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 enlarge | Author: Michael Pollan
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy New: $11.84
You Save: $10.11 (46%)
New (75) Used (34) Collectible (5) from $10.33
Rating:  192 reviews
Sales Rank: 115
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 1594201455
Dewey Decimal Number: 613.2
EAN: 9781594201455
ASIN: 1594201455
Publication Date: January 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Showing reviews 126-130 of 192
 an education February 27, 2008
E. J. Green (Dunedin, New Zealand)
This book is one that you can dip into and read from almost any point. I read the first 30 or so pages in order and got the gist of its purpose, then opened a page at random and read, going back to the point I'd left off at to read more later. It is gripping, very carefully researched but stunningly simple in its message. I like the way it's written very much and find the concepts so simple that to not follow them only serves to complicate my nutritional needs. It advocates back to basics in an amusing but realistic way, so a love of gardening, cooking and life are all interwoven for me!
Eating is Right. I also recommend February 26, 2008
Carol "Colorado" Lee (Denver, CO (USA))
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Eating is Right. I recommend it highly. Real food. No diet remedy. It's a no Brainer. However, our society has said eat less and less, more and more substitutes, take herbs, boosters, blasters. In Defense of Food takes an age-old remedy that was advanced in OA, real food, the opposite of dieting. For the right eating with real food and real food recipes I also recommend Overeaters Anonymous Very Low Carbohydrate Food Plan: Greysheet Recipes. It is a beautiful book. I bought "For the Original OA..." because I'm on the very low carb food plan. It has great recipes. I really like the protein and vegetable recipes. I can never think of enough things to do with vegetables. Now I know what other people are cooking. I'm glad to learn more about phone and in person meetings. I never knew where the term "greysheet" came from. I have wanted to learn more about it for a long time.
This will change the way you think of food! February 25, 2008
Jen
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Is what you're eating actually food? Think about the long list of ingredients you now see in some of your favorite snack foods. We are getting further and further away from eating healthy even though most companies are stamping their products with health claims. Getting Vitamin E that has been infused into Whole Grain White Bread is not the same as getting Vitamin E from its natural source (almonds, olive oil and avocado for example). This book teaches you how to shop and avoid "food" items that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize. This book also encourages you to find a way to start eating locally and introduced the term CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to me. You can go to [...] to find CSA's near you.
Makes you start to wonder if the reason people get life-threatening illnesses and are overweight are not only because of the bad foods they eat but the good foods they're not eating. I'm of course not saying this is the cause of all diseases, not even close. But I do think that we don't take advantage of what was naturally given to us to help fight off diseases.
I'm a Weight Watchers leader and although Weight Watchers definitely promotes these healthy guidelines I'm starting to see many people eating "substitution foods" instead of real food to lose weight (they'll eat fiber-enhanced bread or Splenda-sweetened anything before choosing fruits or vegetables). I'm guilty of this too but now am intrigued by this new (yet old-fashioned) idea of eating and purchasing real food God gave us. It may cost more but I'm thinking it's worth it in the long run.
Although it's almost impossible to avoid everything that's not 100% natural, I've definitely been making several changes. I've switched from "light" breads and english muffins to 100% whole wheat (watch out for the 100% whole wheat breads out there...several aren't), I'm starting to eat more fruits and vegetables and have decided to have whole wheat pasta and brown rice almost all of the time now. Plus I'm starting to buy more bulk food from the local Good Food Store (like wheat flour and steel cut oats). Change is good :)
 Offers no real resolution February 25, 2008
Bookreporter.com (New York, New York)
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
After reading Michael Pollan's IN DEFENSE OF FOOD, I was reminded of an old illustration by macabre cartoonist Gahan Wilson.
An elderly couple was shopping at the supermarket, surrounded by boxes and cans bearing the label "crap" and less polite euphemisms. In the tagline, the husband tells his wife, "And it keeps getting more expensive." If Pollan is right, the majority of what we eat these days is not actually "food" in the traditional sense of the word; they're more a collection of chemicals and preservatives injected into established products (enriched bread, etc.) or creating an entirely new one (squeezable yogurt).
IN DEFENSE OF FOOD considers the relatively new (and questionable) science of "nutritonism," whose purpose is to make the consumer believe that he or she is getting the most nutritional bang for the buck (Vitamins in your water! Essential fish oil in your eggs!). But these promises only cover up the fact that the quality has been diluted and, consequently, in need of fixing.
Pollan concentrates on the food chain: "You are what you eat eats." If cows and chickens dine on a diet rich in corn products, that eventually ends up in the end-user. If, on the other hand, they are fed a variety of grasses, the consumer benefits as well.
The "Western Diet" consists of "lots of processed foods, lots of added fats and sugar, lots of everything --- except vegetables, fruits, and whole grains." Pollan attributes this way of life to the increased incidence of obesity, especially in young people.
With food manufacturers adding vitamins, minerals and whole grains, one would think we had our bases covered. Not so, says Pollan, whose previous book THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA might be considered a prequel to IN DEFENSE OF FOOD. What could be bad about adding those "nutrients," improving products like breads, cereals and dairy products? Nothing, on the face of it, but those cheap calories are the source of all kinds of health issues, says the author, suggesting that the best way to counter the effects of modern culinary life is to shun anything that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
The problem is, what is the reader to do with this information?
Pollan spends the major portion of his book elaborating on the problems caused by both the Western Diet and the attempts to battle it through nutritionsim. He concludes this slim volume with observations that seem like common sense once you see them in print: Rather than concentrating on breakfast, lunch and dinner, the tendency is to "graze" throughout the day. When did it become acceptable to nibble at your desk rather than confine eating to the lunch period? How have eating habits at home --- especially the decline of dining as a family unit --- impacted on poor nutritional habits (not to mention the subsequent toll on relationships)?
Pollan suggests patronizing farmers' markets to obtain the freshest foods available as a reasonable alternative to buying off-season produce that has to be shipped from thousands of miles, at a cost not just in dollars, but in impact to the environment. However, as he has written, there is still the "hand-me-down" concern of how the produce is grown or the baked goods prepared.
In short, Pollan brings all these topics to light, but he can offer no real resolution. One detail just opens the door to larger issues lurking under the surface.
--- Reviewed by Ron Kaplan (RonKaplanNJ@comcast.net)
 Michael Pollan: In defense of food February 25, 2008
Reidun Stenvik (Norway)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
It is a very interesting book, and I do agree with the authors message that is eat food, not too much and mostly plants. It is however difficult to fully practice his advice when you go shopping. At least I try to buy mostly food, not nutrients. Pollan's language is easy to understand, and that is good when Engish is not your mother tongue.
Reidun Stenvik, Norway
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