TAKING SIDES ANALYSIS REPORT (LONG FORM)

Name: Joshua Nguyen

Course: BIOL 1090
Book: Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Food and Nutrition, Second Edition
Issue number: 3 Title of issue: Can an Overemphasis on Eating Healthy Become
Unhealthy?
1. Author and major thesis of the Yes side. Lindsey Getz uses orthorexia as the
examples of the unhealthy diet. Orthorexia is the condition that one strives for a
perfect diet, which is impossible. They will avoid anything unhealthy.
2. Author and major thesis of the No side. Chris Woolston thinks the American diet is
just too much on calories. He said that wed be much healthier if we ate more fish,
poultry, vegetables, fruits and whole grains. We should also limit intake of fatty or
calorie rich foods.
3. What fallacies of question-framing are made by the authors of the text? They
both dont directly answer the question like how its intended to be, but they
answered the other question, how? Getz shows the effect of the overemphasis of
eating healthy with orthorexia in people striving for the perfect diet. Woolston
merely addresses the issues of the current American diet and how to stop it from
worsening by introducing more healthier alternatives.
4. Briefly state in your own words two facts presented by each side.
In the book Health Food Junkies, author Steven Bratman MD personally suffered
from the disorder characterized by an obsession with eating foods deemed healthy.
The EDAT & RCE of New York describes the lifestyle choice as what starts out as
something they are controlling becomes something that controls them.

Too many calories said by Marion Nestle, Melanie Polk, and Barbara Gollman.
Theres just too much calories for us to control. The article also states that even if
the message is on, about 42% of Americans still get less than 2 cups of vegetables
a day.
5. Briefly state in your own words two opinions presented by each side
While Orthorexia is real to some people like Bratman, it is not an official term
because theres no scientific evidence. In another opinion, a low fat food food might
be guilt free but in actuality it adds up very quickly.
The author the the NO side claims that the diet is on the recipe for disaster and that
all food depends on the matter of size. Both are proven wrong later in the article
Varois authors and studies have agreed that some of the food might change, but its
the people who have got to think the food they put in their mouths.

6. Briefly identify as many fallacies on the Yes side as you can. I couldnt find any
7. Briefly identify as many fallacies on the No side as you can. I couldnt find any
either.
8. All in all, which author impressed you as being the most empirical in presenting
his or her thesis? Why? The NO side because Id like the actual scientific evidence to
back things up and to further prove their point. The American diet is becoming
dangerous, but that rather comes from the social stigma and the western culture of
the dominance of the media on it. A variety of different authors, scientists, and
studies came together to bring one powerful common theme, and that is there is
not enough healthiness eating and awareness in our lives.
9. Are there any reasons to believe the writers are biased? If so, why do they have
these biases?

The YES side. The author was very picky about where her sources came from and
how vague the stories were. The way that she presented made it feel almost non
important to the topic she was talking about. They give a general idea about that
specific topic but the validity and the evidence just doesnt come up or that it was
purposely blocked out.
10. Which side (Yes or No) do you personally feel is most correct now that you have
reviewed the material in these articles? Why?
The NO side. Yes the American diet is one of the worst in the world, but at least
someone actually addressed it. The first thing in solving a problem is knowing that
you have a problem. He didnt try to sound mean but he did back hid article up with
reputable sources and not trying to bias the evidence in his favor. This article also
has a solution on how to fix the problem; while the other article never states
anything about it. Very simple lifestyle changes the your food and dramatically
make your food healthier, and he provides lots of choices for it. Knowing an author
who looks at the issue on bother sides, then addressing it using the best argument
makes it the kind of article you could trust.