The Omnivore's Dilemma By Michael Pollan

When the average person thinks of a vegan, they think of a health-conscious, active, and hearty person. But what if a vegan was just as unhealthy as an omnivore who dines on McDonald’s over four times a week? In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, author Michael Pollan explains the importance of fulfilling all nutritional needs. The human population generally thinks of vegans as ultra-aware of their food, but what if the vegan diet causes the same problems it was designed to prevent? People should not pursue the vegan diet because it causes heart issues and is chemically based.
Certain gaps in the vegan diet create vitamin deficiencies, which further develop into more problems, especially in the heart. The vegan lifestyle is detrimental because of cardiovascular …show more content…
The vegan diet is filled with these options even more so than a “normal” diet, and therefore, should be abstained from. For instance, it is shown that he vegan way of eating has transitioned recently, with carbohydrates, fast food, and highly processed food replacing healthier plant foods and whole grains (Kirkley). Because of a recent expanse in the fast food industry and industrial food chain, it is toilsome to find a healthy vegan food plan. While avoiding all animal products, vegans have to find substitutes for their recipes. Most of these substituted products are chemical based, causing predicaments the vegan diet was created to prevent. To go even further, Jane Brody, author of multiple diet and nutrition books and articles, says, “The protein in plants is not complete and must be balanced by consuming complementary sources,” (Brody). While this type of diet plan may not include unhealthy animal products, or any animal products at all, it will include more unhealthy chemical products, which are undeniably worse for you. The consumer's attempt to get healthier is regressive. On the other hand, Seema Mihrshahi, a senior researcher at the University of Sydney describes, “Vegetarians are less likely to smoke, drink excessively, or be overweight or obese,” (Kirkley). Vegetarians and vegans probably do have healthier life choices because they think more about what they are doing to their bodies than the average omnivore. However, omnivores can just as easily think about decisions as vegans do, if they take a little time to research and study (Kirkley). Thus, people should continue to eat healthy animal products instead of substituting them for unhealthy, chemical-based, animal-free