience is advised to eat food grown in healthy soils, predominantly local and organic. “The simplest and safest way to acquire natural nutrients is through consuming food per the traditional food culture of each individual” (Pollan 175). Michael Pollan also instructs on the amount of food to be consumed as too much consumption is also wrong. Food needs to be served in small amounts, and the consumer needs to eat gradually.
In Defense of Food unravels its objective through three sections that divide the book. In particular, the text concerns the age of nutritionism, the Western diet, and getting over nutritionism (Black). Each of these sections has a specific purpose for the reader. From the first section, the audience is exposed to the main issue; the over-emphasis on nutrients rather than on food. Secondly, a connection between westernized diseases and the food consumed is addressed. In the last section, the author provides basic guidelines that can change eating habits.
Furthermore, to widen the scope of the book’s discussion, one should consider that the purpose of In Defense of Food is not to simply offer directions on how and what to eat. Pollan goes further and strives to change the way people think of the edible products they consume. The way society relates to food is very important, and Pollan argues that the issues revolving around Western eating habits are confusing because the public has traded its food culture for nutritionism (Black). Rather than following traditional healthy patterns in consuming meals, in modern America, each new generation changes the culture of food, which is historically unprecedented (Pollan 12).
Western individuals have unwholesome relationships with their foods. In comparison, the French treat what and how they consume quite differently. While those in France ingest foie gras and creme cheese, the people also eat small portions, actually enjoy their meals with no rush, and do not come back for second portions (Black). Therefore, many societies across the world have a sensible approach to eating, but Western persons’ associations with food are often unhealthy.
Because people in the West have flawed perceptions of food, it may be difficult for them to transform their diets. Pollan states that nutritionism has become an ideology rooted in society’s minds and reinforced by the food industry, government, and journalism (65). As a result, individuals now need to change not only how they eat but also how they think about eating (Pollan 65). Therefore, the book indicates that those living in the West need to understand better the consequences of consuming different edible products to help the public choose food that is more beneficial for their health.
Michael Pollan strives to help people embrace better eating habits to improve health, and his books can be further assessed based on whether the recommendations are practical. A group of investigators has recently conducted research implementing Pollan’s suggestions to design a curriculum for afterschool classrooms with middle-school students (Luesse et al. 2). The curriculum was meant to challenge the pupils’ perceptions of food, and the study aimed at decreasing intake of highly-processed edibles while increasing the consumption of whole and minimally processed products (Luesse et al. 2).
The program concentrated on Pollan’s rules and his seven words about eating food but not too much and mostly plants (Luesse et al. 2). There was not a considerable change in consumption of highly-processed foods, but the participants started to eat significantly more fruits and vegetables (Luesse et al. 9). The researchers noted that minority youth live in an atmosphere with many social and environmental temptations regarding food and affecting the young generation’s relations with what they eat (Luesse et. 12). Therefore, Pollan’s recommendations provided in his book are useful in exploring eating habits and can help society begin consuming more whole edibles.
Nutrition has been an issue over the years, especially with the many introductions of new nutrients developed in laboratories. In the book, In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan states Western culture’s effects on food and nutrition. Many people are now focused on nutrients forgetting about the importance of healthy food. The contemporary world prefers fast foods that last for days without decomposing and are easy to prepare. The author outlines the challenges of westernizing food and offers guidance to realize better health. He indicates three significant steps to his target audience in attaining healthy eating habits: feasting on natural food in small amounts, primarily leafy plants. All individuals are advised against consuming processed food in factories and instead should opt for food directly harvested from the farm. Michael Pollan aims to direct the masses towards healthy living, starting with healthy eating.
Before revising the above essay, I have considered several important matters. When re-reading the paper, I realized that I did not notice that when initially writing about the book’s purpose, I did not explore enough people’s perceptions regarding food but instead focused on the author’s recommendations. Therefore, an area I needed to research more was the relationships of Western individuals with their food. In addition, I thought that I might need to investigate the usefulness of Michael Pollan’s recommendations. As a result, to find additional information about the book, I conducted my search by using different keywords to locate relatively recent studies that employed suggestions from In Defense of Food. Furthermore, I received rather positive feedback on my previous essay. However, one quite important aspect that could be incorporated into the revision concerned the way the paragraphs were organized. Upon thinking about the discussed matters, I had an idea of how to advance my paper.
The majority of revisions I have made focused on expanding the presented analysis. In terms of invention, I developed my ideas by reading the book and highlighting the moments that were particularly interesting or seemed to appear frequently in the text. For example, Pollan emphasizes the negative consequences of Western eating patterns, so I thought that it would be noteworthy to mention diseases associated with the Western diet. As discussed above, when re-reading the essay, I had the idea that I should explore how people think about food to understand their eating habits.
Therefore, I widened the paper’s scope by considering that the book’s purpose was also to explain how society perceives food. In terms of memory, I did some additional research to determine how Pollan’s recommendations are used in practice. I have found an article by Luesse et al., in which the authors employ the suggestions to help students eat healthier. Overall, I began revising the essay by extending my argumentation through a new perspective on the book’s goal and the usefulness of Pollan’s advice.
I have made some changes concerning the manner of my writing. First, I modified the arrangement of the paragraphs based on the feedback received. I restructured the text by presenting the background of the book and the author, then discussed aspects relating to the audience, and explored the purpose. Second, I revised the style by fixing minor syntax errors and replacing some repetitive words that were overused. For example, where it was possible, I tried reversing natural to organic and healthy to wholesome. Third, I could not modify much about delivery since the essay has to be in a certain format, but I changed several paragraphs, the parts of which seemed detached. Therefore, the revisions I have made were based on feedback on my writing and some defects I found upon re-reading the previous paper.
To summarize, both young and old people need natural foods to receive the organic nutrients necessary for healthy living. Michael Pollan has written the book In Defense of Food to explain the negative consequences of the modern Western diet and provide recommendations on better eating habits. The authors extensively discuss how and why Western individuals should reconsider the edible products they consume. Upon writing and rewriting the analysis of the book, I learned a lot about Pollan’s work and my reporting skills. The majority of modifications I did to the earlier version of the paper concentrated on expanding my argument and finding whether Pollan’s suggestions are used in practice. However, I also transformed the structure and grammar of the presented paragraphs. Overall, I would say that the revision went quite well, especially due to having some feedback on arranging the paper. Finally, if I had more time, I would improve the text by implementing transitional words and phrases and exploring more ideas.
Works Cited
Black, Jane. “What’s for Dinner?” The Washington Post. 2008. Web.
Luesse, Hiershenee, et al. “In Defense of Food Curriculum: A Mixed Methods Outcome Evaluation in Afterschool.” Health Education & Behavior, vol. 46, no. 4, 2019, pp 1-14.
Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. The Penguin Press, New York, New York, 2009.