Topic > Michael Pollan's views on the nutritional effects of Western food as illustrated in his writing, Escape from the Western Diet

In today's age, healthy food can be difficult to find. What foods are good for us? Is it really worth buying organic food? In his essay ''Escape from the Western Diet'' Pollan argues that eating the Western diet is unhealthy and can cause many diseases including cancer and diabetes. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayPollan delves into his argument by talking about several theories of nutritionism including the neolipid theory, which states that a deviance of omega 3 fatty acids can cause chronic disease. This theory is important to support his initial thesis, because it talks about nutrition and its science, rather than foods as a whole. At the end of his article and as a whole he uses ethos. Use a quote at the end to give the reader three rules about eating: ''eat food, not too much. Mostly plants'' (Pollan 428). Pollan begins his argument by building credibility by using scientific facts and theories to support his claim. At the middle and end, his credibility weakens because he doesn't have enough concrete evidence to support his claims. Pollan is writing to an audience that might use his writing for research or as reference material. The audience could be anyone affected by this issue. Its main purpose is to inform Westerners and Americans that the traditional Western diet is full of preservatives and fatty substances that are unhealthy and encourages change so that everyone can follow a healthier lifestyle. In his piece, Pollan uses a wide variety of persuasive strategies. The first strategy he uses would be ethics. In his article he states that “people who eat a Western diet are more prone to chronic diseases that rarely affect people who eat more traditional diets” (Pollan 421). I think this quote was effective because it talked about how he used his personal opinion and built trust in the reader. Another quote he uses to build trust in the reader is: "Scientists can argue all they want about the biological mechanisms behind this phenomenon, but whatever it is, the solution to the problem would seem to remain more or less the same: stop eating Western food." . diet'' (Pollan 421). These are some examples that the author uses to describe the rhetorical strategy. The second strategy Pollan uses is Logos to provide the reader with some information and concrete evidence to support his claim. An example he gives is: “Have people traditionally devoted a much larger percentage of their income to food, as they still do in many countries where people eat better than us and are consequently healthier than us?” (Pollan 426). Another example of logos he uses would be the scientific theories he mentions at the beginning of the article. The first example from the article would be when it mentions the neolipid hypothesis ''The neolipid hypothesis cannot be reconciled with the carbohydrate hypothesis, and the theory that a deficiency of omega 3 fatty acids is primarily responsible for disease chronic is at odds with the theory that refined carbohydrates have eliminated important micronutrients from the modern diet, scientists who attribute our health problems to deficiencies in these micronutrients are not the same scientists who see a high-sugar diet leading to metabolic syndrome and from there to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer'' (Pollan 421) . This was an important quote because.