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Disclaimer: After seeing him on the Colbert Report a few months ago, I totally have a crush on Michael Pollan. He is not a bad looking older dude. And his environmental values are right in line with mine. SWOON. Yes, I know he’s married and has a 16 year old son. It’s not going to happen anyhow. But my crush is not biasing my book review. His books bias my crush.
Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.
These are the first words of Michael Pollan’s brilliant book, In Defense of Food. I got it on audio book from the library and it was so good, I listened to it twice.
This book is sort of a sequel to The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which I haven’t read yet. I don’t think you need to read it to appreciate this book. Pollan starts out the book talking about the history of nutrition science and what its results have been for our health as a nation. Of course everybody knows that we have massive health issues in our country, not the least of which are obesity and diabetes epidemics, but I guess I never put two and two together before. For decades, we’ve been receiving advice about how to eat from nutritionists, food manufacturers and the government, and it hasn’t made us any healthier. In fact, in almost every respect, we are less healthy than we were before the nutrition scientists started advising us.
The part that blew my mind entirely was when he criticized the official dietary sanction put out in the 70’s to eat a low fat diet. Apparently, there was little to no scientific evidence linking dietary fat to heart disease, obesity, or any of the other diseases of civilization. What there is evidence of is that in cultures where the people lived on a traditional diet that was low in animal products, diseases of civilization (as they are called) are almost non existent. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the fat in animal products were causing the problem. Perhaps, as Pollan points out, the problem is something else in the animal products, or perhaps its that in diets heavy in animal products, we tend to eat less plants, and plants prevent the diseases of civilization. We simply don’t know. But what we do know is that the advice to replace animal fat with hydrogenated fat (trans fats) is perhaps the worst piece of health advice anyone could ever follow, because hydrogenated fat is the only fat that has been scientifically proven to cause heart disease. We also are relatively sure that the advice to cut out fat led to adding more refined carbohydrates to our diet, which is very likely at the root of rising obesity and diabetes rates, and to a nation wide deficiency in Omega 3 fatty acids, which can have a disastrous effect on brain and nervous system function, in addition to lots of other health problems.
When I stopped to think about the period after having Elijah, I remembered that as soon as my milk production was well established, about six weeks after his birth, I proceeded to go on a low fat diet. I lost a minimal amount of weight, almost had to quit nursing because my milk supply went way down (and never fully came back), and I suffered from post partum depression and something I could only describe as brain problems. I could not remember anything (seriously, there was a time I had to call my mom to ask her how old I am), I couldn’t concentrate on anything, I couldn’t figure out how to do new things, and I often would be listening to someone speak to me, but be unable to process what they were saying. It basically felt like the connections in my brain had been cut, and even more than a year since I had pretty much abandoned the diet, I was still feeling that way. Pollan proposed something in the book that made it all make sense to me. The brain is 60% fat. The greatest concentration of Omega 3s in the body are in the brain. If I was deficient in fat, it seems reasonable to assume that it might have had a negative effect on my brain, an organ that is primarily fat. I immediately went out and bought some almond butter and flax seed oil, and then I set to researching the links between fat intake and PPD (in between spoonfuls of almond butter and flax seed oil laced fruit smoothies). Apparently, there is much talk about this subject out there, but I was only able to find two actual studies, one confirming a potential link between Omega 3 deficiency and PPD, and one that found that increased fish consumption (fish is high in Omega 3s) did not seem to have any kind of affect on PPD. Some of the doulas I knew emailed me siting other studies that confirmed a link between healthy fat intake and PPD, along with a slew of personal experiences.
But Pollan cautions against following any food trend in which one nutrient is demonized (low-fat, low-carb, etc.) and one is glorified (protein, Omega 3s, etc.). The whole point of the book is that the value of food cannot be measured by amounts of known nutrients. Food is complex, and there is always some new nutrient being discovered and hailed as a miracle nutrient, or a toxin. Often, the nutrients go in and out of vogue with nutrition scientists so quickly that we don’t even know what’s supposed to be healthy and what’s not (the history of the egg is a perfect example). Instead, Pollan says that we should consider foods over nutrients, and eat a well balanced diet without worrying about the nutritional content.
Thus the rule, eat food, not too much, mostly plants.
There are some sub rules, to make the primary rule more clear. For example, don’t eat anything your grandmother (or great-grandmother, or great-great-grandmother, depending on how old you are) wouldn’t recognize as food. He targets GoGurt while explaining this rule, which made me smile, because GoGurt is a product that grossed me out from the minute I first saw a commercial for it.
