Sunday, May 11, 2008

• You Are What You Eat: Part I

  Currently Reading In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto By Michael Pollan see related

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  Lets be selfish for a moment. Go ahead. You have permission, at least for now! What is the one thing that you should be most concerned with in your life? Clearly, your life! Yet why is it that so many Americans are obese? Why are all these metabolic diseases on the rise? Is it overpopulation? Lack of health care access? How about what you eat? When you consider a McDonalds hamburger doesn't get moldy and fall apart after a few years (link), you might wonder how your body is supposed to handle it!
  
  

  A typical Burger King whopper (with cheese) has 760 calories 47g of total fat 1.5g of which is trans fat, 16g of which is straight saturated fat. It has almost 1.5g of sodium (your daily requirement) and we haven't even added the fries!
  
  A BK large fry has 500 calories 28g of total fat 6g of which is trans fat, 6g of which is straight saturated fat. It has an additional 800mg of salt, and don't even get me started on their breakfast foods. For some reasons, those appear to be worse than lunch and dinner foods (at all fast food joints).[1]

  
  My point with this information is that this stuff isn't food. We did not evolve eating this nutritional grease trap. We lived off of active lifestyles of hunting and gathering and socializing. We ate things that came from the earth which was nutritionally dense and properly proportioned. But the problem is not merely a thing of nutrition. It is more than that. It has to do with our entire lifestyle. Does this mean that to be healthy you need a new life? No! You need to make slight adjustments. If you're veering off your lane in the road you don't jump into the next lane; you do a course correction and turn the wheel back slightly. Today's societies are being led by busy lifestyles and cheap and easy food (i.e., fast food), to think that they need, should desire and believe that all they have available is stuff we want to call food. Guess what? It isn't. That stuff is not food.
  
  Michael Pollen, in his recent book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, provides strong evidence for why we cannot simply trust the science to offer the best suggestion for normative issues like what we ought to eat, and how we ought to cultivate our lands.[2] In his book he argues against the evolved standard of dietary value under the ideology of Nutritionism.[3] Such a view is what I would categorize as a reductionist attempt at justifying nutritional recommendations. The failure, as Pollen develops, is that nutritionism is often wrong, inadequate and simply unadjustable to new relevant facts (the growing awareness and finally altering of nutrition labels in regard to trans fat, e.g.). Though he doesn't focus on the latter points as I would prefer, he does provide sound judgment for how the industrialization of food has led to a mismanagement of agriculture as well as our lives. We have stepped away from the food chain we ought to belong to, and have failed to provide a better one.
  
  To get away from this malformed normative stance science provides in regard to food, Pollen offers three basic ideas: Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants. This advice is rather simple, but clearly not something society seems to prefer. As already provided, the fast food source of consumption is not actually food. At best we might call it a "food product." This is what the industrialization of food has provided for us; we no longer have easy access to actual food but merely food product or food imitation that supermarkets and producers pawn off as food. Unfortunately, we buy into it! When it comes to "eat food" there are some simple tips to keep in mind. The best one is to look at the label. Since Pollen is not a nutritionist, he does not mean analyze the nutrient content. Instead, the simple advice is to look at the number of ingredients.[4] If anyone has ever baked bread before, they know how few ingredients it takes to make bread, even if you add all the nuts and oats and what not. Why, then, does the bread produced by Safeway or is on the shelf made of 30 different ingredients? It is not bread. This is the kind of mindset we need to develop to approach our diets.
  
  Not eating too much involves more than merely "portion control." It involves developing eating habits appropriate to our lifestyle. To quote from Pollen on this subject, from the opening of chapter four, section III:
  
  

  What nutritionism sees when it looks at the French paradox is a lot of slender French people eating gobs of saturated fat washed down with wine. What it fails to see is a people with a completely different relationship to food than we have. Nutritionists pay far more attention to the chemistry of food than to the sociology or ecology of eating. All their studies of the benefits of red wine or foie gras overlook the fact that the French eat very differently than we do. They seldom snack, and they eat most of their food at meals shared with other people. They eat small portions and don't come back for seconds. And they spend considerably more time eating than we do. Taken together, these habits contribute to a food culture in which the French consume fewer calories than we do, yet manage to enjoy them far more.
  

