Gloria Pulley Speech

One Size Fits All

So easy!

Anyone can do it!

 Made for all ages, needs, and bodies!

My life changed with only fifteen easy payments of $59.99!

            I’m sure that many of us have watched the New Year’s ball drop on TV before.  Everything is all festive and celebratory as we watch our favorite musicians preform and our favorite hosts do embarrassing holiday things.  Then right on que, commercials targeted at our biggest insecurities pop up just in time for resolutions.  Diet programs claiming that they’ve worked for everyone from celebrities, to average Joes, to the hopeless, etc.  You’re vulnerable.  It’s right after the holidays.  You ate a small country and are now looking to have it secede. How could this possibly be anything other than effective?  First, you should probably reconsider the definition of a diet- the kinds of foods that a person, animals, or community eats habitually- the keyword, habitually.  Luckily our globalized economy, lightning fast transportation, and expert engineering of all things food has expanded our options to fit any need without having resort to TV ordered, prepackaged despair.  So, with so many different options which one is the best?  The perfect diet varies from person to person depending on many factors, including affordability, practicality, medical necessity, and even morality. 

            For many, the desire to change one’s diet is a pressing issue; however this issue can also press heavily on your wallet.  Popular “health food” stores and brands can put quite a dent in a budget, especially for those who already struggle to put food on the table.  I learned this from my mother during her “crunchy granola” phase where she would shop at Whole Foods (or Whole Paycheck as she liked to refer to it as), and pay an outrageous amount of money for an apple just because it was organic.  But fear not America, the USDA has a solution.  In 2011, the USDA launched their new initiative known as MyPlate, which replaced their outdated food pyramid.  This approach to nutrition takes into consideration your physical activity levels, body type, and medical needs in order to generate a model of your plate, a diagram depicting the proportions of each food group you should eat at every meal. It is generally recommended that you consume a wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and limited portions of low-fat dairy products, healthy fats, and lean proteins.  Additionally, exercising daily based on your diet and consuming lots of water is advised for optimal health benefits (choosemyplate.gov).  The intention of these guidelines is affordability and practicality because it is based more on balancing diet and exercise instead of a strict dietary regimen.  By allowing this flexibility it can accommodate the most amount of people, making it ideal for the masses.

            In addition to monetary considerations, many Americans have to take into account their medical needs when deciding what to eat.  Some diets, such as the Healthy 4 Life dietary plan, often bash the USDA’s focus on a low fat, high carbohydrate diet that is more accessible to the masses, but doesn’t actually provide the micronutrients found in “traditional,” nutrient dense fats, carbohydrates and proteins.  These micronutrients are what is necessary to maintain proper brain and organ function.  For example, flax seed oil contains linolenic and linoleic acids which the body uses to transport calcium in the blood to tissue and maintain proper metabolic function, thus combating the causes of hypothyroidism (westonaprice.org).  Another, more pressing example is Celiac Disease- a disorder in which your autoimmune system basically attacks your body because it cannot distinguish gluten from actual pathogen threats.  Ironically, trendy gluten-free diets can often mask the disease, as well as causing weight gain, so it is advisable that you stay away from these unless necessary (6 Truths About a Gluten Free Diet).  Lastly, there’s epilepsy.  In 1994 the Charlie foundation was founded by the family of Charlie Abraham’s family after he made a complete recovery from his unmanageable seizure condition by switching to a ketogenic diet.  How?  The high fat and protein, and low carbohydrate diet causes the liver to convert fat into fatty acids and ketones, which are released into the blood and balance insulin levels. Thus reducing the occurrence of epileptic seizures (charliefoundation.org).  For thousands of years people have used food to treat their ailments.  Isn’t it logical that in this day in age, even with our endless assortment of prescription drugs, diet can still be used to treat illness?  These are just a few of the hundreds of examples that I found detailing how strict dietary regimens have been used to manage all kinds of medical conditions.

            Among these many diets based on practicality and health there are some known as “fad diets,” and while sometimes overlooking many other solutions, they are provide moral justification.  Example, the vegan diet.   In the 2011 documentary Vegucated, directed by Marisa Miller Wolfson, the transition from the “average” and unhealthy American diet to a vegan one is documented.  Wolfson coaches three New Yorkers in their transition, teaching them how to cook vegan, buy vegan, and what benefits it has on the environment and for animals. The main argument hinges around the morality of subjecting innocent animals to inhumane treatment in the commercial food industry, primarily through feedlots and slaughter houses.  While this problem is easily avoided through patronage of small local farms that practice humane growing methods and are self-sustaining, this quasi solution also points to other benefits, such as a smaller carbon footprint and better health (collected through blood tests of the documentary’s participants).  While seemingly convoluted, the vegan diet is ideal for those troubled by the thought of inhumane treatment of animals or environmental harm because of its elimination of animal products from your diet. 

            Can changing the way you eat create world peace?  Can it give you telepathy?  Will it prevent you inevitable demise? No. But while we work out these questions, a change in the way you eat can answer many others.  Diets, such as the one in created by USDA guidelines, are well suited for the masses do to their accommodation of many different ages, body types, activity levels, as well as their practicality and financial considerations.   Medical conditions ranging from moderate to severe can be treated with altered diets when medicine seems to fail.  Even the fret and worry that comes with our commercial food industry and its pollution can be eased by a simple change.  While it is hard to say that a diet will ever be one size fits all, at least we are offered a multitude of sizes tailored to fit our needs.

Works Cited

1.      "The Charlie Foundation - The Charlie Foundation for Ketogenic Therapies." The Charlie Foundation - The Charlie Foundation for Ketogenic Therapies. The Charlie Foundation, n.d. Web. 30 June 2015. <http://www.charliefoundation.org/>.           

2.      "Home - Weston A Price." Weston A Price. The Weston A. Price Foundation for Wise Traditions in Food, Farming, and the Healing Arts., n.d. Web. 30 June 2015. <http://www.westonaprice.org/>.

3.      "MyPlate." About Us. USDA, 2 June 2011. Web. 30 June 2015. <http://www.choosemyplate.gov/about.html>.

4.      "6 Truths About a Gluten Free Diet- Consumer Reports." 6 Truths About a Gluten Free Diet- Consumer Reports. Consumer Reports, Nov. 2014. Web. 30 June 2015. <http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/01/will-a-gluten-free-diet-really-make-you-healthier/index.htm>.

5.      Vegucated. Dir. Marisa Miller Woolf. 2011. DVD.