In Defense of Food (a review)

I just read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. Last year I read his book The Omnivore's Dilemma and LOVED it! So I was really excited to read this new book. I realize I'm kind of a geek to get so excited about social commentaries about food as well as the food economy. Guilty. I still love them though.

So he starts out by explaining why another book about food. In the Omnivore's Dilemma he goes into extreme detail to map out food systems. But he never did say what it is he now eats after doing all this research about how our food gets to our table. So in this book he does. He basically boils it down to "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." This reminds me of Marion Nestle's advice, "Eat less. Move more. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Go easy on the junk". Which is advice I have taken straight to heart.

The book is broken down into 3 parts. The first explains how we have gotten away from eating foods, and now worship the cult of nutritionism which is instead eating nutrients. So instead of eating carrots because we like carrots, and we know that carrots are good for us, we eat carrots because we are trying to get more beta carotene. And then we may wonder if we really need to eat the carrots and instead take a beta carotene supplement. Then we wonder why we just aren't that healthy. We talked about this in my advanced nutrition class last year. My professor pointed out that nutritionists have found that supplements usually fail to do what a good balanced diet does. We obviously don't know everything about what is in food and how the body digests food. The sum of the parts don't equal the whole.

Section 2 talks about the Western Diet. He goes into how most traditional diets, whether vegetarian, mostly meat, high fat, low fat or anything else, have tended to have populations with far less incidence of disease. Pretty much any diet is healthy but the Western Diet. But maybe that is because we have gotten away from eating real food and instead eat a lot of refined foodlike substances that are primarily made of corn, wheat or soy, repackaged artfully to seem like different types of food. It looks like a diverse diet, but it's not. And of course there is the conspicuous absence of fruits and vegetables. Lots of meat (raised on corn,wheat and soy), lots of processed foods packed with refined starches (corn, wheat and soy), lots of sugar (more corn), trans fats (corn, soy) and salt. We are plagued with excess calories and still we are
undernourished, a feat not really thought possible before.

Section 3 goes into the basic "rules" or guidelines he follows as a result of his research. 1) Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize. Go-gurt anyone?
2) Avoid food with ingredeints that are a) unfamiliar b)unpronouceable c)more than 5 in number and d) include high fructose corn syrup.
3) Avoid foods that make health claims (I mostly agree with this, but I love me some Cheerios). 4) Shop the perimeter of the store
5)Get out of the supermarket if possible and instead patronize farmer's markets, CSAs or grow a garden.
6) Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
7) Remember you are what your food eats too
8)If you have the space, buy a freezer.
9) Eat well grown food from healthy soils.
10) Eat wild foods when you can
11) Be the kind of person that eats supplements, but then don 't.
12) Eat more like the French, or the Italians, or the Japanese, or the Indians, or the Greeks...(those who have traditional diets tend to be healthier)
13) Don't look for the magic bullet in a traditional diet (enjoy your food, don't just eat...dine.)
14)Have a glass of wine with dinner
15)Pay more, eat less.
16) Eat meals. Don't snack and graze your way through the day.
17) Do all your eating at the table.
18)Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.
19) Try not to eat alone.
20) Consult your gut. (Stop eating if you are full. If the food makes you feel like crap, don't eat it).
21) Eat slowly.
22) Cook. And if you can plant a garden.

I've spent many, many years reading nutrition books and the latest diet books. For a little while I felt totally messed up. I've got lots of fitness fanatic friends. I've got friends that follow strict diets. I've tried them myself. About a year and a half ago I decided I was done. No more diets, not more diet books, no more latest nutrient, no more supplements. I just wanted to eat. And at first I let myself just eat a lot of crap. Did I gain weight? Not really. I've been about the same weight for 2 years. Then I read the Omnivore's Dilemma and decided that my gut feeling that organic foods really are the best idea for health and the planet. Then I read Marion Nestle's book What to Eat. I loved that she is a nutritionist but has a totally common sense approach to food. I made my New Year's Resolution: Eat LOADS of fruits and vegetables. I've done pretty well so far. Recently I have decided I am ready to try to lose the 20 lbs I need to shed. And the seduction of weight loss products started to creep back in. Should I do a cleanse? Should I talk to my doctor about weight loss medications? Should I give up starchy foods? And then this book reminded me of what I really think the key to weight loss is: Eat less, move more, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, go easy on the junk. Eat food, not much, mostly plants. It's a simple as that.

The Dilemma of Laundry

Laundry. I hate it. I hate sorting it, soaking it, folding it, and especially putting it all away. I daydream about the day M and Z can do their own. R? I should make him do his own, but I figure, he does support the family and all. I'll give him a pass for now.



So as much as I already dislike the chore, I find it is beginning to bring about a whole new level of stress beyond "Do I really have to do it?". Am I doing it in the "right" way? The most environmental way?



