...Maria Arriola Allegra Hyde English 101 16 November 2014 The American Diet Getting a fat whopper from McDonalds, large fries and a coke is seen as an average meal for Americans. There are many diets out there like the Paleo diet, and the Atkins diet and the standard american diet which all revolve around the consumption of meat, dairy and fats. The very thought of an American eating a vegan plant based diet is seen as extreme and often questioned. Eating no meat, or products derived from animals automatically makes one an extreme animal rights activist that solely lives on salads. Nutrition is often overlooked by doctors but it may be the underlying issue of a spectrum of problems. Thomas Edison once stated “The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but will rather cure and prevent disease with nutrition.” Many do not realize the great importance of nutrition and its correlation to health. What enters the body may greatly affect the overall individual physically and mentally. Americans have become unhealthier by the years due to the vast number of processed products sold in our grocery stores today. Many do not take notice of their daily consumption of food while others obsess over the very thought of their next meal. There is a great epidemic in America where more people die from the effects of overeating rather than starvation. Many resort to drugs, and surgeries as a quick fix in hopes of improving their health which leaves many wallets...
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...Vegan/Vegetarianism Diets Healthy? Eating is a necessary task humans undertake every day to survive and thrive. Food has become a huge part of society’s everyday culture and an essential aspect in our economy. As humans, we are capable of choosing the types of food we put in our bodies and these choices define in part what we look like and what we stand for. People choose whether they would like to be carnivores, vegetarians, vegans, or a combination. Author Ben Kim, a chiropractor and acupuncturist in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, states his thoughts on these choices in his article “A Strict Vegetarian Diet Is Unhealthy for Most People.” His article was written in 2010 to discourage people from adopting 100% vegan diets because in his opinion these diets are dangerous to the long term health of humans. Kim addresses his article to people who have adopted or are thinking of adopting 100% vegan lifestyles. He is trying to convince these groups that it is unhealthy long-term to limit yourself to a 100% plant-based diet. The main ideas Kim states in order to dissuade his audience from adopting vegan diets are that 100% vegan diets lead long term to the development of nutritional deficiencies and significant health problems, that the morality of vegan lifestyles are questionable, and that the organizations that promote vegan lifestyles have ulterior motives. While Kim makes a weak argument against 100% vegan diets, his assertion that diets with a majority of plant based foods are healthy...
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...An old Chinese proverb once said, “He that takes medicine and neglects the diet himself wastes the skill of the physician.” Many individuals within our society struggle with this silent and crippling disease and a diagnosis can sometimes feel like a death sentence to some. According to Trapp (2012, para. 1), “In the United States, diabetes affects 26 million people of all ages, about one-fourth of whom are not yet diagnosed.” Diabetes is a disease that is caused by insulin resistance in the body and consequently affecting the levels of an individual’s hemoglobin A1C, which is the main indicator of blood glucose control. Research have shown that diabetes kills more people than AIDS and breast cancer combined and is the main cause of many diet related illnesses such as blindness, kidney failure, cancer and cardiovascular disease. However, there is a simple solution to these issues- a plant based diet consumption. Not only is it more effective than mainstream diabetic drugs but it can reverse diabetes all together. Moreover, it has all the necessary nutrients needed and there are no side effects associated with its use. Sounds too good to be true? In my talk today, I will identify two ways that a plant based diet helps to reverse diabetes....
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...Sarah Greck A. Anderson 3 March 2016 English 226 Rebuttal Argument More and more people are turning to a vegan diet for the massive health benefits: high energy, younger looking skin, high energy levels, and eternal youth are just some of the claims from satisfied plant-based eaters. Well, eternal youth might be a bit far-fetched, but there are certainly tons of scientifically proven benefits to a vegan lifestyle when compared to the average western diet. Thoughtful and thoroughly planned plant-based diets are rich in calcium, iron, protein, and other essential vitamins and minerals. The sources of all these nutrients are typically high in fiber, low in saturated fat, and packed with antioxidants, helping prevent some of our world’s biggest health problems like diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and cancer. Maintaining a diet to lower cholesterol based on plant foods – vegetables, fruits, grains, and beans – is the best way to lower saturated fat intake and avoid cholesterol completely. A vegan diet is free of all animal products and holds the lowest risk of heart disease. Since our bodies produce enough of the cholesterol we need, it’s unnecessary to add any in our diet. Cholesterol is found in all animal products including fish, chicken, red meat, eggs, milk and other dairy products. Some dieticians argue that choosing lean cuts of meat is enough; however, the cholesterol is mainly in the lean portions of meat. Many consumers are shocked to learn that chicken contains...
