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In Defense of Food - 3/9/2008 9:54:43 AM   
SugarMyChurro


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Status: offline 		In Defense of Food: Author, Journalist Michael Pollan on Nutrition, Food Science and the American Diet
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/13/in_defense_of_food_author_journalist

Full transcript and a variety of choices for streaming audio and video.

-----

I found what he had to say about "nutrionism" very interesting.

I entirely agree with the trend to make food more local and to eat primarily the sorts of things that one's grandmother probably ate. I personally draw from several ethnic food categories in my daily meal planning.

And while I never really noticed it before, I do tend to grocery shop around the interior perimeters of a store. I buy the whole foods and not all the processed crap, that is usually found in the center of a supermarket.

Cooking and preparing meals for oneself is an obviously important skill and not to be overlooked. I think of prep-time as part of the pleasure of the meal. Food can impart so much sensory information - and it truly is beautiful. A slice of cucumber, just the right mushroom cap, or even a red pepper are easily all just as majestic as the Grand Canyon or any other wonder of nature.
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RE: In Defense of Food - 3/9/2008 9:57:34 AM   
Level


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Status: offline 		Excellent book, by a very bright man. If you liked it, you should check out Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes, and Real Food, by Nina Planck. We've been sold a bunch of bullshit when it comes to nutrition.

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RE: In Defense of Food - 3/9/2008 10:16:51 AM   
pahunkboy


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Status: offline 		http://www.freepress.net/mediaminutes/archive/MM_03_07_08.mp3    this is what happened this week on media

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RE: In Defense of Food - 3/9/2008 11:48:42 AM   
slaveboyforyou


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From: Arkansas, U.S.A.
Status: offline 		It's a good interview.  I do agree with everything he said for the most part.  But I do admit that I buy and eat a lot of processed food.  I don't have the time to cook and prepare meals everyday.  So it's easy for me to throw something in the microwave or open a can.  I have to eat my lunch in the break room at work because we can't leave for lunch.  So I take something with me that is convenient and disposable.  So yeah, I buy those microwavable soups or dinners or I eat out of the vending machine.  I could make something the night before, but it would take time.  I have to make something for supper, and I have housework, bills, etc to tend to.  It's just hard to eat healthy on a consistent basis when there is so little time.

< Message edited by slaveboyforyou -- 3/9/2008 11:49:20 AM >

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RE: In Defense of Food - 3/9/2008 12:16:48 PM   
ominousdominus


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Status: offline 		Great article, thanks for posting it, if we actually take the time to eat properly our bodies actually function properly, simple concept eh?

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RE: In Defense of Food - 3/10/2008 12:14:11 PM   
SugarMyChurro


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quote:

ORIGINAL: slaveboyforyou
I don't have the time to cook and prepare meals everyday....I could make something the night before, but it would take time.


Some quick offerings:
*Fruit and some raw vegatables are a great source of food on the go items.
*Salads you make yourself. Pretty easy.
*Hearty foods like pot roast, stews, soups, rice and legumes can be slow cooked on the weekend and stored for lunches in individual serving containers. Do one more meal per week, and soon you can a freezer full of labelled options.
*Always plan for left-overs when cooking or going out. Bring back from eating foods that will make a good lunch the next day at work.
*Cold cuts and PBJ sandwiches are still possibly healthy if you carefully pick your ingredients.

At a minimum it might be good to have some paper bags, snack and sandwich size ziplock bags in the larder. Some kind of storage containers that you find suitable for reheating. I like full pyrex style glass refrigerator-ware or glass with rubberized lids (cook without the lid in place, use a paper towel with a rubber band if you are concernd with splashing). That's a take from home lunch any time you feel like putting it together. And usually under 5 minutes.

Cheap, easy, and far better for you.

Just trying to help...

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RE: In Defense of Food - 3/10/2008 2:52:20 PM   
Gwynvyd


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Status: offline 		I love Churro's BTW. LOL  not good for me but.. Mmmmm....

We try to do the most natural.. no cans no processed food that we can do. I am one of those awful women who read the labels. On the odd times when what I am buying has a label. ( like my son's cereal..) The sodium has to be decently low.. and sugar can not be one of the 3 top indgrediants. ( my um has been taught to read the labels too so he can pick out his own cereal. Little bugger would be eating twigs and branches if it were up to me. LOL

I like the Kashi line of food. Whole grain, healthy... and best of all damn yummy! Esp. thier crackers and cookies!

