Response To Pollan- Food #6

In Pollan's book the "Omnivores Dilemma" addresses the issue America has with eating habits and obsessive dieting. I think that Americans overall have this feeling that if someone says that they are an expert on something, then that's the person they are going to listen to. When it comes to food, birth/medicine, or even money people tend to listen to the person that they think knows more than them or knows whats better for them. People listen to these 'experts', not thinking that the advice they are being given could potentially be wrong. Many 'experts' try and change the way Americans eat, and the staple of the American diet (bread/carbs), not caring how and if it effects everyone. I believe that many of these diets are supposed to be geared to a certain group of people, but are projected/ forced upon everyone else instead.

I know a diet that my mother was trying to follow for a while was the Atkins diet. she would try it for weeks at a time but not realizing the effects it had on her body. The Atkins diet was mainly focused on low Carbs, and high Protein. My mom would suffer from headaches and various mood swings (crazy i know) because she couldn't eat what she wanted. she sacrificed a lot of what she at regularly to follow this diet, without much success. No matter how much she stuck to the diet plan, she didn't lose much weight. Based off of this I think that many of these main stream diets that people follow are gimmicks, and that we should stick to how we've been eating for years (basic nutrition values).