It’s OK to eat

In Defense of Food, the latest from author Michael Pollan, is fantastic.

Following up on the themes he brought up in his previous work, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto finally answers the problem he left his reader’s with: So now that you’ve taken away my Big Mac, what am I supposed to eat? His answer: eat food. But not too much. And mostly plants.

Of course it gets more complicated than that, but not by much. Therein lies the brilliance: Pollan doesn’t rely on nutritional science, which in actuality still remains a mystery, to tell us what to feed ourselves. Instead, he looks at the evidence of human history. Based on thorough research, he suggests that maybe all we need to do in order to be healthy is to go back to eating the way we did before we got fat.

His writing is both informed and entertaining. In Defense of Food has brilliant coherency and flow. The progression from one topic to the next, from one subject to another, makes his conclusions extremely compelling. And while those conclusions are not the elaborate results of nutritional science, they are groundbreaking nonetheless.

First of all, there’s “eat food.” That’s straightforward enough–after all, what else can we eat? According to the book, the answer is a lot. The Western diet, especially the American diet, is made up of thousands of processed, “food-like substances,” to quote Pollan. So his first precept isn’t merely “eat food,” it’s to eat real, whole foods. Foods that have not been processed and enhanced into empty calories.

Next is “not too much.” With the much talked about obesity epidemic it’s clear that this country of ours has a problem with this idea. Pollan’s suggestion is that instead of listening to health claims and fads, we should listen to our bodies. In other words, stop eating when you get full.

Finally, Pollan recommends that the food we eat be “mostly plants.” That sounds familiar to many who’ve heard echoes telling us to eat more fruits and vegetables throughout our lives, but Pollan takes it a bit further by differentiating between leafy plants and seedy plants. According to research, the Western diet bases much of its “plants” on seed vegetables, like corn, rather than the leafy vegetables that are healthier for us.

That’s it, and that’s genius. Of course, the timing wasn’t too bad either. With the New Year’s usual barrage of get fit, get healthy and lose weight books, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto stands out in its simplicity. There’s no counting involved, no anti-carb, low-fat, high-fiber or low-cholesterol diets to worry about. It’s not a strict regiment excluding things that taste good. It’s a book about your diet, not a dieting book.

It’s also realistic and, especially here in Portland, easily applicable to daily life. With our large amount of food co-ops, community supported agriculture opportunities, farmer’s markets and even organic supermarkets, many Portlanders are already on their way. But, just because it might seem like preaching to the choir, the book is definitely worth taking a look at. Aside from the good dietary advice, it also offers an expansive and easy approach to understanding nutrition.

With this book, Pollan has pulled back the scope so that readers can understand eating as a whole, rather than the parts we’ve been taught to look for. He’s brought culture, the environment and common sense back to a subject that has a good majority of people lost in confusion. In other words, not only has he given ideas on a healthier way to eat, he’s put forth a healthier way to look at eating in general.

Another strength of Pollan’s book is that it isn’t about fat, looking good in a bikini or having defined abs. Rather, it’s about health, which gets sadly overlooked most of the time. In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto is about finding a way to become healthier people, people who are not obese, diabetic or on the road toward heart attacks.

With that in mind, if your New Year’s resolution was to improve your general health, it’s worth looking at In Defense of Food. It’s not going to promise you a South Beach body, nor is it concerned with turning you into a skinny bitch. It is educational, entertaining and interesting, regardless of your health intentions for 2008.