“Unhappy Meals” Article
A good friend emailed me the “Unhappy Meals” article by Michael Pollan. It is lengthy, but well worth reading. I took all weekend to get through it. I would have finished sooner but you know how a mom gets interrupted…
What I like about Michael Pollan’s analysis is that he encourages us to focus on foods and not nutrients. This kind of thinking frees us up from picking apart foods for what they supposedly contain and helps us to get back to the basics — focusing on the whole foods that God created for our consumption. Mr. Pollan suggests that people stay away from foods making health claims, for these foods are generally more or highly processed.
…you’re much better off eating whole fresh foods than processed food products. That’s what I mean by the recommendation to eat ”food.” Once, food was all you could eat, but today there are lots of other edible foodlike substances in the supermarket. These novel products of food science often come in packages festooned with health claims, which brings me to a related rule of thumb: if you’re concerned about your health, you should probably avoid food products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food product is a good indication that it’s not really food, and food is what you want to eat.
He includes a great assessment of how scientific studies — focusing on nutrients — are flawed.
Most nutritional science involves studying one nutrient at a time, an approach that even nutritionists who do it will tell you is deeply flawed. The good news is that, to the carrot eater, it doesn’t matter. That’s the great thing about eating food as compared with nutrients: you don’t need to fathom a carrot’s complexity to reap its benefits.
While he seems to believe in a flawed evolutionary principle (that over time our bodies will adjust to consuming high-fructose corn syrup and other processed food stuffs), he suggests that we should recognize that our food is one part of a complex relationship.
”Health” is, among other things, the byproduct of being involved in…relationships in a food chain — involved in a great many of them, in the case of an omnivorous creature like us. Further, when the health of one link of the food chain is disturbed, it can affect all the creatures in it. When the soil is sick or in some way deficient, so will be the grasses that grow in that soil and the cattle that eat the grasses and the people who drink the milk. Or, as the English agronomist Sir Albert Howard put it in 1945 in ”The Soil and Health” (a founding text of organic agriculture), we would do well to regard ”the whole problem of health in soil, plant, animal and man as one great subject.” Our personal health is inextricably bound up with the health of the entire food web.
One fact he shared simply shocked me! Humans historically used to consume 80,000 species of foods — 3,000 of them being in widespread use. Currently, most of the Western diet consists of processed corn, soybeans, wheat and rice. He points out that we require somewhere between 50 and 100 different chemical compounds and elements to be healthy. Then he rightly asks the question: how would it be possible to get those essential elements and compounds from just four processed food sources?
Finally, he concludes the article with 9 points — things you can do to: “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
1. Eat food. Don’t eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
2. Avoid even those food products that come bearing health claims. They’re apt to be heavily processed, and the claims are often dubious at best.
3. Especially avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable c) more than five in number — or that contain high-fructose corn syrup.
4. Get out of the supermarket whenever possible. Head for a Farmer’s Market.
5. Pay more, eat less.
6. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
7. Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks. Confounding factors aside, people who eat according to the rules of a traditional food culture are generally healthier than we are.
8. Cook. And if you can, plant a garden.
9. Eat like an omnivore. Try to add new species, not just new foods, to your diet.
– Read “Unhappy Meals” article by Michael Pollan for the full discussion on these 9 points.
Many more arguments are made, in depth, in the article. Please consider reading it. I cannot possibly mention all the things he addressed which made an impact on me.
Sweet,
THE LION THAT WOULDN’T EAT MEAT…
Here is a link to an article at that describes a lion that refused to eat meat. Although the whole article is fascinating, footnote 3 reiterates a common belief that the Biblical flood may caused the extinction of many protein-rich plant species.
“Many plants are now extinct; it is highly likely that there were very rich protein sources in the pre-Fall / pre-Flood plant kingdom.”
If true, this explains why God, in Genesis 9:3, revised His list of foods suitable to man:
“Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things even as the green herbs.”
1437,
Jeffrey.
Hi, sweetie. What a lion! What an article! Thanks for linking to it here.
So do you think that the 80,000 species that humans have historically eaten is a pre-Flood or post-Flood number?
Love you, Wardeh
What interesting pieces of the article! The longer I live the more I see the need for eating whole foods. You should see the difference in my weight loss when I eat whole foods compared to times I do not.
The child’s robe you made is *beautiful*!!
The dessert you made a few entries down looks incredible. Something to add to my list of things to make after I’ve lost all my extra weight.
Hugs & Love, Robin
I finished my brother’s t-shirt quilt on Thursday and mailed it on Friday. I am so glad to be finished with that now. It was more difficult than I thought it would be to sew - sewing old t-shirts to new ones, fitting them together properly. My next sewing adventure will be both aprons and a new lap quilt for us. This one will include a multitude of paisley fabrics I collected over several years.
Have a wonderful Tuesday, my friend.
Thanks for passing on the info - what an interesting article! As a working mom, I have trouble finding the “good” foods mentioned, but I try. Sometimes it’s just easier to open a can of Chef Boyardee or order a pizza!
Jen, you have a challenge there with being a working mom. I want to encourage you to do what you can and trust the Lord with the rest. Perhaps you can make and freeze meals over the weekend for the week? Try to choose more fresh whole foods rather than processed options. If I can ever help you, please let me know! Love, Wardeh
Wardeh,
I’ve also found Michael Pollan’s writings to be very thought provoking. While you are correct in your observation of his evolutionary worldview, which features more prominently in his books, there is much to be gleaned from his work. I would recommend ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’ if you’re interested in reading more by him.
I found your blog from T2CHK, and I have really enjoyed reading! Having been raised in the typical American way - fast, cheap, and easy - I’m slowly learning how to use real foods and, more importantly, how to glorify God in my food choices. Your blog has been very helpful in this endeavor
Hi, Dawn! If I can ever help you with anything specific, please let me know! I am excited for you to be on the road to eating more whole foods.
I do want to read more from Michael Pollan. Thank you for the recommendation! Love, Wardeh
What a wonderful article - this has made me think quite a bit. I have been trying to eat in a much healthier way in the past year, but I still put a lot of chemical laden foods on the dinner table for my family - as summer approaches I find it much easier to prepare purer foods.
Thank you so much.
You’re welcome, Ellen! And it is good to see you again.
Love, Wardeh
Great blog - great article.
We are trying to homeschool our five kids and be self-sufficient on our 6 acres and I’ve just found your inspiring site.
Just to add though that, as a creationist pastor, I have no issue with our bodies adapting (or even “evolving” for want of a better term) to different foods. We see short-term micro-evolution within a species in the animals we breed. Our goats need more copper than other breeds of goats, for example. That said, I’m not sure high-fructose corn syrup will ever benefit us!
Hello! Well, I hope you’re alot farther on this journey of self-sufficiency than we are!
I appreciate your comment about adaption. Certainly we agree on that point, and I like your example of goats that you raise.
When Jeff & I discussed the particular argument made by Michael Pollan (that over time our bodies would be able to process high fructose corn syrup) we felt that since God designed our bodies to be fueled by food — true food — then our bodies would never adapt to using corn syrup as a true fuel. What I mean is, perhaps we would get to the point where we wouldn’t get so sick (obesity, diabetes, etc.) from it, but we’d never be able to use it for good nutrition. Which you said — “I’m not sure high-fructose corn syrup will ever benefit us!” So, I think we agree.
Thanks for chiming in on this discussion. And God bless your family!
Love, Wardeh
What a great article. It is going to take a while for me to absorb it since it is so information heavy but totally worth the effort.