Other rules include don’t eat anything with unpronounceable words or things that you don’t know what they are in the ingredient list, especially high fructose corn syrup (I would add aspartame and hydrogenated oil of any kind to that list). Cook your own meals from scratch, always eat at a table, of the plants you eat, most of them should be leaves/fruits/vegetables (as opposed to grains), and eat slower. That’s not all the rules, but it gives you an idea of where he’s going. I don’t think he says a damn thing that any doctor could really argue with (who can argue with a varied diet based primarily on fruits and veggies, then whole grains and nuts, then animal products?), although nutrition scientists and government officials might take offense at his review of the work they do.
I have not eaten the same since reading his book. I have found it easy to abstain from I Can’t Believe Its Not Butter Spray and Skinny Cow Ice Cream. I have been eating a lot more veggies throughout the day (I can’t give up snacking, like he suggests, but I don’t think it’s so bad if you snack on fruits and veggies, right?). He has convinced me to try anchovies (as soon as I find a good recipe for them that might make them seem more palatable). The changes I made to my diet haven’t been that dramatic, but I’m hoping that I can report a positive difference once I’ve been doing them long enough. I’ll keep you all posted.
I haven’t been here in a while because I decided to take the month of January off from what might be classified as some as my internet addiction. I promise I will start blogging again soon. There is so much I want to blog about.
I’m night weaning Elijah.
Garden plans are materializing.
Juice fasting kicks ass!
Getting out and socializing.
The Colorado Garden and Home Show (I’m a big dork for this stupid event).
And maybe that crazy octuplets lady. If I don’t find something else that I’m ranting over before I get to it.
I read this today on the Yes Magazine website. I think it is worth reposting and spreading around.
Has the cash economy swallowed up your life? Here are some ways to extract some of your time and “life energy” from the cash economy.
Reduce debt. If you can’t pay cash, don’t buy it. Practice being mindful about what you buy and why.
Do it yourself. Grow food, pick berries, can and preserve food, make wine, bake bread. Make or repair clothes, furniture, and gifts. Create your own entertainment. Walk, bike, run, or play basketball instead of joining a fitness club.
Share & Exchange. Take care of neighbor kids and elders. Play music, sing, act in local theater, write poems, hold art shows. Exchange haircuts for applesauce, bike repair for massage, language tutoring for babysitting.
Reduce waste & pollution. Weatherize your home or apartment. Reduce your car usage, or get rid of a car.
Buy local. Run buy-local campaigns, print stickers, publish or post a directory of local businesses. Acknowledge business owners who foster the well-being of the environment, employees, and the whole community. Convert public funds from luring outside corporations to supporting local businesses.
Start a new local business. Start a food market, credit union, wifi network, or even an electricity co-op. Explore ownership options like cooperatives, nonprofits, for-profits, or single proprietorships.
Buy Fair Traded when you buy imports. Vote with your dollar for a better world for all.
Actually, I got home Tuesday night but I’ve been too lazy to write. Making a 900 mile trip with a six month old is no small task. I needed to rest up.
First off, I want to say how saddened I am to hear about the passing of Tim Russert. I literally just heard, and I am seriously, seriously sad. Sunday mornings are never going to be the same again. Was he even sick? My CNN Alert did not tell me how he passed on, so I don’t know. It just all seems so very sudden. My prayers are with his family.
Next, I want to say that I feel bad for Missouri bashing. Its not cool to bash on other people’s states, I get really offended when people bash on Colorado. But, come on, the place has no sidewalks. Its baffling. I know it gets really hot there in the summer time, but I did see people walking and biking, and they have to do that on the sides of narrow, windy, hilly streets that are more often than not surrounded by thick, forresty growth, and thats just plain not safe. While there seem to be almost no sidewalks anywhere in the state, they do have mile markers every .2 miles on their highways. I don’t know if I want to live in a place where money is spent putting in a mile marker every .2 miles on the highway, but not on putting sidewalks on streets to keep people safe. Unbelievable.
Do you live in Missouri or a place like it? How do you feel about your sidewalk situation? Your public transportation situation? Your bike lane situation? Your mile marker situation? I am struggling to understand why people are not completely outraged by what seems to me to be a massive misspending of tax dollars. When peak oil gets bad St. Louis, and cities like it, are massively screwed.
There are a ton of things I was inspired to write about while I was gone, but I need to get organized before I can write them. I just feel so scattered. I can promise up coming posts about natural childbirth, co sleeping, natural household cleaners, and a few book reviews, to name a few. In the mean time, here are some interesting things to check out.
This is a post from the Organic Consumers Association I just got around to reading today.
SOUTH KOREA BANS U.S. MEAT:
The South Korean government has responded to a rally last week involving more than 60,000 citizens protesting American beef imports. Major Asian markets have upheld a ban on American beef since the discovery of new cases of Mad Cow Disease in the U.S. raised consumer health concerns. Despite international pressure on the Bush Administration, the U.S. continues to ignore food safety concerns and violate World Health Organization guidelines by feeding slaughterhouse waste to animals and refusing to test all animals at slaughter for Mad Cow Disease. http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow.cfm
This is a cool website. I’d love to do something like this around here.
http://www.guerrillagardening.org/
Decode eco labels here
http://www.greenerchoices.org/eco-labels/eco-home.cfm?redirect=1
Besides that, here are the weekend plans.
