In todays blog, I want to talk about a very interesting book, I just read. The title of the book is my blogs title. The author is Michael Pollan and I feel a lot of my readers would benefit from some of his food rules.
Michael Pollan is a professor of journalism at UC Berkeley. In addition to teaching, he lectures widely on food, agriculture, health and the environment. He is not a Nutritionist or a scientist or a physician, but he has done a lot of research on the agriculture, food and health in this country and his books are all best sellers. I feel a lot of his advice mirror my own personal views about food and wellness.
His answer to the question of what should humans eat in order to be maximally healthy. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” Michael Pollan takes the stance that our complex approach to food and food products is very likely causing us to get sicker than healthier. He draws a distinction between real food and food that is sold in the supermarkets as “edible food substances” Most of the foods sold in the grocery stores are changed from their original state, these foods are processed. The processing is done to make food last longer, make it cheaper and claims to give us more nutrients. The problem is when the food is changed, all the substances that are added are fake and should not be considered real food. The food industry changes foods according to the latest craze from low fat to low carb to high fiber etc. They add labels that claim to help against heart disease and lower cholesterol. This is done to entice us to buy more and more of these packaged foods.
He compares the American food culture to the French and claims that the French are not as obese because they snack less, spend more time eating and eat less as food is more expensive. Making food so cheap is one of the problems he claims, as people eat a lot more and the fake substances in the food don’t give us the feeling of fullness you should get when you eat the natural fats found in the food. Convenience foods cause us to eat on the run and sitting and eating our meals helps against over eating. Eating with others prevents mindless eating.
He feels that most of our diet should come from plants and that meat should be a side dish. The antibiotics given to the animals in this country is the problem not the meat. Animals that graze on grass instead of corn have more omega 3 fats and other important nutrients that they get from the grass they eat.
Cooking and growing your own plants is a huge theme in his book. The book is full of great advice and information. One of his rules that I loved was “Don’t Get Your Fuel From The Same Place Your Car Does. Gas stations have become processed corn stations: ethanol outside for your car and high fructose corn syrup inside for you”
I highly recommend reading the book or watching his movie on Netflix.