Pollan: In Defense of Food
From Scienticity
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Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food : An Eater's Manifesto. New York : Penguin Press, 2008. 244 pages, with references and index.
At only 200 pages, In Defense of Food gives a great overview of how to shop and what to eat. His premise is summed up several times: "Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants".
The first part of the book is about nutritionism, or the idea that we can reduce foods down to their component nutrients and, if we could just find out which ones we need in what ratios, that would solve our diet-based health problems.
The second section deals with the problems in the Western diet and how food trends (moving from quality to a focus on quantity, moving from whole foods to refined versions) that most benefit industry hurt human beings.
In the third part he breaks down his solution further with various ideas, some of which are: buy whole foods, shop on the edges of the supermarket, go to farmer's market, if grandma couldn't buy it we probably shouldn't either, slow down, don't eat alone.
While I don't know if anyone could always follow all the suggestions all the time, he makes a strong case for them. Highly recommended.
-- Notes by MKI
