In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
by Michael Pollan
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Book Reviews of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
Book Review: A logical straightforward argument that clears the water
Summary: 4 Stars
In Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollan shows the processes that generate much of the food we eat. Defense of Food more or less builds with OD as a foundation. The book's argument calls into question the current method of viewing nutrition and health through science and suggests a way to move forward by looking back. The catchphrase: Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants is his basic idea on how to eat. It exemplifies the straightforward logical approach to how to decide what and how to eat.
The book begins by calling into question the nutritionist method of viewing how to eat which, for basically the last 50 years, has been promoted by unquestionable food scientists and directed by corporations and political maneuvering. He convinces us not to worry or really even keep up with nutrition standards: proteins, carbs, fats, antioxidants, etc. For all of human existence humans have not known or worried about such things and have survived and thrived. We used our tradition and our senses, went with out gut, to decide what we should and should not eat.
I found the middle chapters of the book a bit lacking. After thoroughly convincing us not to worry about the claims of the nutritionist method he then spends several chapters making his argument within their vocabulary. He tells us in several ways and examples that they have it wrong looking at this vitamin when they should look at that one. Ultimately however, the first section already convinced us that its backwards to think of foods as nutrient parts, so the entire second section could be cut.
The book really shines in the final section. It outlines simple, logical principles on how to choose what to eat. He discusses methods on looking at food (if your great grandmother has no idea what it is, don't eat it), maneuvering through the grocery store (if the food's container is packed with health claims, its probably not worth eating), and alternative methods of eating (eat slowly over conversation with friends and family). All of which takes the counting and corporations out of eating and adds back the community and overall satisfaction.
Book Review: A very important book. Tastefully constructed to hold your attention.
Summary: 5 Stars
'In defense of food' is my first by author Michael Pollan. My criticism of the food industry in the United States was only getting stronger. The unfair agriculture subsidies, lobbyists in the white house influencing the congress to stay bribed for the industry, and the beautiful picture of a green pasture with freely roaming(sometimes, even smiling?)cows on the milk carton that's filled with growth hormones which should have been banned from consumption. I have been a vegetarian my whole life but my knowledge about the food industry and their 'food' products was very miniscule.
With this book, Michael Pollan succeeded in what many authors fail to do so, to make the book personal to you. The clever construction of chapters and the astounding facts about the food industry in this country are just too interesting to ignore. Much of his recommendations on what to eat are nothing I have not heard before. I grew up in India and I don't remember a day when we used anything out of the refrigerator for cooking meals, except maybe ice, and the occasional homemade grape wine. This book taught me what my mom did to my absentee ear when I was growing up: 'Eat what your grandmother ate'. I never understood that better until I read this book. From dental diseases, to coronary disease, Mr.Pollan lays out a list of things that are absolutely unethical and wrong with the western 'food'. It just reaffirmed my belief that the corporations exist for profits and they will do ANYTHING to keep you uninformed and numb to reality. Yes, processed food is economically more accesible. But, is the cost our society's paying in exchange of cheap food, fair?. Obesity, heart ailments, dental diseases, diabetes, extinction of natural resources, death of small farms, and corruption of the children's minds- all related to the monoculture culture, are leading Americans towards a future that is as unhealthy and scary as a 'twinkie'.
If you care about the ethical obligations of your lifestyle, read this book and you decide what to do with your newly acquired knowledge.
Book Review: Absolutely a Life-Changer
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a twenty-seven-year-old male, and before I read this book last spring, I don't think I'd ever thought about food beyond the questions, "Which TV dinner will I have tonight?" and "Papa-John's or Dominoes?" I'm not sure what made me pick up In Defense of Food in Target one day, but needless to say, I now have many more questions about the foods I eat, and that's a good thing.
