GR review of In Defence of Food

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
His book really did change the way I think about things. Not in way that made be want to do a whole foods diet, because I already knew that, but in a way that motivated me to do it better. In all, a good read with great points a tiny touch on the radical side for me. A couple of things I learned/accepted as fact:

I need to get over my "fear of fat".

Meat and starches are side dishes.

The idea of shopping around the outside of the store, not down the aisles, so true!

I need to be less concerned about how to replace the wheat in Caleb's diet and just focus on feeding him more plants.

I really think the most important point it the "eat less". I am constantly thinking about how he said if you ask an American how you know when you are done eating they say, "When the food is gone." As opposed to other cultures who actually stop when they are full, again so true. Mike and I started eating on the small plates (what do we even call these they are too huge to be saucers but half the size of a dinner plate.) that came with our set. I guess if you know that you have to (clean your plate!) eat everything there are many ways to play tricks on yourself. We are already noticing that we feel full with less.

I also love his explanation on when "what's for dinner" became such a hard question. I never thought about it and his answer is right on.

I also found his stats on the amount of money spent on groceries vs. other cultures VERY interesting. I totally agree that it's about making food a priority over things like cable, etc. However when it's hard just to pay your mortgage increasing your grocery budget is not really an option. This made an impact on me though and will keep it in mind as our income increases. I wish that he would have spent more time pointing out that sometimes eating whole foods is cheaper because you are making things from scrach, and that eating less is cheaper. These are two ways I can stick to my grocery budget and be healthier.

I couldn't give this book the full 5 stars because it was very dry at times. His talking about the same scientific studies (he used a lot of science to tell us to ignore modern science and listen to our mother) over and over made my eyes glaze over while I was reading and there were a couple of points I didn't agree with...Like not taking supplements. I don't take them myself but I am also not convinced that we can truly get all the nutrients we need from the food we eat in this day and age. If you could grow ALL your own food and live in an area with no pollution this would likely be true. I just know that they times in my life that I was taking a good quality* multivitamin I felt much better.

*quality being the key

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