Post 6

P6: Read Pollan’s “Our National Eating Disorder.” What does Pollan diagnose as the symptoms and / or causes of our national eating disorder? What do you find most interesting in his analysis? Connect Pollan’s piece to your own decisions on what to eat.

            What Pollan associates as the cause of our national eating disorder is that American worry too much about how healthy food is almost as much as they worry about what they are going to eat. Americans, from the start, treat food as a paradox. We always worry about what we are going to eat in terms of how many calories we are consuming or how much carbohydrates we are taking in instead of just worrying about how much we are actually eating through out the day. It seems that “scientific” thought and always thing about the macro and micronutrient in food is actually causing us to eat less healthy than countries that eat pretty much anything they want but do so according to a strict method of eating.

            One of the points that Pollan tries to argues is that Americans rely less on their tastes and sense and do so more based on convenience, price, and health claims. In contrast, countries such as France eat food based on their own likes and tastes but tend to eat very small meals and do so an very social settings. Pollan goes on to say that part of the cause to our health problems is associated by the way we categories food as being either “bad” or “good” for one’s health. In doing this, we are ever anxious about our food choices, and this is turn has both mental and physical repercussions. Food fads are also greatly affecting how we view food because with each new fad a culinary revolution ensues. The ever changing food climate only adds to the confusion that the everyday American experiences, and creates an environment in which the people are always worried about what it is they are eating and how new scientific studies relate to food.

            The thing that I found most interesting in Pollan’s piece was the issue with the American paradox and the differences seen in France. Being from the United States and having studied abroad in Paris, I can say first hand that much of what he says is correct. In France, meals incorporate very fatty food like foie gras, cheese, a lot of bread, wine, and various meats, yet the people are very healthy. As described in Pollan’s piece, the people of France eat anything that they want but do so very conservatively. While in the United State I always eat very processed food while eating out, usually because I am eating at fast food restaurants. The American mentality in regards to food is very much different than the French, and goes to show that how food is treated has to do a lot with culture.

            When I decide what I eat I usually go with what I think I will enjoy or because it was something a friends recommended. However, I do find myself thinking about caloric intake and other factors when I am deciding what to eat. I always feel that I need to watch how much I am eating because I don’t want to go over my 2000 daily calorie recommendation. It wasn’t until I read this article that I actually began to actually question why it is that 2000 calories is a good ballpark number for the amount of calories that can be consumed on an average day. It began to notice how anxious I get when I am deciding what I want to eat and the many things that go through my mind when making a decision. In the back if my mind I am always thinking about how a certain meal will affect my health or at the very least the health implications of the meal.