Tag Archives: nutritionism

The Problem of Food Waste

For our action project, my group and I focused on food waste, as it is a very prominent problem in the world food system. We wanted to tackle this problem both locally and globally to inform the public on what food waste is, how it is a problem, how it impacts the global community, and how students can take action… Read more »

Eating: A Cultural Experience

Contemplative practices, as trivial as they may seem to others, have the power to inform in an interactive manner as well as generate thoughts about one’s role within regard to the rest of the food system. I personally have found our contemplative practices thus far to be very engaging and necessary. With an act as simple as being told to… Read more »

The Flaws within Michael Pollan’s book “In Defense of Food”

Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food tackles the issue at the heart of America’s health problems today: Nutritionism. Throughout the book, Pollan mentions how the science behind Nutritionism is flawed, saying that “Few scientists ever look back to see where they and their paradigms might have gone astray…” Later, Pollan explains how Gary Taubes “blew the whistle on the science… Read more »

Contemplating Grapes

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Michael Pollan states in his book In Defense of Food “Health is, among other things, the product of being in these sorts of relationships in a food chain…if the soil is sick or in some way deficient, so will be the grasses that grow in that soil and the cattle that eat the grasses and the people who drink the… Read more »

I can’t believe it’s not healthy

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  Images of genetically good looking people surrounded by (unhealthy) food that promises “fitness” is the epitome of how dysfunctional the Western diet is. I used to watch Fabio’s ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter!® ’ commercials all the time when I was little. No matter what channel I was watching, I could always expect an appearance from the hunky… Read more »

Instagram bloggers who claim to be nutritionists and scientists who are continually conducting research to remind us of how everything is practically unhealthy: How Michael Pollan’s work challenges it all

In Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food, he elaborates on what he believes humans should eat and discusses why food and eating stand in need of defense. Most importantly he critiques the  “reductionist” approach to food, which focuses on various nutrients, rather than the holistic approach. Although his work was published before social media took off, it is still challenging… Read more »

Has The Western Diet Led Us to Nutritionism?

The view on food has changed drastically through out the past 10-20 years and one of the main things it has picked up is the idea of nutritionism. With the western diet causing so many issues to the health of thousands in the US, nutritionism has impacted society in a positive but also negative way. Nutritionism has been portrayed by… Read more »

Chocolate Ice Cream for Dinner

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My previous understanding of the holistic consequences of the Western diet was drastically challenged by Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food. Specifically, Pollan argues that analyzing the Western diet in terms of the chemical compounds of separate nutrients does not fully represent the habits and norms of the food culture itself. Often, the harmful effects of the tendencies of Western… Read more »

Dollar Burger Versus Five Dollar Salad

Escaping nutritionism, the Western diet, and avoiding processed food is not as simple as it may seem. Factors that control what you eat include financial status, time, location, and knowledge. Financial status alone plays a large role in what people can and do eat on a daily basis. The food system in the U.S. is designed to increase yields to… Read more »

Growing Nutritionism

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Something that Michael Pollan talks about in his book In Defense of Food, and something that I feel we don’t discuss enough is nutritionism, and what that actually is. Nutritionism is really just breaking down food into the little ingredients that make it up, and what you’re actually get from your food, such as protein, fat, sugar, etc. I find… Read more »