Low Fat Lies High Fat Frauds Chapter Summaries

Pollan defines the American problem as “unhealthy people obsessed by the idea of eating healthily.” (Pg. 3) The vast majority of consumers in our society are ones that envision themselves as striving towards a healthy lifestyle, yet many of these consumers don’t realize that in their attempts at eating healthy they are on a slow decline. A large sum of the population garners their information on which foods to eat from their daily news sources, trying new fad diets and picking up any food that Buzzfeed or the Huffington Post tells them will better their health (Pg. 1). This behavior in turn leaves those desperate for a slimmer and healthier bodies utterly confused and desolate.

As a culture and as individuals, we no longer seem to know what we should and should not eat. When the old guides of culture and national cuisine and our mothers’ advice no longer seem to operate, the omnivore’s dilemma returns and you find yourself where we do today—utterly bewildered and conflicted about one of the most basic questions of human life: What should I eat? We’re buffeted by contradictory dietary advice: cut down on fats one decade, cut down on carbs the next. Every day’s newspaper brings news of another ideal diet, wonder-nutrient, or poison in the food chain. Hydrogenated vegetable oils go from being the modern alternatives to butter to a public health threat, just like that. Food marketers bombard us with messages that this or that food is “heart healthy” or is “part of a nutritious meal”. Without a stable culture of food to guide us, the omnivore’s dilemma has returned with a vengeance. We listen to scientists, to government guidelines, to package labels—to anything but our common sense and traditions. The most pleasurable of activities—eating—has become heavy with anxiety. The irony is, the more we worry about what we eat, the less healthy and fatter we seem to become.

So, to compare and contrast the two diets, we realize that high-fat diet puts the body at risk by serious illnesses and diseases. For example, high-fat diet can result in a heart attack because of the fat that gets deposit in the blood vessels and disrupts the flow of the blood; in contrast, low-fat diet prevents the serious illnesses and diseases like heart attack. Low-fat diet also helps reduce weight, and obtain a normal lifestyle by keeping the body balanced, whereas the high-fat diet can cause obesity and unbalanced weight. By comparing and contrasting the two diets, it becomes obvious that low-fat diet is much better than the high-fat diet.

Many Americans struggle with difficulties of weight loss, not only losing the weight but keeping it off. Different methods are used for losing weight, such as, exercise, various types of dieting and some medically needed procedures. Even though weight loss is vital to many people’s careers and futures, it doesn’t mean that it’s easier for these people than it is for you and me. The difference is that most people have a state of mind that they can’t afford to fail. So they are willing to pay thousands

In today’s growing world, fad diets seem to be all the rage. As obesity rates are increasing more and more each year with 1/3 of the population overweight and 1/3 of the population obese, many people are trying everything that they can to lose weight. With people in our nation because too busy to exercise, too busy to make healthy meals, and healthy foods being too expensive, many people turn to these fad diets to help control their weight or help them lose their weight. One of the most known fad diet is the Weight Watchers program. The purpose of this study is to find out using both creditable and not so creditable sources if this fad diet actually works.

“…So many people want to know about diets because so many people are going to try them, but they don’t work … some weight will be lost temporarily.” Harvey Diamond, author, was speaking. “But let me ask you something – do you want to be healthy temporarily? No. But you want to lose weight temporarily. They’re – They have failures built right into them.”

In today’s world, one cannot watch a thirty-minute television show without being bombarded with commercials promoting the latest, “Breakthrough Health Kick.” The Paleo Diet, Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet, along with a vast number of diets on the market has skewed the idea of healthy eating. The textbook, Nutrition from Science to You, states, “Healthy eating means you need to balance, vary, and moderate your nutrient intake.” Sadly, when I took two days to analyze my own diet I found a lack of balance, variety, and the ability to eat in moderation.

