Monday, April 18, 2011

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Food. There’s plenty of it around, and we all love to eat it. So why should anyone need to defend it? Because most of what we’re consuming today is not food, and how we’re consuming it — in the car, in front of the TV, and increasingly alone — is not really eating. 

Instead of food, we’re consuming “edible foodlike substances” — no longer the products of nature but of food science. The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we seem to become. ~~ from author's website

This book was selected by one of the members of one of my book groups to read and discuss. I am not one that reads a lot of non-fiction books so I knew this one was going to be a tough one to get through. My husband thinks I should read more books 'with indexes'. That is his opinion. Did you ever consider all the research that some authors do when writing their stories? I think I learn a lot about a lot of things when I read my fiction! 

Anyway, I digress - I could go on and on about this in a whole other post! 

This book was a struggle for me, even though the author does have some very excellent points. And basically, we have all heard it before, how to eat right, etc. but do we all practice what he preaches? I think not. At least I know I don't. 

I think one of the most interesting tidbits that I gleaned from this book is to think back to your grandmother's or possibly great-grandmother's day when you are shopping. If they would not recognize the product in your hand (for example - Yoplait GoGurt), you probably shouldn't eat it. Plain yogurt, yes but not GoGurt. 

So his tag line is 'Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants' - those are good words to live by.

1 comment:

  1. Haha - I tell my spouse the smae thing - I learn a lot from fiction books :). I think I'd like to read this book too!

    Jes

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