"Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plant," begins In Defense of Food written by Michael Pollan. The introduction of the book is captivating as it tries to show the readers the reality of food items today--they're not really food anymore. Nowadays majority of the food items are classified by the nutrients that make them up. What do we always hear? This item has high protein, less carbs, less fat, increased fiber and Omega-3s. Pollan continually warns his readers to be aware of processed food that scream out promises such as these.
Pollan picks apart nutritionism, saying that the -ism in the word says that nutritionism is a bunch of unproven hypothesis put together. Therefore why are we so hung on every word that the scientific researchers publish? It is quite evident that many of us have made the conclusion that all things need to be proven by scientific research in order for us to believe its good or bad attributes. Therefore we listen to the nutritionists and the industrialists who make imitations from nonfood items and put it on the shelves of the store. We are so convinced that we are doing the right thing for our body. For example, lets take margarine. This product has gone through a lot of opposition before it was finally able to occupy space on the shelves of the grocery stores. Everyone knows that margarine is better than butter because it has less things that are going to kill you sooner as it has fewer calories, trans fats, cholesterol etc as HealthCastle.com says! Of course! If America is so much better due to its increased knowledge in the are of nutrition, why are its citizens so unhealthy?
America and the other developed countries with their increased knowledge in the area of nutrition seem to be worse off in their health in comparison to developing and undeveloped countries. Why is that so? Well first of all it is evident that those of who have been hearing about nutrition have developed a phobia for unhealthiness as Pollan states. Then shouldn't we be healthier than those that don't really know these amazing facts? That's where the mistake of classifying food as nutrients comes into play. Those in the developing/undeveloped countries still follow their culture and tradition when it comes to food. These food are designed through numerous amount of years to provide the best for the eater. NationMaster.com shows the rates the obesity rate of countries. It is quite evident that the amount of Western diet a country consumes is proportional to its obesity. Pollan tell us that as soon as the Western diet is introduced in a country, the Western diseases start to appear out of nowhere. Now shouldn't that give us the clue that we are doing something extremely wrong? We need to go back to the days when we followed the eating habits of our ancestors and eat things made from scratch and not in laboratories.
After reading the excellent first portion of Pollan, I was completely blown away. Personally I mostly eat things made from scratch (by my mother) that follow my tradition and culture. But of course I also eat processed food that claim they are healthy because why wouldn't I want more of that Omega-3 or Protein? I want to live a healthy life. And the Luna bars, cereal bars, and yogurt that scream out a easy breakfast plus a healthy meal make life so much easier. But reading Pollan has now made me feel kind of foolish as he talks about how nutristionism evolved because of political issues from the government and big powerful firms that opposed research against their products. I also feel that it is going to take awhile for Pollan's suggestions to be put into use as so much of us are dependent on the fast processed meals that we can pop in the microwaves.
