Freebie Friday – Michael Pollan’s Book

Emily January 14, 2011
[12] comments

Day #13

“Because in the so-called Western diet, food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion – most of what we’re consuming today is no longer the product of nature but of food science.”

- from In Defense of Food

The day the 1950′s project ended, I hung up my skirts, tossed my heals to the back of the closet, and went back to life as usual. I doubt I will be able to end this project so abruptly.

Unfortunately, I’ve learned something.

I try to avoid learning as much as possible, but I’ve stumbled upon Michael Pollan’s books and they are too interesting to ignore. His revelations are too disgusting, eye-opening, and provocative to dump in the back of my brain

Exploring the question, “Where does my food come from?” turns out to be a fascinating journey. Before this project, I thought it would be too difficult to prepare meals in a health conscious and earth friendly way. I considered those endeavors to be for college students who wear hemp necklaces and have too much time on their hands.

But Michael Pollan has simplified this idea for me. He wanted to make it easy to be maximally healthy while still enjoying food and living a normal life.

He has made these goals attainable with THREE simple rules:

1. Eat food (real food, not chemicals and fake food coloring swirled together to look like food)

2. Mostly plants (eating meat is not going to kill you, but treat meat as a side dish rather than the main course)

3. Not too much (When you eat nutritious foods, you should feel satisfied with less)

Pollan says, “My aim in this book is to help us reclaim our health and happiness as eaters.” If you are interested in reading more, let me know! The freebie this week is Michael Pollan’s book, “In Defense of Food.”

To be entered to win it, just leave a comment on the blog. To be entered again, post the following status update on Facebook and/or Twitter (just let me know if you post on FB or Twitter).

“Enter to win Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food on The Vegan Experiment Blog: http://everydayexperts.com/2011/01/14/freebie-friday-michael-pollans-book/”

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Conscious Eating

Emily January 14, 2011
[1] comment

Day #12 – January 12, 2011

“To eat with a fuller consciousness of all that is at stake might sound like a burden, but in practice few things in life can afford quite as much satisfaction. By comparison, the pleasures of eating industrially, which is to say eating in ignorance, are fleeting.”

- Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma

Industrial eating.

This is a new term for me.

Michael Pollan has introduced me to so many new terms, thoughts, and ideas. The bliss of eating a steak in complete ignorance is over for me. I am not saying this is the beginning of a lifetime of vegetarian food; I am just certain I cannot completely go back to the way I ate before. Two books have contributed to this decision:

- The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, both by Michael Pollan

Since not everyone has time to read these, I thought I would make a list of the top concepts mentioned in these by these books. That way, if your interest is piqued, you can check them out more thoroughly yourself.

Quotes from The Omnivore’s Dilemma…

- “You are what you eat, it’s often said, and if that’s true, then we are mostly corn – or more precisely, processed corn.”

- “ ’When you look at the isotope ratios…we North Americans look like corn chips with legs.’ Compared to us, Mexicans (who have traditionally been associated with a diet high in corn) today consume a far more varied carbon diet….
So, that’s us: processed corn, walking.”

- “…this is where we come in. It takes a certain kind of eater – an industrial eater – to consume (these products), and we are, or have evolved into, that supremely adapted creature: the eater of processed food.”

- “A diet based on quantity rather than quality has ushered a new creature onto the world stage: the human being who manages to be both overfed and undernourished…”

Advice from In Defense of Food:

- Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. (Or don’t eat anything that doesn’t rot.)

- Avoid food products that make health claims.

- Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.

- Get out of the supermarket whenever possible– shake the hand that feeds you.

- Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.

- You are what what you eat eats too.

- If you have the space, buy a freezer. (When you find a good source of pastured meat, you’ll want to buy it in quantity).

- Eat like an omnivore.

- Eat well-grown food from healthy soils.

- Eat wild foods when you can.

- Be the kind of person who takes supplements.

- Eat more like the French. Or the Italians. Or the Japanese. Or the Indians. Or the Greeks.

- Regard nontraditional foods with skepticism.

If there are any other books that have influenced the way you eat, I’d love to know about them.

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