How Science Can End Obesity

 In the American culture, one of the biggest issues is obesity. Science writer Freedman’s article “How Junk Food Can End Obesity” talks about how he thinks we could end obesity in the world.

He talks about how processed foods have a big part in the end of obesity. Freedman also talks about in his article that some processed foods are good for you if not better than non-processed foods, because of all the ingredients that have been added into the processed foods in today’s world.

Freedman also thinks that the food industry could do this more often in the future as the solution to our obesity problem. Freedman uses logos and pathos throughout his article to inform the readers of the argument that he is trying to prove and tell stories on why wholesome foods are almost as bad as some processed foods are, but his harsh use of ethos is where he starts to fail by attacking Pollan unfairly.  

Freedman tries to use logical reasoning in his article on how we can turn junk food into healthy foods using food processing. This idea that Freedman has is astonishing because according to the safetyandhealthmagazine.com nearly 37% of Americans eat fast food daily a year and in the city of Atlanta one in three adults consume some type of fast food every day. If we can make healthier options in the fast-food restaurants people would still eat them because the food is fast, and it is on the go. Freedman also stated in his article that Americans get 11% of their calories on average from fast foods . Another statement that Freedman said is that McDonald's has been switching to healthier choices in the food they make . A lot of people like to go eat at McDonald's, so this will help the overweight people by lowering the fats and calories that are in the foods that they consume when they go out to eat. The healthier the food is the more it is going to cost. Most people cannot afford the organic and the healthier options that are out in the markets, so they will most likely buy processed foods, and this is the reason to start making processed foods healthier for people. . This may be true for many and Freedman does have a good point with that statement, but since the foods will be chemically made and have chemically made vitamins they are not going to be as expensive as the wholefoods, because they are made organically, and the processed foods are not. 

Through the article, Freedman tells the audience a few stories on how wholesome foods are not that great for us, and how Pollan tells his audience that wholesome foods are the best foods out there, but Freedman disagrees with this idea. The wholesome industry has emphasized that people who eat wholesomely tend to be healthier than people who eat fast-food, but there is little to no evidence on this statement that was said in the article. Freedman uses this statement to tell the audience that just because the wholesome industry tells us to eat their foods because it says it is healthier for the humankind, do not to eat it, there is no evidence to back the claim that they have made in their statement. Freedman also starts to argue with Pollan with the statement that he has made by saying that he supports healthier food choices and despises junk foods and tries to get more people on his side to go against Pollan and his sayings against foods. . Freedman is trying to tell his audience that Pollan is wrong by saying that only wholesome foods are healthy for people and that there is nothing else. Which this may be false, but Freedman goes on and tries to persuade Pollan’s audience to join on his side because Pollan does not know anything about how foods are made and that he is crazy. Freedman use of pathos throughout his article is mostly negative due to him targeting Pollan, but Freedman also uses pathos to tell his audience stories about wholesome foods and why they are bad. 

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In Freeman’s article there is a lot of appeal to ethos, which is the downfall of Freeman’s article in many people’s eyes. During the entire article that Freedman wrote, he continuously attacked and targeted Pollan’s views unfairly. Freedman targets Pollan by saying that his statements that he has made about wholesome foods are wrong and that his audience should not believe a word that he is saying. Freedman failed to provide reasoning nor evidence to back up his claims against Pollans view’s, which is one of the reasons why he starts to fail with his article. Although Freedman has made some good points throughout his article and has got us thinking out how processed foods can be good for us, he studies physics which makes for the most credible nutrition writer out there. Freedman should have more research over this topic before targeting and attacking Pollan and his view’s against processed foods. 

Photo Credit:

"403CLA Prevalence of Childhood Obesity by L.A. City Council District 2005" by The City Project is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

"Vintage McDonald's" by encanto_sunland is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

"Processed food for sale at a local store in Gizo, Western Province, Solomon Islands. Photo by Filip Milovac." by WorldFish is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

"Ho Ho Ho wholesome food finally :)" by byzantin3 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0