By Jerry Levine
Today’s Machining World Archives June 2008 Volume 04 Issue 06
It’s a sad commentary that anyone needs to write a book entitled, In Defense of Food, but in our diet-obsessed society it’s a best seller, named “one of the 10 best books of the year” by the New York Times. Americans consume tons of the latest low fat, low carb, omega 3 and protein enriched foods, yet has substantially higher rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer than other folks around the world eating any number of traditional diets. And, our life expectancy is lower.
Where is the disconnect? Who’s to blame? What should we eat? Michael Pollan’s thoroughly researched and readable treatise gives us simple (and complex) answers.
Pollan defines food in the first section of the book. It is not the advertised, highly enriched processed items on the grocery shelves, but the unpackaged stuff in the produce section. Pollan’s rule? “Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize.”
Pollan takes on the “Nutritional-Industrial Complex” – comprised of error-prone scientists pushing for new research grants, eager food marketers searching for new customer hooks, and easily gulled journalists looking for a scoop. Over the past few decades they have created a politically correct conventional wisdom Pollan calls “Nutritionalism.” What matters most in nutritionalism is not the real food but each chemical nutrient, and because nutrients are invisible and generally incomprehensible you need an expert to tell you what to eat.
Pollan believes food is also about social pleasure, community, family and friends, and our relationship with the natural world. The French enjoy foods filled with saturated fat, yet have substantially lower rates of heart disease and live longer. They eat slower, eat less, avoid seconds, and eat at the table with family. All of this contributes to better health.
The first big shibboleth Pollan takes on is dietary fat. The recently published, federally funded Women’s Health Initiative failed to find a link between a low-fat diet and heart disease. Additionally, Harvard’s School of Public Health reviewed other research and failed to find any significant correlation between polyunsaturated fats or dietary cholesterol and heart disease. A diet high in fiber may have no impact on colorectal cancer or heart disease, and two studies on Omega 3 reached opposite conclusions. The National Academy of Science said, “Omega 3 has no effect,” while Harvard reported it would reduce risk of heart attacks by one-third.
Meanwhile, Americans are getting fatter and suffering from obesity related diseases. Why? Pollan postulates that when we adopted low fat diets, we replaced fats with carbohydrates and trans-fats. The concept that foods could be processed (removing nutrients) and reconstituted with selected vitamins and minerals gained acceptance. But Pollan explains a carrot has a panoply of nutrients that interact with other nutrients in various foods we eat, and this complex interaction is beyond science’s ability to analyze.
After pointing out what’s wrong with the Western diet, Pollan sets down rules on how to eat. Stay away from processed foods with hyped nutritional claims. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket – the produce, dairy, meat and fish sections. Shop farmers’ markets where the food is fresher and varies by season. Eat plants; in countries where people eat more than 1 lb. of fruits and vegetables a day, the cancer rate is about 1/2 of ours. Eating meat is fen, but it should be a supplement to the meal. Eat slower; it takes about 20 minutes for our stomachs to signal our brain that we are full. Also, eating less will slow cell division and increase longevity.
Most importantly, eat meals at a table with friends and family. Food should evoke a pleasurable experience. Cook and plant a garden. This will help increase control over your food. Food is not a mix of unpronounceable chemical compounds. It’s a beautiful blend of colors, textures, flavors and aromas that are to be enjoyed with others. Good health will follow.