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...The Complex Connotations and the Distinct Denotation of “Diet” Dr. Sanford once told my class an interesting example about the connotation of words. She said, “If someone walks up to me and says that I am thrifty, I would reply, ‘Thanks! I know how to stretch a good dollar.’ But if someone walks up to me and says, ‘You’re cheap,’ I would say, ‘Excuse me?’ ‘Thrifty’ and ‘cheap’ mean the same thing, but are understood differently.” Similarly, there are other words that people perceive through multiple meanings. One word exemplifies this and it is the word, “diet.” People, especially in the health and science community, understand “diet” as “food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health” or “the foods...
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...cancer. Documentaries such as Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, Planeat, and What the Health have inspired millions of Americans to adopt a plant-based diet, ditching the meat and dairy. But, what is a plant-based diet? A plant-based diet is commonly referred to as the “vegan diet” with vegan defined by Merriam-Webster as, “a strict vegetarian who consumes no food (such as meat, eggs, or dairy products) that comes from animals”. A person following a plant-based or vegan diet...
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...Plant Based Pregnancy Larry Rossi Drexel University Plant Based Pregnancy Planning your diet is a complex, time consuming task. It is shaped by culture, marketing, politics, economics, necessity, and desire. Diet is one of the biggest and most important factors in our overall health. Our diets are linked to an increase in obesity, diabetes, hypotension, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Obesity, which represents a caloric intake well over what is needed, is s major concern. Particularly in western culture, where a diet that emphasizes high fat, caloric dense food has been implicated as a connection to several negative health outcomes. It is accepted by heath care professionals, and pregnant women that nutritional status during pregnancy plays an important role in a healthy pregnancy. Women with poor nutrition can experience complications with labor, as well as compromised fetal growth, resulting in low birth weight. Pregnant women who gain more or less weight than the recommended amount can result in complications for both mother and baby. The incidence increases at the extremes of weight gain. What is an expected mother to be to do? An increased number are looking into dietary alternatives. One alternative, that is growing in popularity, is a vegan diet. What is a vegan diet? A vegan, or plant based, diet is a form of vegetarianism. It differs in that individuals following this diet consume zero animal products. This means that vegans do not eat any meat,...
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...Dr. Craig McDougall thrives on the idea of his saying, “One of the best motivators for people transitioning to plant-based eating comes from how great they feel and how much more than can do in their lives once they’re feeling healthier.” A plant-based lifestyle produces more energy than one involving animal products. Centering one’s diet exclusively around vegetables and fruits will energize the body better than eating mostly meat and dairy products. In Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, Phil Staples goes on a sixty day fruit and vegetable cleanse. By the end of his experiment, many of his peers said that he was much healthier looking and more energetic than before (Fat, Sick). The longer that Staples was exclusively on a plant-based diet the more energy he began to have....
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...Ashlee Tarr Miss Smith Senior English 16 April 2010 Vegetarian Diets: The More Positive Side Is Being Revealed For many people understanding exactly what a vegetarian is can be difficult. Essentially, a vegetarian is one that does not consume meat. There are, however, several different types of vegetarians that are defined by certain restrictions. For quite some time people have thought of vegetarianism as a negative thing; recently, vegetarianism has become more appealing and accessible thanks to the year-round availability of fresh produce, more vegetarian dining options, and the growing culinary influence of cultures with largely plant-based diets (Becoming a Vegetarian 4-6). The traditional idea concerning vegetarian diets was that there were various nutritional deficiencies. New research, however, highlights the positive side of vegetarianism. In the Western world, the popularity of vegetarianism grew in the 20th century because of the combination of nutritional, ethical, and environmental concerns (Heller). With vegetarianism gaining popularity, many people are more aware of the different forms of the diet. Vegetarian eating covers a broad territory and can run the gamut from people who avoid all animal products to people who simply refrain from eating a few select animal foods (Bauer 185). The strictest type of vegetarian is the vegan. Vegans abstain from eating or using all animal products. They withdraw from eating meat, dairy, and eggs. Vegans also prefer...
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...foods, plant-based diet, many degenerative diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and several forms of cancer could be prevented and even reversed. Lee Fulkerson, who narrates the documentary, along with Joey Aucoin, and San’Dera Nation undergo a transition into a whole foods, plant-based diet and obtain great results by losing weight, getting off medications, and having more energy. It is well known that Americans are fatter, sicker, and battling way to many chronic diseases and this documentary provides some insight as to the potential of consuming...