  
  The key to understand here is that dieting may be about the individual, but it is more than that. We have to realize the culture behind it. Echoing advice I've heard from numerous sources (such as on PBS or BBC), we need to listen to our gut. We need to stop eating alone or while preoccupied with other tasks. When we eat we, literally, need to meditate on our food. For many cultures food is important and it is an activity. People get together and spend a long time eating what little food they have. Not only do they enjoy the food, they enjoy the company and the time spend engaged in that dietary habit. More importantly, it gives our body time to register what we're eating and know when one has gotten full, instead of relying on, say, visual cues (the bowl is empty or the TV show is over, e.g.). When it comes to not eating too much, it happens because you know when you're done eating. More importantly, you're done eating when your body has had as much as it wants.
  
  The last important area, beyond having as much as you want, is having what your body does want. When Pollen says "mostly plants" he means it. It is not hard to understand that we did not evolve as carnivores. So why is that we eat so much meat in America? When did the beef take the center stage of our plate? The vegetables have become a side dish accompanying the rice or pasta carb side. When we think of a five course meal with small portions, especially with small pieces of meat that aren't going to be "filling" we scoff at it. Americans love their Baconator![5] Do we really need that much meat in our diet? No, eat plants. Where to get the most nutrient plants that provide those vital nutrients that industrialized food lacks? Consider becoming "local." By this it is meant that we should look to what is grown in the neighborhood.
  
  When becoming a local shopper is to understand that it is not cheaper to have your fruits out of season grown half way around the world. It means understanding that the genetic enhancements, soil adaptations and standards to meet the worldwide shipping needs does not make real food. This industrialization of our food turns it into a product. Nature already knows how to produce food, and your local farmer knows how to work with her. Consider Consumer Supported Agriculture. These are often organic growers who deliver to your home or a drop point, weekly. They grow what is in season and grow a plethora of stuff. They do not dedicate large plots of land to one crop to be used in abundance. They know that it is supportive to get less quantity, but higher quality with a variety of crops. That is what CSA farms offer you. Also consider finding local farmer's markets or healthy stores like Trader Joes. Consider also that many people do try to offer online shipping services, etc. if you cannot find things locally. We live in a very connected world, you are not isolated from fresh healthy nutritional food that is more filling and more fulfilling for your diet.
  
  Organic was also mentioned. Note, just because all farmers do not get surveyed and qualified under the stricter standards of what organic means does not all nonorganic certified farms are not up to par. The main point is to get a relationship built with your local farm or CSA farm. You can even look into getting your meat this way, fed on food they like to eat (grass, e.g.), and not corn, which makes them sick and require antibiotics. I mean, why would you want blood and pus in your milk, anyway?
  
  Mentioned so far was an emphasis of Pollen's articulation of good living tips. They were basic and simple: Eat food, not too much and mostly plants. This easily translates into becoming conscious of what you put into your body. Train yourself to become aware of how gut reaction to your food so you do not eat too much. Change your eating habits. How?
  
  

  Eat a meal, not merely a snack or while you're preoccupied on other things.
  Eat with company, not alone. Enjoy the experience.
  Meditate on your food. Put your fork and knife down between bites. Taste the food. Enjoy the experience.
  Eat at the table. Your desk is not a table. Nor in the car, etc. Do not be preoccupied. Enjoy the experience!
  When you're full, stop eating!
  

  
  Lastly, take responsibility of your life. Be selfish in that way. Give yourself quality food. Give yourself actual food! Make your everyday diet an enjoyable experience you want to spend time doing. Make that experience so wonderful you want to share it with other people. It makes your life better. It makes their life better. It will make all our lives better.
  
  In closing, one other topic to be cognizant of is fair trade. Though usually limited in products, often in coffee and teas, they promote a socioeconomic standard of fairness to workers. We all-too-often neglect the fact the luxuries we enjoy in the developed world come at an unseen cost found in the still developing world. We cannot let businesses exploit people for our mass-consumerism. Living local is important. Living globally responsibly is simply ethical. Living a life of responsibility often requires changing some things. It doesn't require changing a lot, though. Small changes over the long haul often go unnoticed; however, down the road you can be assured of the satisfaction you will have, and for the future that the path you took was a good one.
  
  

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  [1] These facts come from their nutritional information. See others here: BK, Taco Bell, McDonalds, Wendy's, Subway. Don't be afraid to ask for a nutritional fact sheet at the location, I do believe they have to have some on hand. Furthermore, do your own search by just adding "nutrition" to a search of your favorite location. Be aware of what you're eating!
  
  [2] This latter point is more developed in Pollen's other hit The Omnivore's Dilemma.
  
  [3] For a further development on this point see the Disease Proof article on Pollen's literature (link).
  
  [4] Specifically, the subtopic is titled "Avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number, or that include d) high-fructose corn syrup."
  
  [5] Which has 840 calories, over half from the 51g of fat with almost 1.9g of sodium and 200mg of cholesterol.
  

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