I’m going to an Earth Fair tomorrow at Magna Carta Park in Denver. I was going to go to Wool Market up in Estes Park, but the friend I was going to go with had to cancel, and to be honest, after the trip to Missouri I don’t know if I can afford to be driving up to Estes Park, so Earth Fair it is. On Sunday I am going to be sad, because Tim Russert is no longer on Meet the Press. On Monday, Elijah and I are going to visit a Hindu Temple in our neighborhood. I’ve always wanted to go in there and see what the Hindu religion is all about. I know a very little bit, that I learned in a Humanities class the semester before last, but I think it would be awesome to learn first hand.
Thats it for me. Hopefully I’ll be a better blogger next week.
I’ve written about victory gardens before, so I don’t feel like I need to write too much on my second goal for responsible eating again. Plus, I’m trying to get a handle on the fact that No Impact Man linked to me in his blog today, and I’ve officially had more hits today than I had in the whole first three months I wrote this blog (for the record, its been almost 4 months I’ve been writing it now). I mean, wow! That’s a lot of hits for one day. And I think it means No Impact Man reads my blog. Eeeeee! That’s a girlish squeal, for those of you who don’t know. I usually only make those noises in emails with my friend Jeff, but I think today my blog needs one.
Okay, so lets go over the fine points of growing your own food, bullet point style (because I like bullet points).
- The price of food is going up because the price of fuel is going up, so its in our best financial interest to reduce the distance our food has to travel to get to us. There’s nothing closer than your back yard/porch or local community plot. The price of fuel is also going up because of ethanol (but I’ll blog about that later) and increased meat production doesn’t help (I blogged about that yesterday).
- In addition to hurting your wallet, food that’s traveled a long distance is bad for the environment, for obvious reasons.
- Conventionally grown food is also terrible for the environment, it pumps a ton of petrochemicals into our soil and water (and petrochemical use, because it uses up our dwindling oil supply, increases the cost of gas, which increases the cost of food, see my blog on Peak Oil). What ends up in our soil and water eventually ends up in us. Not to mention how those chemicals are directly on the food that we eat! But organic is so expensive. Its much cheaper to grow your own organic produce!
- Conventionally grown food is responsible in part for a lot of starvation in the world. This is a really complicated issue, so for right now I’m only going to direct you to another resource where you can learn more. Say No to GMOs Promise to blog more on this later.
- Gardening is great exercise!
- Gardening is a great way to spend quality time with your kids and to teach them about community, health, science, and a variety of other amazing subjects!
- The food you grow is great for you! And since you’ll have more of that healthy food just lying around, you’ll have less of a reason to snack on unhealthy, expensive, junk food. Loose weight, keep grocery and health care costs down, and keep your kids strong and healthy, you can’t beat that with a stick.
- Gardening is a great way to connect with your local community, whether you’re gardening in a community plot or in your own yard. Obviously, a community plot is very social, but a private garden in your own back yard (should you be lucky enough to have a back yard) can still be social because you’re probably going to have more fruits and veggies than you can eat and you can share them with friends and neighbors.
- If you’re involved in a community gardening project, there’s a good chance there’s going to be a man or two there who you know is into health, the environment and community. And since he eats healthy and gardens, he’s probably going to have a good body. I’m just saying. If nothing else, they’ll at least be there for you to admire as they work, possibly without a shirt on. What? We’re single, we’re allowed to think these things. Sheesh.
I can’t think of anything else right now, but I think those reasons are awesome enough for us all to get started.
Americans, they say, have no connection to their food anymore. We go to the store, we buy it, and most of the time its processed crap that we don’t even know whats in it (mostly petroleum products, in case you’re wondering). We don’t stop to think about where it comes from and everything that goes into producing it. We buy it, we eat it, we throw the packaging away, and then we don’t think about it again.
There have been many a documentary that have phrased this problem and the implications of it far better than I ever will be able to. For me, it just comes down to the fact that food is at the base of our hierarchy of needs, and I think its important that we all know how to maintain our base. I read once of a family who plays a game before each meal in which they stop to recognize everyone responsible for getting their food onto their table. The checkout kid at the grocery store, the guy who stocked the shelves, the truck driver who delivered the food, the butcher who slaughtered the meat, the guy who packaged the food, the farmer who planted and harvested it, the oil miner who mined the oil that was made into fertilizers for the farm and fuel for the trucks and plastics for the packaging, the chemist who invented the plastics and fertilizers. They would even go so far as to include the mother who raised the farmer, the teacher who taught the mechanic who maintains the truck, the wife of the owner of the general store where the farmer shops, who helps keep paperwork for the store in order so that it stays up and running . I thought this was a marvelous idea, and perhaps a game I would play with my son, particularly on Thanksgiving.