As matter of fact, in the article, Obesity in the United States: Public Perceptions it states, “The U.S. public considers obesity second only to cancer as the nation’s most serious health issue, with conditions closely related to obesity—diabetes and heart disease—tied for third” (T. Tompson, J. Benz, J. Agiesta, K.H. Brewer, L. Bye, R. Reimer, D. Junius). Americans must realize their nutrition affects their health and over all well being greatly. If Americans do not try to prevent obesity now when they can, they will look for help when it will be too late or too hard for them to lose the weight. Obesity is one of the most complex, chronic medical conditions and successful treatment often requires the support and care of healthcare professionals. Health authorities, and doctors have had to make a stand about the current situation the United States is in. For example, The Publics Perception of the Obesity epidemic argues, “Obesity has been called a major health crisis and a national epidemic. Health authorities, including prominent spokespeople like Michelle Obama and the Surgeon General, have sounded the alarm, and the media has responded with a bombardment of stories about the state of the nation’s waistline” (Cornell University). Americans should consider changing some of their diets because the unhealthy foods

We’ve been told in the earlier years by nutritionists that some food are more healthy than others, but only to be overturned by later studies. Pollan feels that this orthodoxy is very contradicting as Americans have been assured about how having a low diet helps prevent health issues, but only to be revealed by even more professionals that these foods actually have harmful effects on health, “Sooner or later, everything solid we’ve been told about the links between our diet and our health seems to get blown away in the gust of the most recent study” (Pollan). They have been told that these foods are of no harm, yet to only acquire health issues such as obesity later in their lives. For instance, my friends tried to only eat foods that affirm a low diet, however, it has barely done anything to their health and weight. Surprisingly, these supposedly “low-diet” foods doesn’t provide the vitamins enough for the body to function properly (Miller). It has been said that low diet foods makes people want to eat more than usual because these foods are mostly served in smaller portions that make people think that they are eating

Today’s society is infatuated with the thought of being fit and skinny. Although eating healthy and balanced sounds ideal for most Americans, this can be more difficult than it seems. Because of the number of families living in poverty, eating a nutritious and balanced diet is a tremendous challenge. Healthy foods generally cost more than cheaper, processed foods. Families attempting to make the most of their scarce amount of money will try to stretch their dollar and purchase large quantities of food, disregarding the nutritional value. Many studies show the correlation between obesity and other health issues, with a family’s financial status. Although there are now several ways for today’s society to be healthful, including new diet

And though this diet surged in popularity (Remember the low-fat craze in the 80s and 90s?), many are convinced it’s actually the exact opposite of how we should be eating, and that sugar is biggest problem when it comes to weight gain and health problems. A recent article in The Guardian explores this controversy, and ventures to explain how we could have gotten so tangled up in this wild web of fat versus sugar.

Obesity has become a symbol of our American culture and ways of life. Across the U.S. Americans are eating for a multitude of reasons; socially, emotionally, and nutritional. Becoming overweight does not happen overnight, it’s a gradual process that’s ignored. It is estimated sixty-eight percent of Americans are overweight, with thirty-four percent obese. Eating comes easy when the meals prepared are delicious; whether baked or fried, simmered over a heated grill. A large amount of people does not take time out to read the packaging labels for nutritional values in a lot of the foods that’s purchase; the ingredients on most labels are not that hard to understand concerning the calories, sugar, or saturated fat, which is not good. However,

One thing that gets everyone’s attention is the ability to lose weight. Everyone around the world decide one point in their lives to start a diet. People worry about their weight all the time, and believe going on a diet can and will help them lose weight; but that’s not the case at all.

According to Alyssa Brown, “51% of adults want to lose weight, [but] barely half as many (25%) say they are seriously working towards that goal. This discrepancy between Americans’ weight-loss desires and behaviors has existed for years”(Brown). According to society, the definition of a healthy person is someone who exercises often and eats healthy foods. Even though people want to be healthy, becoming healthy is a hard task. Surely it is much easier to lay around at home and eat chips than to work out at the gym. Maybe this is why obesity rates are on the rise. A medical study estimates that “75% of the U.S. population will be classified as overweight or obese or obese by the year 2020” (NewsMax). People wonder, what is the solution to this

Katz and Miller (2014) analyzed the literature on different diets like the Low-carbohydrate, Low-fat/vegetarian/vegan, Low-glycaemic, Mediterranean, Mixed/balanced, Palaeolithic diets and found no evidence to suggest one of these diets is the best for health. They suggest reducing the quantity of food taken, with healthier food options, mostly plants and lean meat, with less refined sugars and processed food will be the best choice of weight loss for most of us. Advice on healthy diet can be in the form of one-to-one sessions where advice is offered on diet and lifestyle (Brown et al., 2007) when a flexible approach to reducing calorie intake should be used and individual food preferences should be considered (Clinical Knowledge Summaries, 2010).