Personal Narrative: The American Diet

In general, my diet could be healthier. On the day I analyzed, I ate 2,716 calories. That amount is 516 calories over the 2,200 calories a female 13 year old should eat per day. I also ate 1,037.4 more milligrams of sodium than I should have. High sodium levels, or hyponatremia, can cause dehydration. Dehydration can cause diarrhea, vomiting, and fever. I could eat less sodium by staying away from cheese, chicken and soy sauce.

Michael Pollan in his book titled ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’ takes a critical look at the food culture in the Unites States. According to him, the question that seems to bother most Americans is simply ‘What should we have for dinner today?’ To Pollan, Americans face this dilemma because they do not have a proper tradition surrounding food. ‘The lack of a steadying culture of food leaves us especially vulnerable to the blandishments of the food scientist and the marketer for whom the omnivore’s dilemma is not so much a dilemma as an opportunity; (Pollan). He cites the example of the Atkins diet and how an entire nation changed its eating habits almost overnight. A nation that had deep rooted food culture values would

The traditional American diet was simple, it was homemade, it was composed primarily of minimally refined ingredients, it was low in added sugars and fats, with the fats coming primarily from animal sources, and required effort to produce, by comparison, the contemporary American diet is much more diverse it's composed a lot of “palatable” sometimes artificial materials, its commercially engineered and sold, it's composed of refined ingredients, it's high in added sugars and fats with the fat coming primarily from seed oils, and requires minimal effort to procure(Pillsbury). At the same time as modern medicine is conquered the leading killers of the 19 century such as infectious diseases modern culture has created a whole new set of epidemics that we must now cure.

Many Americans are concern about the increment of disease and obesity caused by the limited options of healthy food, “since America is saturated with junk food advertising”(Khullar 135). However, in consequence of the absence of an American cuisine, fast food restaurants and foods high in fats offered by supermarkets, has become the first option to Americans. After all, Pollan’s argument that the lack of a stable traditional cuisine is the consequence of America’s national eating disorder and the steady national diet is reasonable since there are many factors that support his claim. For example, Mary Roach, in Liver and Opinions: Why We Eat What We Eat and Despite the Rest, claims that the food we eat is influenced by people’s cultural background; in other words, people are used to eating what their parents feed them when they were kids. “In addition, Americans have a conflict with having a stable eating habit; they tend to change their diet often”(Roach 123). Overall, Pollan’s is comprehensible while he argues that Americans do not have a stable culture of food, which causes an instability in people’s

I chose to address the questions what are the strengths and weaknesses of the American diet, as well as, what is distinctive about American food. I chose these questions to focus my research paper on because of the relationship between the American diet and health care. The United States is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world, due to immigration, which is what makes it so distinctive. The diet also has many flaws including the cause for rising medical issues. I have a pre-nursing major, so diet plays a big role in the medical field. My purpose for researching the American diet is to be able to…. With the Industrial Revolution, the inventions of many new products such as processed foods, refrigerators, and fast food chains.

The United States has progressed from a rural, agricultural nation to an urbanized industrial one in just the last two centuries. Through this the transformation of the American lifestyles have changed drastically. Other countries focus on eating well, excercise, and taking enough time to eat and enjoying what they are eating. One lifestyle that many Americans have adapted to is the Western Diet, but today around the world the Western Diet is not viewed as the most nutritious or beneficial diet for humans. The nutritional patterns of high-fat and cholesterol, high protein, high sugar, and excessive salt intake, as well as the excessive consumption of processed fast foods has collectively defined the Western Diet. Even though this type of

In this article, Michael Pollan expresses his views on what the Western diet is and how Americans need to escape from it. To the author, a type of American diet consists of an excessive amount of fast food and how it can lead to obesity and illnesses. Pollan expresses how he disagrees with the diet and states that both food and health industries are partially to blame for this. Pollan gives his opinion on the food industry, medical community and his own ideas on how to escape this diet.

Recently, dietitians, the Congress, nutritionists, and the authors of some of the articles we have read have tried to fight against obesity; the results discovered are that we cannot fight the obesity war by ourselves; we need to include our society, the food literature, put labels with nutritional values on food, and we even need the media to change how we see fast-food. In some of the articles we have encountered, we learn that we should also change the cultural view of the food we eat. Food is not seen as part of nourishment for our bodies anymore and according to society food can be classified either as good or bad depending on what the latest diet and the influence we receive from the experts on the subject opinions.

Sugar, the thing all of us crave. It gives you that calling, the one where it is telling you to come and munch on the mouthwatering treats. We are all in some way addicted to the thing we hate so much but somehow ignore the negatives for the love that is left on your taste buds to devour. Because sugar intake has skyrocketed, the United States health risks are not too far behind.

Eating Right in America: The Cultural Politics of Food & Health. (2013). Publishers Weekly, 260(30), 56.

America, a nice place to just stop at a McDonalds, a Burger King or any other fast food place and order a nice juicy burger, but did you even know what was just in that burger? Some think that America eats plenty of good choices of foods while others think that we are out of control when it comes to food. It's clear that overall the American diet is out of control and needs to change. The reason why it needs to change is because processed foods are addictive and can cause people to overeat, because the nutrition standards are not being met, and because the high obesity rate is partially blamed by the fast food industry. One reason that the American diet needs to change is that most of the processed foods that are served to adults and

Diet is a huge concern for many people today who are either trying to control a preventable disease or those people who are trying to lose the excess weight that they are carrying around with them. Not only has our diet as Americans been steadily getting worse but as our population has risen there have been very few attempts to counter the negative effects that over processing our food has done. Every Single American, who has eaten the hot lunches at school remembers and has a first hand knowledge of the taste of preservatives and manufactured flavor of the food they ate during their formative years attending Elementary through High School.

Most Americans do not care enough to take a look at the nutritional values of the food that he or she is consuming. That is why America has the highest percentage of obesity in the world. This is a serious problem because one in every three adults is obese, and one in every six children is obese. There are many factors that go into the regular American diet, but most of those factors are not appealing nor is it healthy. Americans put way too much processed food into their daily diet. Some would say that other countries diets superior the American diet because of nutritional values that it carries. Other countries have proven that an active lifestyle is a huge element in the average weight of the country. There are many things that

One of the most unhealthy diets in the world is that of an American. It is made up of processed foods and a good amount of television. America easily has the most fast food restaurants in the entire world. Leave it to McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King or any other fast-food restaurant to serve extremely cheap and even unhealthier food at any time during the day or night. ”It tastes good so why not?” That seems to be the question many people are asking now-a-days. Because it is so easily accessible and processed, it is made to be very tasty and extremely unhealthy. Many Americans find his or herself indulging on the these fatty foods of America on a day-to-day basis. While it may taste good at the time, it has a terrible effect on your body

I do not have much of a desire to change my diet since it is not that bad on a normal day. If there was anything I would want to improve about my diet is to try to eat more protein and eat less candy and snack foods. Candy and snack food is one of my biggest down falls in my diets at this point. I have progressively been trying to cut back on the amount for these foods I eat. I have been doing a pretty good job but I know I could do better. I will try and realize that by eating the candy and snack food I am preventing myself from eating something better for me. Also I am never full when I eat these kinds of foods which I another reason why I should try and stop eating these kinds of foods. So I am going to try and replace the snack food and