Book Price Comparisons
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 A wonderful, sensible resource on what to ingest and not! Michael Pollan has written a couple of books on food, and I have to say that though I preferred The Omnivore's Dilemma, his latest is filled with practical wisdom that makes us take a deep, long look at our eating habits. The basic premise here is that we humans need to eat, yet we should eat in moderation and include as much produce as we can in our diet. Not really a revolutionary thought, yet why is it that in the Western world, particularly in the US, the masses tend to consume too much processed food, large portions and snacks indiscriminately? The problem here is that too much food in the US is no longer 'real' food, but more substances that play at being 'food' whilst made up of synthetic ingredients and derivatives of corn and soybeans [high fructose corn syrup anyone?] I have learned not to buy anything that contains the words 'high fructose corn syrup' or 'partially hydrogenated oil' in it, plus a host of other unhealthy additives/food derivatives. Pollan's book also calls for rules, i.e. algorithms - abt what and how to eat. What I take from In Defense of Food, is basically a change in thinking about food, and going back to a simpler way of eating, like my parents who live in Asia - eat well, lots of veggies, but always eat in moderation, and stay away from synthetic, over-processed food.  Simply Not as Good as The Omnivore's Dilemma This was not a bad book, but the biggest problem I had with it was that it was too short (just over 200 pages of text in large typeface) and it often repeated points without elaborating on them in as much detail as I would have liked. Pollan goes back to the theme of "Nutritionism" throughout his book, and discusses how the interests of food scientists and manufacturers have aligned to create the food environment we have today. This is a very fascinating story, but he seems too narrowminded on the theme of nutritionism and how that has ruined our food system and doesn't detail other potential causes. Other interests (such as the beef and dairy lobbies, which he briefly alludes to a couple times in the book) have also had a tremendous influence on the national diet. Moreover, the way we live our lives, busily, without time to eat, is a tremendous contributor to poor health that Pollan again only alludes to. Lifestyle is a huge part of the food culture that Pollan encourages, but he doesn't specify what elements of lifestyle are common in the most successful food cultures. My other major bugaboo with the book was that he barely touched on the notion of vegetarian and vegan diets, which are becoming increasingly popular in the States. The question of whether these diets are safe and healthy was not mentioned much (about a paragraph or so) and some insight into these two movements would have been appreciated. Overall, it's a quicker read than the Omnivore's Dilemma, but less detailed and with fewer eye-opening moments. A book that should be read, but I recommend you save your money and wait until the paperback edition is released. I couldn't put it down I love the whistle-blowers; I love the truth. I had just read, "Good Calories, Bad Calories" which was great. Michael Pollan is another fantastic author to be applauded. The information he shares is so important...you must read it or you may be left out in the cold - the dead cold! It is well written and you can't deny the sincerity of his intention. Please check it out. Everyone would be better off reading this book - for a healthier life that can actually result from finding pleasure in eating once again, as it should be. Thank you, Michael Pollan. We truly are what we eat . . . . . or don't eat Americans are fat. Who's to blame? The government. Ay, but there's the rub. If the government undoes its mischievous agricultural subsidies, voters in farm states will throw the rascals out of office. Look what happened to Sen. John McCain in Iowa because he wants to end ethanol subsidies. No politician can afford to be public spirited instead of self-centered. The cure is not in government. Instead, an intelligent solution begins with this book. Pollan goes to the heart of the matter, which is the content of our food. Our consumer society is based on making attractive products. For food, this means added sugar or added fat. To quote Pollan: ". . . we're eating a whole lot more, at least 300 more calories a day than we consumed in 1985. What kind of calories? Nearly a quarter of these additional calories come from added sugars (and most of that in the form of high-fructose corn syrup); roughly another quarter from added fat . . . " These extra calories are from nutrient-deficient food. It began with refined flour in the 1870s which removed bran and wheat germ to produce long-lasting snowy white flour. Consumers loved it because flour no longer turned rancid, and it didn't become infected with bugs. Okay. Why didn't bugs chomp down on this new flour? Quite simply because the nutrients, the bran, wheat germ, carotene, were gone. Pollan explains, ". . . this gorgeous white powder was nutritionally worthless, or nearly so. Much the same is now true for corn flour and white rice." Take a look at a package of white flour and count the additives that make up for the loss of natural ingredients. Then you'll understand the basic thrust of this book and its remedies. How do refined carbohydrates affect us? They are implicated in several chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers. This book outlines those problems and practical solutions to the lack of nutrients and excess of fat and sugar in our daily food. Quite simply, good health is often less a matter of miracle medicines than of common sense meals. Pollan outlines the problem and offers solutions, as indicated in a University of Minnesota study of natural ingredients in wheat which concluded, "This analysis suggests that something else in the whole grain protects against death." Protects against death? Did that get your interest? If so, this book is truly a major step toward a much healthier lifestyle . . . . . merely by changing the foods you eat. Try it. 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