|
| 
 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
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 131-135 of 192
 Food for thought... February 25, 2008
J. Barbour (London)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
An enjoyable and easy read which makes obvious a lot of what most intelligent people should know already.
 Eat Like Your Grandpa February 25, 2008
Uitlander (Upstate New York)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is an important and inviting book to read. The barely 200 pages are loaded with common sense about eating that stike an intuitive chord of approval. It is the nature of the analytical sciences to search for the single element responsible for good or poor health. Alas, opinions change as readily as hemlines. Vitamins, fats, carbs, proteins and more have all had good and bad years depending on the research. Enough. Michael Pollan says it's not any one category that's good or bad. Scores of varied diets have proven healthy in diverse parts of the globe. (The Inuit stay healthy on blubber.) The one diet that seems a failure is the Western diet of laboratory made ingredients that are pumped into thousands of supermarket items and sold to hurried Americans for the sake of expediency. Traditionally, eating habits have developed slowly with the help of evolution selecting courses and combinations that yield healthy fertile couples. Americans have surrendered this right to a few corporate giants and advertisers. There is an inverse relationship between our expenditures for food and medical care. Food is cheaper than ever, but Americans are fatter and sicker than ever.
The solution, says Pollan, is to go back to unadulterated products such as your grandparents ate. He makes the case very well. There is even evidence that the vegetables and meats produced a century ago, were more nutritious than todays factory-farm products. (Plants and animals need full-spectrum foods themselves. Present day farms dispense chemicals as liberally as the packagers.) This will not be easy for many families. Our culture does not embrace the routine. Yet, some countries have ritualized the growing, preparation and consumption of food in a way that I have come to admire. Peasants knew they had little control over their circumstances. But food was a realm that was little pestered and our ancestors seemed to know that control over that plate of food was as important a right as voting.
Pollan has written several books about food and all are highly recommended. OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA astounded me with facts about the operation of present day agriculture. But for now, I have garden seed to order... healthier days beckon.
In Defense of Food February 24, 2008
Lisa Cicone
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I just love this author. He brings pure information to you in a way that is clear and objective. Reading his books seems more like having a conversation with a close from over coffee.
 Not Bad, But Not His Best Book February 24, 2008
Tonstant Weader
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
I read and loved Pollan's THE BOTANY OF DESIRE, an accessible and fascinating book. But frankly, I was disappointed by IN DEFENSE OF FOOD, which seemed to glide onto the best-seller list on the strength of his previous work. It seemed a bit "phoned-in," with highly technical passages punctuated by a few jokey comments and bits of simplistic advice. What he has to say is good as far as it goes, but a broader-ranging and more convincingly argued book is GOOD FOOD TASTES GOOD, by Carol Hart. Although far less publicized, Hart's book is far more clear, compelling, and informative.
Back to Nature February 22, 2008
Bozena Klejne (BC, Canada)
185 out of 187 found this review helpful
It is so good to read a book about nutrition that does not promote any new diet! The author's message is plain and simple: Go back to nature, eat wholesome foods, and don't bother with dieting. Don't overeat; instead eat slowly, and enjoy your meals - such notion has already been promoted by Mireille Guiliano in her bestseller "French Women Don't Get Fat".
Our curse is processed food. The dieting industry completely distorted our feeding process. Our desire to improve everything and to separate 'needed' ingredients from the 'unneeded' ones leads us to refining most of our food products. However, our artificially 'improved' food only seemingly has the same nutritious qualities as natural food. Artificial and natural foods have as little in common as silk roses with real ones.
Processed food is easily obtainable, doesn't require much work to prepare, and, unfortunately, it is often also addictive. At the same time it is full of calories with very small nutritional content.
Like "The Omnivore's Dilemma", Pollan's new book is indeed eye-opening. It makes us think twice about what we are going to put into our mouths the next time we eat. For more reading about the danger of refined foods I strongly recommend Can W e Live 150 - another book devoted to living in agreement with nature, and revealing the secrets of healthy diet.
|
|
|
. | |
