Argumentive Essay: American Diets VS. Traditional Diets (1800s)

Most Americans choose taste and flavor over health. They think spending a little over a dollar for a dozen eggs, or spending two dollars for a gallon of milk is normal. They think the best foods are fast foods and snack foods. Most Americans are not aware that most foods are Genetically Modified. It is one of the biggest reasons so many Americans are unhealthy.

There has been a 45% increase in grain consumption. Americans now eat approximately 200 LBS of grain per year. The problem is, flour is not the same as it was in the 1800s. In fact, flour these days has 30% fewer minerals than grain used to have. White flour, which is the most common flour used, is void of nutrients. There is almost nothing good about it. Some people buy whole wheat bread which isn't any better because all they have to do is put a little wheat flour in it and fill the rest up with white flour to call it “Whole Wheat Bread.” Joel Salatin gives good advice in his book, “Folks, this ain't Normal.” He says that if you leave food out for 24-48 hours and it doesn't rot, stale, or sour, it's not real food. Americans think it's normal to leave bread sitting out at room temperature for weeks, but it's not. Back in the 1800s, the women made the bread (with real flour) early in the morning and by night the bread was eaten. They would make bread almost every day, just enough for it to be eaten that same day. If they were to let the cooked bread sit out for 24 hours, maybe even less, it would go sour, because it's real food. 

I'd say that 99.9% of Americans love sugar. I can't think of anyone who doesn't. And it's okay to have a sweet tooth. The problem is, America is eating way too much sugar. According to Washington Post, the average American eats over 100 grams of sugar per day! Approximately 150 LBS of sugar per year! Most Americans are not aware that sugar is in almost everything they eat! Bread these days are way too sweet. Americans think this is normal, but it's not. All the cereals, processed foods, and even toothpaste is sweetened! And most of it isn't even real sugar. Back in the 1800s, they ate approximately 9 LBS of sugar per year! It went from 9 LBS to 150 LBS! This is a huge jump for the amount of sugar we eat. Plus, the treats they ate were made with honey, molasses, and other natural sweeteners. Americans eat fake sugar, most of it made with GMO corn (high fructose corn syrup, etc.) 

 

Medications are another reason why Americans are unhealthy. In fact, some doctors don't immunize their children because they've seen the side effects it gives to people. Don't take medication unless you absolutely have to. Immunizing a joke. So is the flu shot. I've actually seen more people catch the flu when they get the flu shot than when they don't. Another thing I don't understand is chemotherapy. Why do doctors think chemotherapy cures cancer? Because it doesn't. In fact, it makes cancer worse. It kills both good and bad cells, and guess which cells come back first? You guessed it; bad cells. Almost everyone that has gotten cancer, when it goes away, it almost always comes back. Now, what really causes cancer in the first place? The food you eat. The sugar, the GMO, fast foods, candies, all those foods that you love, is the number one reason for cancer. You can prevent it by making food from scratch (and make sure the ingredients are GMO-free), buy organic fruits and vegetables, and avoid vegetable, canola, and soybean oils. Why? Because 90% of it GMO and it's highly processed. The most common medication is antibiotics. What do you do if you have an ear infection? Get antibiotics. What do you do if you have a stomach bug? Get antibiotics. What about any other forms of sickness? Antibiotics, antibiotics, and antibiotics. It's the only thing doctors can recommend for you if you're sick. But do antibiotics really work? Antibiotics can't identify which bacteria is good or bad, so it kills all of them. Bad bacteria comes back first and takes over, causing more infections in the future. There are other ways to heal sicknesses. For example, herbs, essential oils, homeopathics, colloidal silver, and many other ways. Now don't get me wrong. Doctors have saved people's lives. For example, they have made people start breathing again, etc. But for all those little things, little sicknesses, there is no reason to go to the doctor when you can heal yourself, just like they did in the 1800s with oils and herbs.

Americans eat their food having no idea that it's Genetically Modified. They claim that they're able to grow more food. I can bet you that they don't know that people who work with Monsanto wear big, full suits to protect them from the chemicals that their pouring on the food you eat. Or that in the white house, they don't eat GMO food because they know how bad it is for them. The reason why they made Genetically Modified foods, is so that Monsanto can patent the food. Back in the 1800s, most people had their own gardens. They would buy their wheat from a local farmer who grew non-GMO wheat. In fact, Genetically Modified didn't start becoming popular until 1984. So it didn't even exist in the 1800s! And as for fruits, it wasn't very common to eat fruits unless it grew in their area (they didn't ship fruits from one state to another). The most popular time people ate fruit were for the holidays. 

 

In conclusion, life was a lot healthier back in the 1800s. No GMOs, no medications, no fake sugar, and a very simple life. Wouldn't that be great if America could be like that today? 

Resources:

Mercola.com

DrAxe.com

UncleWileys.com