With all the craziness of the last year, my reading had really dropped off & my goal for this year is to read one book per month. I’ve got piles of books in my closet, which make up my TO-BE-READ, and try to change up my topics from book to book. In Defense of Food has been on my wishlist at Paperback Swap for several years & finally made it to the top of the waitlist a few months ago. I’d been semi-avoiding the book before the holidays, so I could take part in all the joyous, food-filled festivities without an ounce of guilt. As we are in the midst of re-evaluating our eating habits, this seemed like the perfect time to pick up the book.
I’ll start of by saying that *I KNOW* many of the ideas that the book asserts. I realize there is something seriously wrong with the “western diet”. I see daily reminders of the obesity epidictic & dire situation of our nation’s overall health. I’ve tried lots of diets over the years of less calories, less fat, less carbs, less fun. As somebody who generally keeps on top of the news, I have been following various bits of information as they surface about the nutrient quality of our food decreasing dramatically, the unprecedented levels of chemicals and other substances (like preservatives) that go into all types of ordinary food, that you really should just go with the *regular* item of the low-fat or low-carb item with tons of substitutes worse that then original offending ingredient. However, sitting down and reading a book that offered all these points in a concise & easy to read format with in-depth discussion about the role of big corporations, marketing, the medical community, government regulations, nutrition scientists & researchers in the seismic shifts in our food supply & diet was eye-opening and motivating.
The premise of the entire book is simple- Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants. The first parts of the book look at how and why nutritional science has been wrong for so many decades. We understand part of chemistry, but we still have perfect (or even good) way to model the complex interaction of thousands of components of food inside the human body. All over the world, people existed on a variety of diets, but quickly saw dramatic declines in health once a western diet was introduced. So much of what is for sale in the grocery stores is a complex mix of chemicals and ingredients designed to resemble food, but lacks the nutrients that scientists have yet to fully understand and often contains chemicals with side-effects that aren’t fully understood. His advice to eat food means whole foods- like meat, vegetables, fruit, and whole grains. But even the quality of these real food is only as good as how they were produced.
This book was a fascinating read, pulling together many of the health/food/nutrition tidbits I’d been hearing over the past few years. I really want to be better about meal times- better shopping, more cooking, experimenting with new veggies, fewer frozen dinners and acquiring the joy of cooking a delicious, healthy meal we can enjoy. With my travel schedule & H’s unpredictable work schedule, I really am only home Tuesday & Thursday evenings, plus the weekends. We generally eat out on the weekends or are with friends/family. I’ve tinkered with the idea of fresh veggies, but I was only really successful with cucumbers in our garden. I do think I will look into joining a CSA as that will force me to try new vegetables, eat organic and buy local.
NEXT BOOK UP: Who Killed Healthcare?
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Beautiful, gorgeous day here & I get to hang out with the hubby all day.
