1 post tagged “pollan”
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan is a wortwhile read. I've been interested in food and health and things of that sort for awhile now and this book was an interesting and provocative read that I would recommend to anyone interested in enjoying food.
The manifesto comes down to three phrases: Eat Food. Not so much. Mostly plants.
The rest of the book takes the time to elaborate on these points, taking a look at the content of the North American Western diet, it's health effects (maybe saturated fat ain't so bad after all), the role of industry and government and the habits of Western eaters. Don't let the range of topics deceive you, it's actually a very engaging book that doesn't overwhelm with details but is clear and illustrates its points well.
I especially enjoyed one of his main ideas - that as North Americans we've succumbed to nutritionism, a term (relatively) newly coined that "is an ideology that assumes that it is the scientifically identified nutrients in foods that determine their value in the diet." (Thanks Wikipedia.) By definition, this ignores the social value or even the value of taste when it comes to food. (Sorry, poorly worded sentence.) This wouldn't be too bad if we knew a lot about nutrients, but the truth is that our understanding is pretty limited and it's hard to know for sure exactly how many trace minerals and vitamins work together to make our bodies function as well as they do; you can't replicate diet in a lab. A breif examination of the history of baby formula is a good example of just thinking that if we have nutrient x and vitamin y in sufficent quantities will make a healthy baby. We've come a long way in that department but breast fed babies still have better health outcomes than formula fed babies.
The last chapter includes some "rules of thumb" answering the reader's question of, "Now what?" after being armed with information about the shortcomings of our current diet and dietary habits. For example:
So if you're interested in what you eat, check out this one.
Cheers.
(For 50 in 365 - #24)
The manifesto comes down to three phrases: Eat Food. Not so much. Mostly plants.
The rest of the book takes the time to elaborate on these points, taking a look at the content of the North American Western diet, it's health effects (maybe saturated fat ain't so bad after all), the role of industry and government and the habits of Western eaters. Don't let the range of topics deceive you, it's actually a very engaging book that doesn't overwhelm with details but is clear and illustrates its points well.
I especially enjoyed one of his main ideas - that as North Americans we've succumbed to nutritionism, a term (relatively) newly coined that "is an ideology that assumes that it is the scientifically identified nutrients in foods that determine their value in the diet." (Thanks Wikipedia.) By definition, this ignores the social value or even the value of taste when it comes to food. (Sorry, poorly worded sentence.) This wouldn't be too bad if we knew a lot about nutrients, but the truth is that our understanding is pretty limited and it's hard to know for sure exactly how many trace minerals and vitamins work together to make our bodies function as well as they do; you can't replicate diet in a lab. A breif examination of the history of baby formula is a good example of just thinking that if we have nutrient x and vitamin y in sufficent quantities will make a healthy baby. We've come a long way in that department but breast fed babies still have better health outcomes than formula fed babies.
The last chapter includes some "rules of thumb" answering the reader's question of, "Now what?" after being armed with information about the shortcomings of our current diet and dietary habits. For example:
- Don't eat food your (great) grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
- Avoid food products that make health claims.
- Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
- You are what what you eat eats, too.
- Pay more, eat less.
- Do all your eating at a table (desks don't count.)
- Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.
So if you're interested in what you eat, check out this one.
Cheers.
(For 50 in 365 - #24)
