REVIEW - Eat, Drink and Be Healthy

I’ve always been a fan of books written various Harvard Schools.  Perhaps it’s the business student in me, but they always seem to be well written, informative, thorough and objective.  So when I saw a national best seller nutrition book written by a pair of Harvard professors, I figured I’d pick it up and see what the fuss was all about.  What I found was a bit more and a bit less than what I expected.

What It’s All About

The authors of Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating have a problem.  They see the new food pyramid that the USDA has come up along with the accompanying dietary guidelines and, instead of seeing a good plan to follow, they find it to be a disaster in the making.  They have a variety of issues with the USDA information, the most important of which are:

• They are not based on science
• They are based on the lobbying of the US agriculture industry
• They don’t make distinctions between good and bad components of the same food group.  Good and bad fats for example.

I tend to agree with all of these issues, especially the second one.  I urge people to remember that the purpose of the United States Department of Agriculture is to promote agriculture.  It is NOT to promote good health.  Most folks I talk to tend to believe that the USDA has their best interests in mind.  The truth is that it does not.  The USDA is not the department of health, nor is it an organization concerned with good nutrition.  It is an arm of the government concerned with the promotion and success of US farmers, cattle ranchers and other food producers.  As such, its dietary guidelines are written in a way which makes them seem healthy but in fact they’re written to promote US farming products.

The authors have gone a step further and identified what they say are the worst issues with the USDA guidelines:

1. All fats are bad - This is wrong, there are many good fats.
2. All carbohydrates are good - Again, wrong.  There are good carbs and bad carbs.
3. All protein sources are created equal - No true at all.  Organic chicken for example is far better than factory produced pork.
4. Dairy products are essential - Not true.  Man kind did not evolve to consume a huge amount of calories from the milk of cows.
5. Eat your potatoes - This is a horrible idea for most people and yet a large majority of Americans consume many of their calories from potatoes.
6. No guidance on weight, exercise, alcohol or vitamins - The USDA pyramid and most of the USDA’s information has no advice on these important items.

That said, the authors have decided to come up with a better food pyramid and a better set of dietary guidelines overall.  They themselves admit that nutrition research has been a confusing issue over the past few decades.  Nutrition research comes and goes and what was bad yesterday may be good tomorrow.  This is all true, although they make a strong case for most of the flip flops being based on bad science and rumor rather than good science and research.  At the same time, they have collected an amazing amount of data from a variety of sources.  So while this information may change as we learn more about food and the human body, it does represents some of the best science we have today.

The Core

Out of all the data and research which the authors collected, they have come up with a few basic rules for a good eating plan.

• Watch your weight - Yep, it seems almost too basic to be mentioned but it’s worth noting that even the best diet will be bad for you if you eat too much.
• Eat fewer bad fats and more good fats - The book reviews a variety of good fat sources such as fish, nuts and more.  Meats are treated fairly and the book also provides vegetarian options.
• Eat fewer refined grain carbs and more whole grain carbs - I know many of you think carbs in general are evil, but it’s hard to argue with this rule.  If you eat less white bread and more whole grain bread you’re definitely taking a step forward.  Sure, you can take a bigger step by lowering grain consumption overall but one small step at a time.  The authors provide a variety of tips on grains and how to eat them.
• Choose healthier sources of protein - Yes, this goes out to all of you who think your bacon wrapped steaks are a good idea :)  It’s not!  Protein is good.  Healthy protein sources are better.  A reasonable consumption level of healthy protein sources is best.  I liked the authors rankings of protein sources and they also provide a good set of ideas for vegetarians who may struggle to get enough protein in their diets.
• Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits but hold the potatoes - I don’t really need to go into detail on this one, do I?  The authors do and they give a good amount of information about other root vegetables which we may want to avoid like potatoes.
• Use alcohol in moderation - Yep, one small drink a day is good for you.  Note the emphasis on small.  This is not an excuse to drink a six pack a day.  A small drink is a glass of wine or a single beer.
• Take a multi vitamin for insurance - Even assuming you follow their guidelines, the authors believe you should still take a multivitamin every day, just as insurance.  I have to agree.  Considering the cost is around 10 cents a day and there are no negative side effects, I can’t see how this is anything but a good thing.

