Buy Walking VideosIn Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan
What should you eat? What is healthy? Which foods will help you live longer? It’s obvious that we were meant to eat both meat and vegetables. We are omnivores, after all. What should an omnivore eat?
The science of it all is a little sketchy and the way we look at food (Nutritionism) can make the whole experience of eating very confusing.
Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, explains what he believes is Nutritionism and how to see through the myths:
The important thing about any food are the nutrients it contains (i.e. fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamin, etc.)
If nutrients are all that matter in food, and they are basically invisible to the naked eye (you can’t smell, taste or see a nutrient), then you need an expert to tell you how to eat. It’s a little like a religion.
Like any religion, Nutritionism divides the world into good and evil. Sometimes, the evil nutrient is protein, carbohydrates, fat, etc. The good nutrient also changes.
The whole point of eating is health. Historically, there were many reasons for eating, such as pleasure, community, family, ritual purposes (religious), or to express identity.
Unfortunately, all of this dedication to eating for health hasn’t really helped us be healthier. Michael Pollan’s simple advice is, “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”
You can see more from Michael Pollan here:
The truth of the matter is that we haven’t totally figured out how food helps us be healthy and how our digestive system works. Michael Pollan suggests that we take back control over our eating from the corporations that we have allowed to cook for us. We have learned that they don’t cook very well. They cook with lots of salt, sugar and fat because we are hard-wired to like those tastes. Salt, sweeten and fatten up your own whole food and you’ll do a better job of it, even if you’re not a good cook.
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