Posted on June 11, 2008 in Books, Food
“Eat food. Not much. Mostly Plants.” Michael Pollan’s followup to the informative and thoughtful The Omnivore’s Dilemma. It is indeed more of a manifesto than TOD. I liked it though, once again, it seemed like it was preaching to the choir since I am so aware of food issues. Even then I learned a lot. Such as the interesting history of nutritionism in the West, why we think so much in nutrients and not in the whole, real foods (and interactions) that they are contained. It also explored the lipid hypothesis and the emerging carbohydrate hypothesis because recent scientific studies have shown that the connection between fats and heart disease are not as strong. I liked the approach he took with nutritionism, epistemologly, and the links to how ideological the mindset of people obsession of healthy eating and getting nutrients. There are things I knew or suspected before, but Pollan verified such as the fact that margarine is not good or you; I don’t like it at all. Oh, butter, my friend. Apparently skim or low fat milk is bad for you because it usually contains powdered milk which contains oxidized cholesterol which is bad for your arteries. I’m a 2% girl myself; I’ve been adverse to skim mainly for the lack of taste. Also, as the manifesto says, I have never trusted labels or any diets whether from low-fat or low-carb. I’ve always been wary of diets. One of the book’s main message focuses on developing a relationship with food free guilt and worry. As with all relationships, time, thought, and yes, money should be invested to it. The book does have a lot of common sense reminders with a lot of factual research to support it. Still, I would love to have this book with me as with TOD; it’s a good reminder of the need for building better links with the food we consume, our health and the environment. It is the perfect follow up to TOD.