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In Defense of Food

While on vacation, I picked up a copy of Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food. As someone with an old school dieting mentality, (eat right, moderation, exercise) Pollan’s book reaffirmed by dieting notions while at the same time giving me a new way to look at my food. One of the central messages of the book is that we as a nation are entirely too focused on what is in our food rather than the food itself. He says we are suffering from a condition which has been coined Orthorexia, that is, the obsession with being healthy. The book, for this reason, certainly forces one to look at their diet and nutrition mindset. As a diet blogger, it can be said that I contribute to the problems in this age of nutritionism, as Pollan calls it. He says we have entered a time where the nutrients are what is important, not the food they are a part of. For example, omega-3 fatty acids, the fats that are primarily found in fish and are proving to have amazing health benefits. Suddenly, these fats are everywhere. They are showing up in our dairy, our cereals, even our bread. Does fish oil really belong in our bread? Wouldn’t it be better to just eat pure whole wheat bread and know that we are getting what we need from the bread itself, nothing added or taken away?

Dieting and losing weight has forced us into a mindset which forces us to eat food not based on its own merits, but based on how much nutrients we can force into it to get the most bang for our calories. The food industry is now able to add and take away whatever nutrients it needs to in order to suit the dieting fads of a nation. Pollan references his grandmother, saying that her food was far from healthy, but it was pure. She cooked with lard, sugar and everything else we know to stay away from, but stayed thin her whole life. This anecdote supports the notion that purity in our food leads to purity in our bodies, which in turn, leads to our best body.

This is by no means a traditional diet book. It does not tell readers how to lose weight or force a specific agenda like many books of this nature do. However, it does provide those looking for a lifestyle and diet change with a new way to approach food and our relationship in it. The purer the food, the less we have to worry. This is not license to eat an entire bowl of butter and feel good because it isn’t margarine, but it is a no nonsense, sensible approach to an age old tradition-eating.

For more information about the book and his views, visit Pollan's website.