In defense of food Essay
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” These
are the words of American activist and author,
Michael Pollen written in his book “in
different of food” Pollen addresses the fact that we as society
have adapted to a quick and easy life style
where we have chosen to eat so called foods processed and
manufactured for easy access that we have
never really questioned their nutritional values. As a result
we get fatter and fatter each year. Obesity
has risen worldwide as people are unaware of the
contents of what they eat. People consume
more of “law fat” of “fat free” items in hopes of becoming
healthier, but does that really help us in
the obsession to stay fit and live long? Science has proven that
eating plants can aid to promoting a long
life and can help maintain a healthy body and immune system.
Pollen starts his
book with a few very simple words that have a huge impact on the way we live
our lives. Pollen starts off by saying that
we humans used to know how to eat food and that we were
free of diseases and illnesses. We were
quite happy and healthy until industry markets and nutritionists
started coming up with healthier and more
“nutritious” ways of eating, we slowly lost our touch with
what was right to eat and what was
not. As a result we quickly adapted to
the western diet which
consists of lots of processed foods, added
sugars, and fats. The implications of Pollen’s words “eat food”
are that what we eat now cannot really be
considered food. That we are eating many food like
substances that say they are high in
vitamins and nutrients, when in fact they are more harmful then
beneficial. Pollen describes real foods as
foods that whole and fresh. Foods like fruits and vegetables but
even then people have a hard time picking
the right foods. To help with the distinguishment of “real
food” and food like “substances” Pollen
says,” don’t eat what your great grandmother wouldn't
recognize as food.” This creates a basic
starting point, from which we can analyse what is real, and what
is fake. Our lack of Knowledge of “real
food” has much gained marketing industries and without this new
realization we will keep eating like this
until we can live no more. “Not too much “. Eating food isn’t the
only problem we face; today many of us just
don’t know when to stop eating. Pollen
says that “cultures
have various devices to help people moderate
their appetites” smaller portion sizes help us cut back
from over eating. Eating in smaller plates
is an easy way to do this as the French do this and manage to
eat rich foods without gaining any weight.
But the real problem we face as a society is the fact that we
do not get enough fruits and vegetables
into our daily diets. We eat what is
commercially advertised by
the media as “nutritious” and enriched with
vitamins we forget what has been right in front of us this
whole time.
.
Obesity has become
the number one reason for death in America and for many other countries
in the world. In an effort to better our
ways, nutritionists search for better health, and have come up
with modifications for many different types
of healthy foods. Having added nutrients to foods with little
nutritional values, these scientists think
that this is what our bodies need in order to stay healthy. These
modifications have not only set us astray
making us believe that they are nutritious, they have also
made us more conscious of what we eat, even
if that may not end up being the right thing anyways. In
the fight to become healthier we have grown
to become even less healthy and have adapted to this
obsession of eating right and living long.
Many of the products on the shelves of grocery stores today
are labeled with health facts and benefits
when in reality many of these foods are cons playing people
for most of them have lost their
nutritional values during the creating process, and have therefore been
fortified with nutrients to support what
our bodies need in order to live and function properly. In the
late 1930s the American government imposed
a strict law stating that any food that was a modification
of the original was to be labeled as
“imitation”. This law gave the people of its time a mind blowing
realization of just how much of what they
were eating was real and how much was processed. Soon
after the law was constructed, many
marketing industries dropped dramatically in sales. The “I” word
was hated by every sales marketer alive.
And adding it to their packaging was the kiss of death. Much
later in 1973 the government having had
countless number of complaints by industry owners and
marketing sellers, simply repealed the law.
This revised law stated that as long as any imitation food was
not missing the nutritional value of the
food it was imitating, the product could be marketed without the
use of imitation labels. This revised law
can still be found today. Look at the back of a box of fruit loops
for example. Through the nutrition facts we
are able to tell that they are high in sugar and bad
cholesterol. Many nutrients such as fibre
and riboflavin have been added to hold some sort of
nutritional value. With this impending law, much of what we eat
has been fortified with nutrients and
we do not even know what is the real thing
and what has been sprayed with preservatives. For this
reason Pollen suggests that when shopping
for groceries we should walk around the perimeter of the
store and avoid the isles in the middle for
this is where most of the “fake foods” are stored.
Bama,
a small village located in China, has been known worldwide for the many
centenarians
living in the area. Though we think we have
the key to a healthy and long life, these lucky few have lived
well passed their life expectancy rates and
go on to hold a world record for longetivity. Eating only what
they grow, these people know the secret to
living long. Though we are thought to avoid
starchy foods
such as potatoes and corn, these people
have no problem eating them and even have them as their
main coarse. Not knowing that they are
following Pollen’s rule, these people are living a healthy and long
life free of disease and illness. One woman
living in the village claims that she is 126 years old. She has
outlived both her children and her husband.
When she was asked what she ate, the woman replied
“vegetables cooked in oil with rice”.
People in our society tend to cut back on oil and white rice since we
have adapted the notion that these things
are bad for the health. But if these people can eat these foods
and live long, what’s stopping us from doing
so as well? Well, to start off much of what is eaten around
the world has been industrialized and
manufactured so many preservatives and sugars have been added,
but one main difference has to be the type
of foods we eat. We tend to buy fruits and vegetables from
grocery stores where they have been
chemically grown with the use of pesticides whereas the
centenarians grow their own foods and eat
wild vegetables, so they know exactly what they are putting
into their mouths. Life expectancy in china
has risen to 74 years of age due to these well adapted eating
habits and will continue to rise if not
changed.
In conclusion i
agree with Pollen’s statement “ Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” I think
that people should use this statement for
guidance throughout their entire life. This simple message will
be listened to by many if brought to the
attention of the general society because it is a simple yet very
powerful rule, and anyone and any given age
or time can follow it in their efforts to live a healthy and
happy long life.
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