I try to do full loads. It is rare that I do a smaller emergency load. I generally wash in cold unless it is whites. I buy a "green" detergent from Costco. Is it really green? I don't know, I just believe it is because they say it is. I haven't found the time to research my laundry products. Does it work as well? Not as well as say, Tide with bleach, but it is acceptable. Does it cost more? More than Costco's Kirkland brand. About equal to Tide. I've begun adding Borax. This I know is environmentally OK. I use it to boost the only acceptable detergent. It's a new cost, but minimal. About $3.50 for a box that last's about 2 weeks. I used to use Clorox 2, then I switched to Purex all fabric bleach for colors. Now I'm using nothing. Are my clothes as clean? No. I use more Spray n Wash now, which I'm sure is a no-no. I tried several environmentally correct stain fighters. None really worked all that well and they cost a fortune. I don't use a fabric softener in the wash. And then there is the bleach problem. I tried not using it for awhile. My white towels, which I bought because they were "simpler" because they all matched, didn't fade and I could always bleach them white again, require bleach to stay white. Then I found out bleach was bad. So my towels began to get dingy. Plus what about Z's "accidents"? I sure do like to bleach his little undies white again, plus I know they are really clean. Not sure if just hot water would kill all the germs. So I began to use bleach again. But now I feel guilty. This month's Martha Steward Living says to use Oxigenated Bleach instead. They show a photo of an environmentally correct brand. Will Oxi-Clean work? Or is there something in there that isn't good? And does it kill germs as well as clean stuff? More research to do.



And then there is the dryer. In the summer I hang 90% of our laundry outside. I don't really mind crunchy clothes. I learned that using less detergent actually leaves your clothes softer. But in the winter I have to move this operation inside and it takes a lot longer for everything to dry. So when I do use the dryer, once again I try to do full loads, do them in succession to take advantage of a hot dryer, and always clean my lint trap. But I used to use Bounce to tame the ever dreaded static cling. I'm guessing there is something petroleum based in there (research, anyone?) so I bought an environmentally friendly claiming brand at Wal-mart (of all places, which is whole different rant). The clothes are softish, but it does almost nothing for static cling. Seriously, folding socks is a shocking experience, and I keep finding stray socks in my pants.



I have no concrete answers and certainly don't claim to be the pillar of environmental living. I try very hard to do the best thing for our environment. I really do care. But sometimes I get so sick of how hard it is to do simple things like laundry. It would be nice if all so called "green" products really were and there weren't any money hungry corporations out there willing to take a buck they don't deserve by touting their "green"ness, when you read later that they aren't really. It would be nice to live in a world where people wouldn't want to sell you anything that will cause algae blooms or kill ocean wildlife or build up toxins in their bodies, which inevitably we eat and end up building up in our own and children's bodies. What if all products were OK for the environment and our bodies because that was all our society allowed? It would be nice if good products weren't half the size and twice as much. It would be nice if I didn't care if my whites were blindingly white or my clothes soft and static free. There is plenty of blame to go around.



I guess change happens from right where you are. If I do a little better, learn a little more, and decide to put my money where my mouth is, change will come. Hopefully, others will make changes as well and the momentum will pick up. I am a hopeful, optimistic person. I believe that change will come and we will figure out a way out of the mess we've made. It starts with people like me thinking about simple things, like laundry.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some research to do.

Peace.

Nature is Amazing!

I thought I'd give a quick snippet about life around here lately.

Snow, snow and more snow. Wow. It is hard to believe we could get so much snow in such a short time. I've always figured, if we have to have winter, it may as well snow. And boy have we.

So today I took the Z-ster sledding with our Mommy Group. Oh my gosh we had fun! I definitely counted it towards my workout for the day. Lots of walking uphill, followed by zooming, shrieking and laughing. And of course bowling other children over. Z managed to knock our friend Carson over, right in the gut. Carson managed to laugh it off and keep going. Then Z hit his cousin A, who is very petite, in the back. It knocked the wind right out of her, poor thing. My sensitive little Z was yelling, "Did I hurt her?! Did I hurt her?!, Oh NO!!!" I didn't know who to feel worse for. Both managed to recover and a good time was had by all.

M had cub Scouts today. As we pulled in the driveway after I picked him up we were greeted by this sight:

Amazing aren't they?

We are so fortunate to live where we are reminded of the magnificent world we live in.

Back on the Chain Gang

I'm getting a job. Or at least, I'm pretty sure I am.

I have been pretty adamant that I was NOT going back to work. I've got 2 smallish kids, lots of activities, a household and a husband with erratic work schedule. I have refused to add another responsibility to my daily schedule. I have said I would rather move and/or cut back expenses to the bare minimum rather than spend 40 hours working for someone else's bottom line and then come home and do all the rest of my work, all for a pitiful amount of money. My life energy is worth more than that.

I've been praying for the right gig to come along. Something that meets all my requirements and takes care of most of my concerns. Those concerns have been:
* not paying for M to also go to after-school care (in other words, being available to pick him up from school at 3:15)
*making a reasonable amount more than I am paying for Z to go to the Winner school.
*dealing with Z's bowel problems and not expecting someone else to deal with them.
*not being in an environment where the company's wants and needs must supersede my own.
*getting help around the house.

And then I had the IDEA. Why not work at the Winner School. I love the place. Z is already there and if I am working there, he is pretty much free. And I could be there for the inevitable accidents. That kills 3 birds with one stone. They are always looking for subs at a minimum, which would give me flexibility to start off with and a foot in the door. People work there forever, which shows me that it must be a pretty decent place to work. Plus it just sounds kinda fun. Which I really couldn't say about any of the other jobs I considered.

So I filled out an application. Their receptionist told me that she is pretty sure I could at least sub to start and she would give my app to the owner who incidentally knows my mom from the gym. So now I'm just waiting for a call.

I hope it is all I want it to be!