If your veg comes in a can you have just lost tons of nutrients and added salt.. not to mention they taste awful.

When we are all old and stooped over I do not want to be the one "hoping I had taken an extra 10 mins a day" to feed myself properly.


Gwyn,
who eats the occasional crap.. but is generaly a very healthy eater.

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RE: In Defense of Food - 3/10/2008 4:23:01 PM   
Aneirin


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Status: offline 		Food, yes, a constant source of consternation for me in that though I am creative in other crafts, the art of cookery and food eludes me. A couple of years ago, I could burn water, I have gone through the expensive ready meals and processed foods and now am largely eating vegetarian in the form of beans, pulses seeds and sprouts. Contrary to popular opinnion beans are not an instant souce of gas, this side effect can be removed by simple preparation, the toxins destroyed in the preparation process, we in the west have lost so many skills.

Right now, I am cooking cous cous to be mixed with raisins, something once considered boring I now love.

An interesting book for me was 'eat right for your type' by  Dr P.J.D'adamo, in that our blood types indicate our ideal diet.


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RE: In Defense of Food - 3/10/2008 5:24:51 PM   
SugarMyChurro


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Status: offline 		Man, now I am dying for slow cooked black beans, sauted onions, rice, and chipotle salsa. I think I might add some sausage to the mix, or have that on the side.

Aaargh!

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RE: In Defense of Food - 3/10/2008 5:46:34 PM   
popeye1250


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Status: offline 		About once a month I'll cook 2 pounds of bacon in a pan in the oven and get some nice vine ripened tomatoes and romaine lettuce from the market and make BLT sandwiches.
Real easy and you can make more during the week.
And it makes the house smell good too.
And don't forget the lowly potato.
You can live off of those tubers, millions of Irish did.

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RE: In Defense of Food - 3/10/2008 8:02:17 PM   
bipolarber


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Status: offline 		Food is great, but "nutrition" is something of a scam. There are no garuntees in life, so why deny yourself the yummy stuff? I'm not saying eat a steady diet of fast food crap, but once in a while isn't all that bad for you. If I ate what my grandmother ate, I'd be in a very dangerous place: everything she prepared was heavy in carbs, fats, sodium and colesteral. I grew up eating her pancakes, eggs, ham, bacon, canned veggies, red meat, and pies and cakes.  (She lived to age105, BTW) A good german grandmother is a wonderful resource.


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RE: In Defense of Food - 3/10/2008 8:48:07 PM   
Termyn8or


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Status: offline 		SugarMy, I read some, but I have no reason to read the whole thing. Cholesterol in the diet does not equate to cholesterol in the body.

Let's take this a bit further. Vitamin C in the food does not equate to vitamins C in the body, it is completely destroyed in the stomach.Some drugs have to go in capsules or be coated in some way to make them pass out of the stomach so that their active ingredients are not similarly destroyed. The stomach absorbs almost nothing. It all happens in the small intestine. The acid in the stomach pretty much reduces everything to it's component parts for processing in the small, and later the large intestine. Most pills are mostly destroyed in the stomach, but it does still make it, some of it, into your blood.

And if you want to be a vegetarian, you are in trouble. Complete protiens are required by our bodies to manufacture the complete protiens we need. They are all broken down in the stomach, and if all the ingredients are not there, the body does not manufacture protien.

There is alot more to this, I'll be back if you'll all have me.

T


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RE: In Defense of Food - 3/10/2008 9:00:33 PM   
SubbieOnWheels


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quote:

ORIGINAL: popeye1250
And don't forget the lowly potato.
You can live off of those tubers, millions of Irish did.

And you can send your blood sugar through the roof if you're diabetic. :)

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RE: In Defense of Food - 3/10/2008 9:41:28 PM   
popeye1250


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quote:

ORIGINAL: SubbieOnWheels

quote:

ORIGINAL: popeye1250
And don't forget the lowly potato.
You can live off of those tubers, millions of Irish did.

And you can send your blood sugar through the roof if you're diabetic. :)


Well, as I type this I'm eating a big chunk of Sara Lee 3 layer golden cake with chocolate frosting surrounded by Heathbar crunch ice cream.
So, I'm glad I'm not diabetic or my blood sugar would be screaming!

