www.lifechangesnow.co.uk

Having reflected in my last post on the dangers of over-refined carbohydrates, more grist is added to the dietary mill with the publication of Michael Pollan’s book In Defence of Food.

I have yet to read the book, but from the reviews I have heard and read there are the following messages.

1. Beware of edible food-like substances that are not food. These would be the highly manufactured or refined items ranging from “cakes” with unnaturally long shelf lives to adulterated yogurty things that you can squeeze into your mouth from a tube (ugh!)

2. Think twice about buying anything with more than 5 ingredients or with unpronounceable unfamiliar names. (Jamie Oliver says avoid anything where the list of ingredients reads more like a chemistry lesson than a recipe. For me, if the ingredients list is so long and small I can’t read it then I avoid it.)

3. Remember that the food giants make their money from people who don’t cook from scratch, and have massive political clout, certainly in the US, (and probably in the UK too). Humans deciding what to eat without professional guidance – is seriously unprofitable, Pollon reminds us.

4. Nutritional “wisdom” is constantly shifting because, Pollon says, it knows a lot less than it makes out. Hence the confusing contradictory messages we’re always getting about what we should or shouldn’t be eating.

5. Four of the leading causes of death in the western world have well established dietary links, namely coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer. Yet, research does not seem to be proving a link between low fat diets and a reduction in risk of contracting these illnesses.

6. Pollan says that these killer diseases can be traced directly to the industrialisation of our food; the high level of processing, the use of refined grains, the use of chemicals to raise both plants and animals, the abundance of cheap calories of sugar and fat, and the gradual narrowing of our diet.

7. We can reverse this damage by choosing to escape the western diet and its consequences, by eating meals rather than snacks, eating wild food whenever possible (not sure if he means we should go out and catch rabbits and pigeons or what)

8. Support the resurgence of farmers’ markets, the rise in the organic movement, and local agriculture.

The “eat from scratch” message is getting stronger and stronger. However, if it’s not already part of your family culture you have to make time for this. Cooking properly needs to re-establish itself in the long list of things that we all seem to have to do these days.

Personally I don’t think you have to be completely purist about it. Buying a jar of Seeds of Change pasta sauce (I just checked the list of ingredients – it’s more than 5 but all recognisable!) saves a lot of time and fiddle in rendering down tomatoes for example.

On the days when I’m busy we might eat frozen fish, chips and peas (or pasta) but when I have time, I’m happy to be more creative. It’s about finding a balance. That said I very rarely eat meat from supermarkets because I can’t be sure where it’s come from and what sort of life it’s had. But we do eat the odd tin of soup and sometimes ready made pizzas. Does that mean our family are heading for those dreaded diseases?

I think we just need to keep in mind Pollan’s 7 word message and we won’t go too far wrong.

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants”.

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