America's Eating Disorder

In his piece “Our National Eating Disorder”, Pollan makes a few valid observations about how Americans eat. It seems as though the main point that he makes is that Americans think too much about what to eat, and since we do this, we eat unhealthily. He makes connections to the various diets that have sprung up over the years and how each one comes up as being the healthiest way to eat, but then fades away as more information surfaces that prove otherwise. He compares the U.S. to the French and how they appear much healthier than Americans. He also comes to the conclusion that the French choose their meals based on what tastes good, rather than what has been deemed “healthier” by various diet scientists. After considering these things Pollan determines that Americans are unhealthier because they over-think what they eat and they stress out too much over what they should eat.

 I found much of this very interesting. I could easily draw a connection to all of the various diets to my own life because of my grandma. My grandma is one of those people that sees all of these new diets and thinks that they are the next big thing, and then tries to convince the rest of my family that we should start eating like this. She reads way too far into these “studies” and considers them to be the best way to eat. However, when I personally try to decide what to eat, I almost never take what is “healthy” into consideration. Growing up, my parents taught me to eat well balanced meals and this habit carried with me throughout life. Along with this, I was an athlete through school and I could usually eat whatever I want and it would not have any negative effects. On the other side of this, when I was in a season of a sport, I didn't even consider food that would not be beneficial for my sport at the time. Through this article, I can see how Americans over-think what they eat, and how this makes them unhealthier, but as for myself, I have never really taken an interest in these diet fads, so I would not consider myself to be part of the American eating culture in this aspect.