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...2001:411-412). With regards to the importance of paleodietary shift within the hominin lineage, it is imperative to understand that diet has had a lasting influence to longevity and lifespan within the genus Homo. Why do modern humans have such high life expectancies compared to their ancestors, and how has life expectancy changed within the genus Homo as its species has evolved? As time has passed, life expectancy within the genus Homo has increased due to numerous dietary advancements, such as the shift from heavy chewing to hunter-gathering...
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...foods with high amounts of fats and sugars, as well as drinks with high amounts of sugar. Their lives take a major turn as they are followed in the documentary. The three main components to the film that caught my attention were the nutrients that our bodies were being deprived of such as essential nutrients that the whole foods plant based diet can give, diabetes and health related problems can be reversed with a healthier lifestyle, as well as how a whole foods plant...
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...Forks Over Knives is a documentary that tells us how a plant based diet helps the body maintain a healthy status and prevent certain diseases from bad eating habits. This documentary caused me to understand that we have to change our eating habits because many people in the United States are at high risk of developing chronic diseases due to poor eating habits. It has been shown that a vegetarian diet is one of the best choices for staying healthy because this type of diet contains high nutritional value that helps the body fight against chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, high cholesterol and heart disease Among these preventable chronic diseases, diabetes has become one of the most common due to the rise of obesity. Diets high in whole fruits, vegetables and grains may help the body manage insulin more efficiently and includes the benefit of losing weight. Certain types of cancers are also preventable with the intake of plant based food because they are rich in vitamins and minerals that help the body to develop defenses against certain types of carcinogens agents. Plant food contains a high source of fiber that helps the body’s process of eliminating toxins and preventing cancer in the digestive system. Vegetarian diets are low in saturated fat which helps reduce cholesterol levels in the body by preventing or reducing the chances of developing heart and cardiovascular disease. Plant based diets are good for the individual as well as for the economy...
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... Half of Americans have a health problem that requires taking a prescription drug every week, and over 100 million Americans have high cholesterol"(Campbell 3). With statistics like that being completely preventable with a vegetable based diet, there are still many people who believe the vegan way of life unhealthy and unsustainable. The prevailing causes behind society’s misunderstanding of this controversial diet are protein and fat soluble nutrients. Protein and fat soluble nutrients are a staple in any healthy diet, and it has been long believed that a vegan lifestyle does not support this. We also live in a culture known for the Standard American Diet (S.A.D). The standard American Diet is known for being high in animal fats, and low on essential plant based nutrients. (Campbell 196) Surprisingly enough this more uniformly accepted as a complete diet by the masses. In 1992 the USDA released a food pyramid as an answer to the growing obesity, and poor health reviews plaguing the nation. “The Food Guide Pyramids were developed by using nutrient profiles for the 5 major nutrient-bearing food groups (fruit, vegetable, dairy, grain, and meat) and their subgroups” (Gao). The for mentioned example used as the new standard of diet spoke nothing about the lean protein available to consumers in raw vegetables. Incidentally the separation of vegetables and protein still continues today, adding to the misconception of meat being the only way to attain...
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...Fa"Fad diet" is a term of popular media, not science. Some so-called fad diets may make pseudo-scientific claims. According to one definition, fad diets claim to be scientific but do not follow the scientific method in establishing their validity. What is a fad diet? There are many different definitions of what a fad diet consists of. One definition is any weight loss plan that quickly gains popularity and may become unpopular just as quick. A more specific definition is any weight loss program or aid that promises to produce dramatic weight loss in a very short amount of time. Each type of fad diet varies in the amount of food that is restricted and what types of foods may be restricted. Are fad diets healthy? The basis of these diets is usually a very restricted diet that may even eliminate certain food groups all together. Research has shown that in order to obtain the amount of nutrients our body needs on a daily basis we must consume a balanced and varied diet. Fad diets do not allow consumers to eat a well-balanced diet in most cases which causes the lack of nutrients to the body. In particular, the diets that eliminate certain foods from a person’s diet completely put the person at risk for nutrient deficiencies. Many of the diet authors will suggest that consumers take daily supplements to make up for the lost nutrients; however supplements do not provide all the plant chemicals and nutrients that our bodies need to function properly. Another risk of these diets...
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