One question the book will make you ask is, "Is this food?" It's probably not. It's sad that such is a question needing clarified, but it is. Much of what we eat is so processed to have lost its nutrient providing ability. He calls most of what we eat "edible foodlike substances." Pollan illustrates vividly the outcome of our eating habits. Wherever the western diet goes, the diseases all of our family members have died from follow: diabetes, heart disease, cancer, strokes... Traditional diets, even ones with almost no vegetables, tend to produce healthier people.
Fortunately, Pollan's book is not simply intended to scare everyone either. Pollan ends the book with a wonderful chapter of advice, general principles for what food to choose and how to prepare and eat it, for what things to avoid. For instance, Pollan has a pretty simple rule for determining whether or not something is food: Would your great-grandmother have recognized this as food? That and many other principles provide a map for navigating our confusing, and misleading, food culture.
Pollan's book is a life-changer. It's made me so much more conscious of what I eat and has provided me ways to make better decisions about what I eat. Pollan is a fantastic writer (reading In Defense of Food is not unlike reading something by Malcolm Gladwell), and this book also just made me so much more interested about food. I cook more now, for instance. And I'm developing an interest in cook books. And it's not a diet book, but I did lose weight and feel better now once I started following Pollan's advice. I couldn't recommend this much more highly.
Book Review: Health and food should be a priority
Summary: 4 Stars
In the Defense of Food discusses first, the history of food and nutrition; second, the fallacies of nutrition in the western diet which contribute to diet related health issues; and third, the author's suggestion for a healthy diet. Michael Pollan examines the United States government policies related to recommendations for a healthy diet such as the food pyramid and the FDA qualified approval of nutritional health claims. He discusses the government committees that have been formed to address diet related health issues, their original findings and how their final published findings were influenced by particular food markets.
This book is jam-packed with scientific specifics of nutrition as well as a significant amount of history and anthropology. It is well organized and persuasive. It is written for educated seekers of the truth about diet and health. I partially support the author's position. I believe his conclusions may be accurate, but I find it disconcerting that he quotes experts and studies of nutrition with disdain in one breath and marvel in the next. It appears dependent on whether or not it supports his conclusions. I would need to review the studies for myself before giving my full support.
I would like the opportunity to ask the author a few questions such as: What drove you to study this topic? How has it changed your eating habits? Were the changes difficult? Are you healthier now?
I give this book four stars. It contains some fascinating history and good suggestions. I feel motivated to try and keep this book in mind as I do the grocery shopping for our family and prepare our meals. However, it is a little a repetitive and dry. I am planning to pass, the book around to my family and friends to help them make better informed decisions about their diet and health as well. I especially would like my children to consider it as they are soon to embark on their on lives and raise their own families. I would love to see them start with wise choices.
Book Review: Absolute must read for anyone who cares about health
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Extremely clear and to the point, and also, very appropriately structured, incredibly informative and well researched.
The human species is extremely capable of adapting to very different diets, living healthy and long enough non-obese lives without diabetes or heart diseases. These diets go from the mediterranean diet, to the Japanese diet, to the Masai diet of just meat, milk and blood, to the eskimo's diet of basically meat and fish, to vegetarian diets; and so and so forth. We can live on significantly different types of diets and food, oddly enough, without eating too much. Yet, what evidence shows is that humans haven't adapted well at all to the so called "Western diet" prevalent in the US. The Western diet aims for quantity and not quality, lacks true variety and lacks sufficient amount of real whole foods, makes people overfed, and at the same time, undernourished, with all its industrialized and processed "food-like things," greatly contributing to the development of the most prevalent western diet diseases: obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in nutrition and health. Pollan presents his case against the Western diet and "non real food" so compellingly and so clearly.
Even before I was midway through the book I had already started changing my eating and cooking patterns, for example, by throwing away some some of those food-like substances that I innocently had at home.
Absolutely every person on the planet should read this book, in particular people either in the US or anywhere else eating the "Western diet" of industrialized processed foods which aren't real food. The subtitle of the book says it all: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." Highest recommendation.