title and author: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Content Synopsis:
In Defense of Food Michael Pollan has given us the most important book on nutrition of this decade. He strikes back at the onslaught of diet and nutrition books that have confounded Americans for two generations. He uses science to attack the “science” behind nutritionism that has so distorted the American attitude toward food and left Americans among the most overfed and undernourished in the world.
After poking generous holes in the various theories and fad diets of the last 40 years, Pollan gives us some pretty decent guidance on what we should be eating and how we should be thinking about food. Her fundamental thesis is simple: we must eat food, not in excess, and above all plants. By that he means:
Eat food: the evidence is overwhelming that we should eat food in as natural a state as possible. We must eat whole foods, not processed foods or refined foods. We should eat more like our ancestors of a century or more ago. If you can’t pronounce or don’t recognize the ingredients on a package, don’t eat it. If there are usually more than five ingredients, don’t eat it. If it contains highly processed and refined foods, including grains, sugar, and oils, don’t eat it. If your great-grandmother hadn’t recognized it, don’t eat it. Eat everything else. Eat fresh and frozen (but unprocessed) fruits and vegetables. Eat meat that is not processed or full of hormones, chemicals, etc. There’s a little more to it than that, but that captures the essence of eating “food.”
Not too much: Americans eat an average of 700 more calories per day than they did just 50 years ago. We are bigger, fatter, more obese, and have more malnutrition-related diseases than ever before. We get more diabetes, heart disease, and cancer from eating junk food. We also have too much body fat because we exercise too little and eat too much. Portion sizes are too big and our food is more loaded with fats and sweeteners.
mostly plants: While you don’t have to be a vegetarian to eat healthy, the more meat you eat, especially fatty and processed meats, the less healthy you are. Plants provide the healthiest nutrients and the fewest unnecessary calories for our bodies if they are fresh and healthy.
Pollan points out that various ethnic diets, especially in the Mediterranean and Asia, are much healthier because they follow these three simple guidelines. The modern American diet, on the other hand, with its processed foods, drinks laden with high fructose corn syrup, and fast-paced pizzas and burgers is a short walk to disease.
Our youngsters, who have grown up on this diet and will exercise less than Americans traditionally did, may be the first generation to live shorter lives than their parents.
Pollan is not a radical. He doesn’t say that you have to eat tofu and raw foods all day. There are many very healthy and delicious foods that you can and should eat. His indictment is against the unsuitable and highly processed foods that dominate our diet today.
This isn’t the first book to send this message, but Pollan does a very good job as a careful journalist of giving us the facts to support the position he takes. If we stick to the simple guidelines he suggests, we can get our health and waistline back. His arguments are both convincing and reasonable.
Readability/Writing Quality:
This is very well written. He writes in an engaging style, yet provides the footnotes and sources that support his position.
Notes on the author:
Michael Pollan is an accomplished author and journalist and is the Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley. He writes for the NY Times magazine. He is also the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, among others.
Three great ideas that you can use:
1. Eat foods that are healthy, as natural and whole as possible, and with as little processing as possible. Stick to the outside of the grocery store if you must shop for groceries, looking for seasonal produce, fresh, unprocessed meats, and dairy products with as little processing as possible. Avoid artificial ingredients and “prepared foods.”
2. Make sure you exercise every day.
3. Eat slowly and intentionally, and only eat until you are full or almost full. Reduce portion sizes that are all too common in today’s Western diet.
Disclosure Information:
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
(c)2008 by Michael Pollan. Published by Penguin Books. 205 pages not including sources and indexes.
Rating of this book:
Overall rating: Excellent
Writing style: very good
Application: Very timely; very applicable
Technical difficulty: Moderate