< Message edited by popeye1250 -- 3/10/2008 9:44:39 PM >

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RE: In Defense of Food - 4/3/2008 4:08:06 AM   
SugarMyChurro


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Status: offline 		Here's another link to similar information:

"Pollan: Nutrition "Science" Has Hijacked Our Meals -- and Our Health"
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/80868/?page=entire

I like this article better. It's quite concise and offers several kernels of real wisdom regarding food and things that are not food. Good stuff.

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RE: In Defense of Food - 4/3/2008 4:52:20 AM   
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Status: offline 		Thanks for the link.

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Fake the heat and scratch the itch
Skinned up knees and salty lips
Let go it's harder holding on
One more trip and I'll be gone

~~ Stone Temple Pilots

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RE: In Defense of Food - 4/3/2008 5:11:22 AM   
kittinSol


Posts: 16926
Status: offline 		From your original transcript link:

quote:



If you have a really champion bull, the semen of that bull is very valuable. So, gee, if you could turn that bull into five bulls, wouldn’t that be great? Actually, it won’t be great. It’s the rareness that makes the semen so valuable.



Semen shake, anyone?

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RE: In Defense of Food - 4/3/2008 6:57:38 AM   
LaTigresse


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quote:

ORIGINAL: SugarMyChurro

Man, now I am dying for slow cooked black beans, sauted onions, rice, and chipotle salsa. I think I might add some sausage to the mix, or have that on the side.

Aaargh!


Evil man. Now my stomach is growling.


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RE: In Defense of Food - 4/3/2008 7:18:26 AM   
QuietlySeeking


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Status: offline 		I'm surprised that we finally agree on something! 

I have high blood pressure which a few years ago forced me to start examining labels for sodium.  Most processed foods have **way** to much sodium than we are supposed to eat, especially the "low-fat" or "low-carbs" or "50% less sodium".

A standard can of soup is all of your "recommended" sodium for the day.  

For goodness sake, even orange juice has added sodium in it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying sodium is bad.  Just that salt has been added to everything to make it "taste better".  The only way you can avoid large doses of it is to examine labels carefully -or- make everything yourself.  I'm getting ready to start making Mozarella cheese, anyone care for a bite of my first try? LOL

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RE: In Defense of Food - 4/3/2008 7:40:43 AM   
SugarMyChurro


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Status: offline 		I was rereading some of the comments and found that some people seemed to be missing the bigger picture.

The point of Michael Pollan's observations about food is simply that over-processed foods appear to be killing us for a whole variety of reasons. The solution is to take a greater role in preparing your own food from more basic constituent elements or whole foods. And this isn't about vegetarian versus meat eater at all - and although I do think that too much reliance on meat is a bad thing, the bigger issue is to eat a greater variety of whole foods more generally. A whole food is simply an apple instead of what could be highly processed apple sauce (and that's just one example).

The grandmother quote led to some confusion, so here it is again (possibly slightly restated): "Avoid anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize." I think Pollan is simply thinking of someone that was living around 70-80 years ago and would have had to make meals from basic elements. I'm not a food historian but I suspect that meals were built up around fresh vegetables, meats, dairy, breads, grains, legumes, some canned items, and spices. The canned items would have been basic vegetables and fruits with very few added ingredients beyond salt or sugar as a brine and preservative ingredient. When my grandmother once made me chicken and noodle soup I actually had to watch her make noodles from scratch (flour, egg, water, etc) and butcher a live chicken (wringing its neck, plucking, gutting and segmenting it). This took her maybe an hour. Now we don't have to go to those extremes precisely, but we can certainly get back to making meals from the more basic food elements that are not heavily processed. It's not hard. It's fun. And I think making food a focus in a home is a great way to encourage together time and build a strong sense of family. Food is the culture of a home as much as the music people listen to or the books they read or whatever else a family may do.

If the great grandmother statement has a flaw it might be to overly focus on one's own actual grandmother. This is a conceptual grandmother and not your actual grandmother that was meant - especially if your actual grandmother was all about Campbell's Soups, Kool-Aid, and Jell-O.

The point is to avoid processed foods in favor of whole foods. That's a hard message to argue against in my view.

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