Ahsan Javed

1010 English
Annotated Bibliography
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. "Escape From the Western Diet."They Say / I Say: The
Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. 434440. Print.
The Escape from the Western Diet by Michael Pollan speaks of nutritionism and how
the western diet is seen; a diet that is hurtful in every manner and is the leading cause of
chronic illness. This illness begins with our consumption of foods we deem healthy and
convenient. Our healthy choices of continuously refined carbohydrates and convenient
fast food chains take us away from understanding what is really happening to our bodies.
Pollan speaks of how the food industry constantly updates its insertion of healthy
micronutrients to help us feel more confident in the food we eat, but the industry and
their consumers avoid the concept of it being processed which is lacking essential
nutrients our body mainly needs. Pollan also discusses how much time throughout our
lives is spent on eating from fast food chains. This is food that is the foundation of many
illnesses. It begins with our bodily health which leads to the health of the environment.
Our bodies and illnesses are linked, like a chain. Pollan states, The health of the soil, to
the health of the plants and animals we eat, to the health of the environment and to the
health of the consumer are all things to consider as we choose our food. These are all
reasons that lead to the positive western diet that conjures illness.
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. "Fat Is a Feminist Issue." They Say / I Say: The Moves
That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. 448-452. Print.
Obesity and overeating are central issues for women today where at least half the
population is considered overweight. Physical fitness and beauty is a goal, yet something
which everyone takes for granted. Susie Orbach speaks about how women find fingers
pointing at them for not having self-control and compulsive eating habits that are
believed to place them outside the remainder of the society. However the society sees
what it wants to see. Orbach states, Fat is about protection, sex, nurturance, strength,
boundaries, mothering, assertion, rage, and substance. Orbach explains how these are all
things considered between the significance of men to women. How men carry one roll
and women another. Women are also accountable for observing and evaluating
themselves, bringing themselves down, ripping themselves apart, only to rebuild and
reshape themselves to what the society demands. Orbach believes the perfect woman will
have fat and we will accept them for who they are regardless of how their fat justifies
beauty. Their extra weight serves as a protection for those who feel a sense of
hopelessness behind it.

Ahsan Javed
1010 English
Annotated Bibliography
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. "Junking Junk Food." They Say / I Say: The Moves That
Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. 400-404. Print.
Junking Junk Food by Judith Warner is an article informing us on political figures
views on food consumption and how dramatically affected the U.S population is towards
food culture. Political figures, such as Sarah Palin, are known for promoting unhealthy
eating habits whereas political figures such as Michelle Obama are working to prevent
them poor eating habits by expressing her passion by promoting healthy eating choices
which she wishes to turn into habits. Judith Warner, the author of this article, presents an
example of how Sarah Palin arrived at an elementary with dozens of cookies proclaiming
that states schoolchildren risked losing the right to the occasional classroom treat
because of high-minded anti-sugar edicts. When Palin promoted the consumption of
these unhealthy treats, she made a statement that children should be allowed to consume
these treats and that they typically serve better than other, healthier options. Warner
mentions how Michelle Obama sees otherwise. Michelle took it upon herself to teach
Americans, children in particular, that eating habits are extremely commonsensical. To
achieve this understanding, it will require presenting healthful eating as a new, desirable,
freely chosen expression of the American way, states Warner. This understanding is not
small and will have to be implemented by a majority, to the extent that the culture is
changing. It will involve breaking old practice and replacing it with a new sense of feelgood food.
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. "Resisting the Moralization of Eating."They Say / I Say:
The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010.
442--446. Print.
In this article, Mary Maxfield explains how readers use science to interpret what healthy
eating is. BMI, for example, is used as a method to calculate heart disease and other
milady's in regards to ones health. This article specifies how to avoid these common
ideologies and asks us to rise above the common understanding of how to eat our food.
Maxfield states, food, be it French fry or granola bar, Twinkie or your brown rice, isn't
moral or immoral. Inherently food is ethically neutral. By this statement, Maxfield
explains that it is we who control our habits of food consumption and based off that it
gives us the right to determine which food is good for our bodies and which food is
considered bad. This statement also helps us understand that we have the ability to
control what enters our body.
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. "What You Eat Is Your Business."They Say / I Say:

Ahsan Javed
1010 English
Annotated Bibliography
The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010.
395-389. Print.
Radley Balko addresses obesity, its toll on people, how the government interprets it, and
in turn how we, as a people, are negatively affected by the society's actions through the
government. The writer supports his theories by presenting factual steps that politicians
have taken in supporting the removal of obesity from our lives; for example President
Bushs $200 million in budget for anti-obesity measures or Sen. Hillary Clintons call for
more federal control on health care. This presents us with the idea that our government
will help support our poor eating habits, but really gives us no incentive to change what
we consume. Balko also believes that we make our food consumption a public problem
because we dont take initiative and care for what we eat, making it a public matter and
forcing the public to pay for the consequences of those choices. This in turn leaves
individuals paying for other individuals well-being, something he highly disagrees with.
Obesity will be controlled from a perspective of diet and exercise when mankind takes
responsibility for their own actions.
Zinczenko, David. "Don't Blame the Eater." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22
Nov.
2002. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/23/opinion/don-t-blamethe-eater.html>.
David Zinczenko addresses how obesity targets children and the leading promoters
behind it: fast food chains. There are many children who do not live the perfect life
with a mother and father by their side to explain what is best for them and what to avoid.
Zinczenko was faced with that difficulty as a child and found his eating habits plummet
with the help of fast food chains or the more convenient and cheap food. He states,
Before 1994, diabetes in children was generally caused by a genetic disorder where only
about 5 percent of childhood cases were obesity-related, or Type 2 diabetes. Today,
according to the National Institutes of Health, Type 2 diabetes accounts for at least 30
percent of all new childhood cases of diabetes in this country. This gives but a shy
example of how corrupt our eating habits are and what children today are currently
facing. The industry is vulnerable as they are the ones who face the effects. With no
cautions of health hazards and warning labels they stem the increase of obese children
with medically related illnesses.