Consequences of the "Western Diet"

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Typical Western Food a.k.a. heart attack on a plate

In Michael Pollan's book, In Defense of Food,  I recently read something that no one wants to hear.   Americans have become the most unhealthy people in the world. The"Western diet" consists of "lots of processed foods and meat, lots of added fats and sugar, lots of everything except for fruits and vegetables," leading to constant health problems in America.  There was a study in 1990s where several medical professionals analyzed various native populations from around the world and compared them to the United States.  What they found to be the most noticeable difference was the almost "complete absence of chronic disease."  
They came up with several common American problems such as the following that other places around the world hardly experience:
heart disease
diabetes
cancer
obesity 
hypertension
stroke
appendicitis
diverticulitis
malformed dental arches
tooth decay 
varicose veins
ulcers 
hemorrhoids
After realizing that this occurred mainly in the West, the researchers decided that the common cause was WESTERN FOOD because after the western food (refined sugar, and flour, "store food") showed up, western disease followed close behind. 


In The Defense of Food is an a great read and very interesting! I highly recommend it! 
(this information can be found on pages 89-93) 


- Sarah Johnson