Biology

Taking Sides Assignment

Name: Julie Woodward

Course: Biology 1090

Book: Taking Sides

Issue # 3 Title of Issue” Can an Overemphasis on Eating Healthy be Unhealthy?

1. Author and Major Thesis of the Yes Side: Lindsay Getz

2. Author and Major Thesis of the No Side: Chris Woolston

3. Briefly state in your own words two facts presented by each side.

Yes-

Orthorexia is a pathological fixation on eating proper food and becomes problematic in some people's lives because their obsession of eating only healthy foods affects other areas of their lives.

Parents that tend to emphasize healthy eating to excessively give their children a fear of eating foods that are not completely healthy or that have certain ingredients in them like trans fat, for example.

No-

Americans are eating an average of 304 more calories a day then they were 25 years ago. According to the latest surveys on weight, more than 66% of Americans are considered overweight.

From 1986 to 1998 the number of overweight white children doubled! Teenage boys are consuming triple as much soda as they were in 1978 (7 ounces).

1. Briefly state in your own words 2 opinions presented by each side

Yes-

Although orthorexia is not considered a medically defined eating disorder, Lindsay Getz believes its’ a real condition that makes people strive to eat a perfect or pure healthy diet.

She states that orthorexia is not the desire to be thin like anorexia and bulimia but the obsession to eat a natural diet and have a fear of eating sugar, trans fats, cholesterol, sodium, and anything they believe is unhealthy and take them away from eating a perfect diet.

No-

Chris Woolston believes the typical American diet is excessive in calories like fat and sugar and that we push off the foods that are good for us and the fatty or fast foods take precedence.

He also thinks that our portions that we eat are distorted and we become obsessed with weight loss but it's so convenient to eat fat foods that are overly sized we think that is the right portion. He says to eat in moderation.

1. Briefly identify as many fallacies (lack of reasoning or validity) on the Yes side as you can.

1. She states that some people “may” have this intense fear that fat is bad and will hurt or kill you. There is no evidence backing up that statement. The fact that it is not an officially recognized disorder and is controversial shows that it does not have enough evidence of studies proving it to be a real condition

    6. Briefly identify as many fallacies (lack of reasoning or validity) on the No side as you   can.

I didn’t really see him explain why it’s not a condition but mostly just talked about why Americans are overweight and how we can eat healthier. While he had many statistics of what Americans used to eat compared to now, he didn’t seem to challenge that some cannot become obsessed with eating a pure healthy diet.

   7. All in all, which author impressed you as being the most empirical in presenting his or her thesis.

I was more impressed with Lindsay’s thesis because she seemed to stay on the subject of orthorexia being a condition people suffer from and examples and fears of those who have it. Chris on the other hand didn’t argue how it wasn’t a condition, but merely stated how we can eat healthy, which I thought makes more of a point of why people can become obsessed with it. He even admitted people are becoming more obsessed with weight-loss now that we have such high obesity rates.

   8. Are there any reasons to believe the writers are biased? No, I did not think either of them were biased.

   9. Which side do you personally believe is correct?

I believe the Yes side is more correct, she had a more persuasive argument than the other writer. I believe it can become a condition to some people who take it to excess.