Rozell

Tucker Rozell
Professor Lohmeyer
Comp. English 101
30 October 2016

What is Your Definition of A Healthy Diet?

Can people really have the right diet? Can the economic status have an effect on the way
a human eats? A very small percentage of Americans believe that cutting out red meat from their
diet is the best way to eat. Along with that, an even smaller percentage of the American people
think that cutting out any animal product is the best diet they can have. However, if most of the
people in the United States were to convert to a vegetarian way of life, it would affect the cattle
industry throughout the world. Even though eating only fruits and vegetables is a healthy diet,
meat has nutritional values that fruits and vegetables do not have. Therefore, Pollan is wrong
because humans need a healthy amount of red meat in their diet.
To start off with, while Pollan was writing his essay he was trying to tell people that
eating more fruits and vegetables in exchange for red meat. Pollan does not believe in cutting out
red meat completely. He just thinks that people should watch on how much red meat they
consume. Pollan thinks that people need to still need to eat meat, just not that much of meat. He
really thinks that people should watch on how much red meat one person consumes.
To begin with, some people in the United States think that cutting out red meat is the best
diet possible. A small percentage of American citizens cut out meat completely.With that being
said, even a smaller percentage of Americans cut out dairy products completely. Therefore, there
are some people in the United States that follow the vegetarian diet very strictly, but there are
also people that use the vegetarian diet as a guideline. This only accounts for a small amount of

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the Americas today. As the Vegetarian Times reported, 3.2 percent of U.S. adults, or 7.3 million
people, follow a vegetarian-based diet. Approximately 0.5 percent or 1 million, of those are
vegans, who consume no animal products at all. In addition, 10 percent of U.S., adults, or 22.8
million people, say they largely follow a vegetarian-inclined diet (Bay Par.1). Thus, the ratio
between vegans and vegetarians is a rather small number. This develops Pollans essay more
because he is telling his readers that it is ok for people to have a vegetarian diet. He is telling his
readers that it is normal for people to have that way of lifestyle.
Secondly, cattle are widely known as the most common type of meat that humans eat in
America. Then Pollan was writing his essay, he said nothing about how it would affect the cattle
industry. Every day the average person will consume somewhat of a meat. Some people eat meat
two out of the three meals a day. Some people eat meat three out of the three meals a day. It all
depends on what kind of person someone wants to be when it comes to that person's diet. As
Rani Molla included in The Wall Street Journal, The USDA recommends in its 2010 Dietary
Guidelines for America 3.3 ouncesor 0.21 poundsof meat per day of red meat, pork and
poultry for the average adult on a 2,000 calorie diet. The average adult who consumes meat,
according to our calculations, eats more like 0.36 pounds of meat per day (Molla Par. 2). This
shows that meat is constantly in our diet. With that, the beef has to come from somewhere. The
beef that is used to make hamburgers, steak, etc., are raised on a farm or a ranch. So if the people
of America were to convert to mostly a vegetarian way of life, that would mean that the cattle
industry would suffer tremendously. When that happens, the farmers and ranchers will lose
money because raising cattle is their livelihood. For instance, as of today, the cattle market is
suffering severely. Common day farmers and ranchers are having to sell out because of this
problem. So this only shows that if the American people would convert to a vegetarian way of

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life, it would ruin other people's way of life and their dream. Becoming a vegetarian is not only
about not eating meat. It is also about how they affect others and their way of life.
Vegetarians and vegans may think that only eating fruits and vegetables instead of
consuming red meat is a personal health choice its just not about people's livelihood. This may
be true to a point. The people that only eat fruits and vegetables are missing that main nutritional
value that meat has. People should not just eat meat to save people's lives, They need to eat meat
to get that main component that meat has.
For instance, this is one of the main reasons why I disagree with Michael Pollan the most,
people just can not cut down the amount of red meat one person consumes. This is because I am
in the cattle industry. So when more and more Americans convert to the vegetarian and vegan
diet, that affects me. With that, Im not the only one that it affects. South Dakota is one of the
best cattle producers in America. It does not just affect one person, it affects whole towns and
communities. That is what Pollan does not understand. He does not account for the people that
are in the cattle industry.
However, some people think that fruits and vegetables are a healthy diet, but I believe it
is not healthy for a person who has been eating meat their whole life to cut only to veggies or any
person for that matter. This is what Pollan argues because he wants to convince the people of
America to convert to a vegetarian diet. He does not think that meat is good for the human diet.
Of course,it is true that fruits and vegetables have nutritional values like vitamins, minerals, and
natural sugars. On the other hand, they do not have all the necessary proteins and other
nutritional values that meat has. Even though fruits, vegetables, and meat have vitamins, they
dont have all the vitamins individually that people need, so people need to eat a balanced diet to
get what their bodies need. Along with that, fruits and vegetables have vitamins like vitamin A,

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vitamin C, and vitamin E, and meat has vitamin B1, etc. These are just some of the vitamins that
fruits and vegetables have that meat does not have, and some of the vitamins that meat has that
fruit and vegetables do not. As Kris Gunnars reported, The most well-known vitamin that the
body cant produce and can only be gotten from animal foods, is Vitamin B12 (2). With that
being stated, people that cut out their meat income do not get this mean Vitamins.
As Freedman stated, fast food is very cheap. People that have a low economic status will
more or less eat at cheap fast food restaurants. They do this because they can afford this food. I
say this because I know from experience, healthy food is way more expensive from just regular
processed food and fast food. It is easy, fast, and cheaper just to go to McDonalds and get a meal
than go to the store and buy fruits and vegetables to make a full meal. So I do think that if people
have a low economic status they will more or less have a more unhealthy diet. This is because
healthier food cast more than unhealthy food. That is why people with a low economic status will
more likely to not be vegetarians.
In conclusion, the people in the United States and around the world can have any diet
they want. They just have to feel good about themselves as they have the diet. A small percentage
of the American people cut meat out of their diet competes, and even a small percent of that cut
animal products out completely. The cattle industry would really suffer if more and more
Americans chose the vegetarian life still. Even though fruits and vegetables are good for you,
they lack nutritional value that meat has. People in the United States think that eating fast food is
an okay diet to have. Along with that, people that have a low economic status may have a more
unhealthy food still, then those who do not have a low economic status. The life you live is the
life you get. Be yourself, eat like yourself, and most importantly dont let people tell you what to
eat!

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Works Cited

Bay, Cruz. "Vegetarian Times Study Shows 7.3 Million Americans Are Vegetarians."
Vegetarianism In America. Cruz bay publish incorporated, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
Freedman, David H. "How Junk Food Can End Obesity." They Say/I Say. Ed. Gerald
Graff and Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst. 3rd ed. W.W. Norton & Company. 506537. Print.
Gunnars, Kris. "5 Brain Nutrients Found Only in Meat, Fish and Eggs." Authority
Nutrition. Authority Nutrition., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
Meadows., Charles. "What Do Specific Foods Do?" Taking Care of Your Health
Wellbeing. N.p., 19 Mar. 2009. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
Molla, Rani. "How Much Meat Do Americans Eat? Then and Now." The Wall Street Journal.
The Wall Street Journal, 02 Oct. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.