In Defense Of Food by Michael Pollan

[Darrell]

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

According to author Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food (subtitled “An Eater’s Manifesto”), this deceptively simple-sounding formula contains the secrets of health, wellness, and longevity.

I’ll admit that when this book was first recommended to me, I engaged in a fair bit of eye-rolling. “Oh great, another book to tell me that I’m fat and unhealthy because I’m stupid, lazy, and like to eat more than seaweed and lettuce.” Thanks, but no thanks. For some reason I ended up reading it anyway and I’m glad I did.

To my surprise, Pollan wasn’t very preachy in his approach and really didn’t make that many specific recommendations about what a person should eat other than that it should be food. That sounds a bit confusing at first since what else is there to eat but food? But Pollan makes the case that most of what we eat in the Western world is not actually food but rather refined food-like products full of artificial ingredients which have been robbed of their value by processing.

Nutritionism (loosely defined as the idea that health involves eating the right mix of nutrients regardless of their source) is the dominant philosophy of the day in the West. To prove this all you have to do is take a look at any grocery store aisle and see that packages are no longer just selling “bread” or “cheese” they’re selling “Low Fat!”, “Low Carb!”, “High in Omega-3″, or “Vitamin C!” You’ll also see everything from breakfast cereal to candy bars making health claims about being good for whatever ails you.

What you won’t see on the package however, is that the basic makeup of the material inside is fundamentally different from what people one hundred years ago would have recognized as “food.” It’s been pulverized, boiled down, extracted, reconstituted, fortified, and enhanced until it’s really not food at all but a cleverly designed cheap food-substitute.

What more, since laws were changed in the 1970′s, food producers are no longer required to put the word “immitation” on food products as long as that product contains the same “nutritional value” as the original. Sure, that loaf of bread may contain 27 different ingredients none of which are pronounceable but as long as you throw in some vitamins it’s all good. Bon Apetite!

Pollan goes on to cite multiple studies suggesting that no single ingredient of food when extracted and eaten alone is as good for you as eating the whole food itself. A handful of Beta Carotene pills will never be as good for you as eating an actual carrot. Science doesn’t know why yet, but whole foods are evidently more than the sum of their nutritional parts.

Not only is our diet refined and robbed of its essence, it has also been endlessly simplified until most products contain only a few basic “food” ingredients namely the Big Three Seeds: wheat (refined flour), corn(via high fructose corn syrup), and/or soy(oil). These big three are popularized and even subsidized by the US Government because they are the most efficient plants at converting sunlight into raw food energy.

Even outside of the big three, however, growers in the US largely plant only favor one breed or hybrid of any given food type based on yield. Everything from turkey to broccoli is reduced to one high-yield (and lower nutritional) variety. Our meats (namely chicken, beef, and pork) are also fed largely on seed products to increase their yields as well. We are not only what we eat but we are what what we eat eats as well.

Though this efficiency results in high yields for cheap cost and lowered food prices at the supermarket, it raises prices on things like health care later in life. Not to mention that there’s the added cost of buying ever-increasingly larger pants sizes.

So what’s the cure? Pollan suggests that it’s a re-thinking of how we view food all together. Traditional diets (i.e. what your grandmother or great grandmother ate) are simply better for you — pretty much regardless of what is in them. The Inuit live on meats and oils while other aboriginal tribes live on grains and fruits and both avoid conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and tooth decay.

The last part of the book makes a series of rules for thinking about food in general. Eat only things your great-grandmother would recognize as being “food.” Shop for things grown locally and near their source and if you must go to the supermarket stay on the edges where the meat, dairy, and veggies live instead of hitting the aisles full of processed food. Mimic the habits of traditional diets. And not least of all make your mealtime about spending time with other people not just consuming as much as possible in a short time before dashing off to the next thing. Slow down. Relax. Enjoy.

There’s much to think about after reading this book not the least of which is “how on earth can people afford to eat only whole foods?” I suppose that if I did spend that much money per meal I would certainly be eating a lot less by virtue of there being less to eat.

The other thing that springs to mind is that our food source has been a necessary sacrifice in the building of the technological high standard of living we we now enjoy. If you’re a two-income family with a mortgage and two kids in school you will not have time to harvest and process the grain and milk the cow every time you want a bowl of cereal. As an economic trade-off we've simply swapped healthier food choices for better medical science to fix our diet-induced problems later in life instead of avoiding them up front.

Nonetheless, a few trips to the farmers market or choosing to eat real food when possible may not be that much of a sacrifice for the rewards of being a little healthier and happier. At least Michael Pollan thinks so.

[Katerpillar]

That sounds a lot like the advice in the book Nourishing Traditions. I should look into that book, it sounds good.

[Lizzy F.]

Quote:Not only is our diet refined and robbed of its essence, it has also been endlessly simplified until most products contain only a few basic “food” ingredients namely the Big Three Seeds: wheat (refined flour), corn(via high fructose corn syrup), and/or soy(oil).

Milk could also be added to this list. It's almost in everything.

This has led to the increase of food allergies. My grandfather is allergic to wheat, my Dad can't drink milk, and I'm allergic to soybeans.

Right now I'm in the process of cutting all sugar from my diet because of a heavy Candida infection.

This and my food allergy is making life interesting right now. I'm finding out the stuff in the book through first-hand experience.