Its an amazing way to measure the impact not only of what you eat, but of the value each one of us adds to society through the work that we do. Most of us don’t think of chemists and teachers as essential to putting food on our tables, but when we play this game we realize that we could very likely starve without the chemists, teachers and countless others that all fit into the vast perpetual motion machine that is a functioning society. It reminds us that if there weren’t a purpose for a skill or a job, it would probably be eliminated from society (much the way evolution breeds out useless genetic traits).
It also shows us the vast impact of our food across the world.
Like many Americans, for a long time I wanted to ignore the way I eated and the implications it had on the world. The deepest I wanted to think about food was whether or not it was going to make me fat. But now I am a mom, and like many other parts of my life, my eating habits just did not seem as acceptable after I had a child.
For one thing, I want to live long enough to see my great grand children, so I want to be as healthy as possible (and that means I need to focus on a lot more than just my weight). Furthermore, I want my son to have the privelidge of being able to live to see his great grand children, and I’m sure he’s going to want the same thing for his children, so I want to make sure he can give that same gift to his children.
More than this, I want to leave my son with a planet at least as nice as the one I was left with. Hopefully a better one. For that reason I am paying more attention to what I eat, and I am going to teach him to do the same.
Finally, food is expensive, and when you trace its sources its not hard to see why. Food prices go up with gas prices, for example, because it takes gas to ship the food. Companies aren’t swallowing the increased cost of gas, they’re passing those costs onto the consumer so that their profits don’t change. Companies always pass increased cost of production on to the consumer so that their profits don’t change. Always.
So here are my goals for eating more responsibly. I will tell you them, and then I will explain them.
1 – Eat less meat
2 – Grow as much of my own food as I can
3 – Eat at home as much as possible
4 – Buy organic when I can afford it
5 - If I can’t afford organic, buy local (naturally, if there’s a local organic food, get it!) or as close to home as you can
6 – Avoid buying foods that come from other countries
7 – Avoid food that comes in excess packaging
I will delve into each of these goals and the reasons behind them in future posts.
Check it out!
Okay, so some of my readers may have noticed that I blog much more about living green than I do about being a single mom. This is partially because I’ve been an environmentalist much longer than I’ve been a single mom. I’ve only been a single mom five months now (a little over a year, if you count my pregnancy in there – I wasn’t single through my entire pregnancy), but ever since I first read 50 Simple Things a Kid Can Do to Save the Earth in the 1st grade I’ve been passionate about our planet. I don’t remember who gave me that book, either.
But another reason why I blog more about living green than I do about being a single mother is because I believe the two subjects are inseparable. That is to say, of all the people living green has the most benefits for, single mothers are near the top of the list (our kids, I’m afraid, hold the top slot).
There are two main reasons for this. First, most single moms don’t want to stay single forever, and second, most single moms can use all the help they can get financially. Living green helps you to get and stay in great shape, which (unfortunately, we live in a shallow society that values looks over personality, education, success and kindness – particularly in women) helps you out in the dating department. And living green, if done correctly, is much cheaper than living whatever color not green is. Brown, like smog? I don’t know.
A few examples:
Biking and walking are great exercise. And the more you bike and walk instead of driving, the more money you save on gas, maintenance for your car, and you help the car keep its value better by keeping miles off the car.
Growing some of your own food will save you butt loads in groceries, especially with food prices on the rise. The more you grow, the more you save. Plus, eating more of those home grown fruits and veggies means less junk food, and gardening, like biking, is great exercise. And for those of you who don’t have yards, just about anything can be grown on a pot on your deck, or even indoors, and if that doesn’t work for you, look into community gardening opportunities, which helps you to get out and meet people, potentially single men, or people who can hook you up with single men.
Planting native grass seeds means less watering and maintainance, saving you money on utilities. Mowing that lawn with a push mower is great exercise and saves you on fuel for a power motor. Keeping that lawn small minimizes water useage even more, and minimizes your time mowing.
Avoiding plastics minimizes your exposure to BPA, which can mimic estrogen in your system and cause you to gain weight or make the baby weight more difficult to use. Using natural alternatives to things like drier sheets, glass cleaner, lotion, etc., will reduce your exposure to pthaylates, which have similar affects. I’ll talk more about natural alternatives later, because buying green brands can be more expensive, but there are ways to do it even more naturally and more cheaper.
Not to mention how much doing these things increases your childs health, sets a good example for them to be physically active, pleasantly social, socially responsible, and helps to leave them a world thats sill nice. Because the most important thing to single mothers, more than not staying single or saving money, is the health, well being, and happiness of our children.
