In Defense of Food

In Defense of Food can be summed up in seven words-Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants. Author Michael Pollan says as much on the very first page. But there is more to the story of fake food and The Western Diet than a cute catchphrase.

It is the story of how the giant companies that manufacture food stuffs stopped making real food during the Nixon Administration. That is all seemed like a good idea at the time-break food down into something that be quantified-namely Nutrients. It was no longer good advice to say Eat An Apple A Day-this advice was now Eat The Recommended Daily Allowance of Vitamins and Minerals. In Defense of Food points out that an apple is more than a collection of nutriments, more than vitamins and minerals-and we don't know exactly an apple does to make us healthy. But it does more good for us than a daily vitamin does.

The facts are pretty grim and In Defense of Food makes the case that we should all be scared. The Western Diet is killing all of us who eat it. The advice to Eat Food sounds odd, as we all eat nothing but food, don't we? Well, no we don't. Much of the time we are eating manufactured chemical compounds cleverly disguised as food. These frankenfoods look like food, but they are not real food. Real food rots, for example, while a Twinkie has a half life.

There is hope. If you can follow In Defense of Food's advice to Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Pants-you can recover from many of the ills of the Western Diet-including diabetes, obesity, and many other eating related illnesses. It is common sense that a fat person got that way by eating too much, it is another level of thinking that what they eat is just as important as how much they eat.

Foodie have always been fans of Real Food, fresh food, good food. So a sort of foodie diet would be better than a total junk food diet. Though I do love my junk food. I also eat a lot of leafy vegetables and a lot of melons. I am not sure that I can follow the advice given in In Defense of Food. But I am thinking that I will give it try.

This is an important book-read it and get off the Western Diet.