The rest of the book goes into detail on these rules and gives a whole lot of information on how to implement them.  It also has sample recipes and menus, all of which sounded really tasty.

So Is It Worth Buying?

Depends.  Are you interested in the details or is the quick summary above enough for you?  For most people, I think this book is a bit too much.  You can read the rules above and get 80% of the books value.  Sure, the rest is interesting but it’s very detailed and might bore a lot of people.  For me, it was fascinating, but that’s because I appreciate reading all the little details.

If you’re a beginner looking for ways to improve your diet, this is not the book for you.  You’re better off with something like Mark Sisson’s The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram Your Genes for Effortless Weight Loss, Vibrant Health, and Boundless Energy or YOU: The Owner’s Manual, Updated and Expanded Edition: An Insider’s Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger.  Those are excellent books for beginners looking to learn more about their bodies.  However, if you’re into the fine print of how your body works and want to learn a lot more about proper nutrition, then Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating is an excellent source of information.

Review - The Primal Blueprint

Long time readers of 60 in 3 know that I greatly enjoy Mark Sisson’s articles over at Mark’s Daily Apple.  I may not always agree with him, but his posts are thought provoking, educational and informative.  So I was quite happy to hear that Mark was taking his primal blueprint for health and putting it into a book form titled appropriately enough, The Primal Blueprint.

Style

As usual, Mark’s writing is great.  The chapters are well laid out and include multiple examples which are easy to understand.  While there are some high end biology, genetics and nutrition discussions, all of them are well explained.  In other words, this isn’t just a book for fitness enthusiasts, it’s also accessible for people who are just now getting into a healthier mindset.  That said, even the best written book is useless if the content is bad, so let’s examine what the primal blueprint is all about.

Overall

Mark believes, as do I, that people need to get back to their roots.  Health wise, he sees our primitive ancestors as leading extremely healthy lifestyles from a variety of aspects.  His model, a caveman named Grok, does everything right and treats his body well.  By comparison, Mark uses chapter two of the book to show us a modern family by the name of Korg, Grok backwards, and how the modern lifestyle is extremely unhealthy.  So far so good, I like this philosophy, but is there something actionable in the book?  The answer is absolutely.

The primal blueprint is a set of rules for how to live a healthier lifestyle by emulating our ancestors.  This blueprint is laid out in chapter one and each rule is further detailed in subsequent chapters.  I’m going to list the rules out here and give a brief opinion on each.  For more information on them, visit Mark’s site or buy the book.

The Primal Blueprint Rules

1. Eat Lots of Plants, Animals and Insects - I like this rule, yes, even the insects part.  Too many of us limit our diets to just a few specific ingredients.  In the US, a majority of food seems to be beef, chicken, potatoes, wheat and corn.  That’s a bad thing and health conscious individuals will attempt to change this.
2. Avoid Poisonous Things - Well, that’s a no brainer, right?  Seems smart to avoid drinking that drain cleaner.  Except Mark isn’t just talking about obvious poisons.  He’s referring to all the modern crap that people put into their systems.  That means excess carbs, preservatives, processed sugars, caffeine and a variety of others.  I’m not sure I agree with Mark’s policies on whole wheat foods, but otherwise I think he’s spot on.
3. Move Frequently At A Slow Pace - Mark’s recommended physical activity is slow and moderate paced movement.  Things like walking, biking and hiking.  Can’t argue with him on this one, except that Mark argues against prolonged cardio like jogging and makes some very convincing arguments against it.
4. Lift Heavy Things - Makes sense.  Challenge your muscles and build a better body.  This one I agree with and I like Mark’s emphasis on natural, compound exercises like squats and lunges.  The primal blueprint recommends explosive, all out efforts rather than slow and gradual by the way, something I’m not sure I agree with.  However, that’s a minor quibble.
5. Run Really Fast Once In A While - Rather than prolonged cardio, Mark believes in the occasional all out effort.  Sprints are a great example of this.
6. Get Adequate Sleep - No argument here.  This is one of the basic rules of healthy living.
7. Play - Again, no argument.  If you can combine physical activity with fun, you’re doing great.
8. Get Plenty of Sunlight - Just not too much!
9. Avoid Stupid Mistakes - Which basically translates to “don’t walk into traffic”.  Not sure how Mark reconciles this with his snowboarding but hey, it’s definitely a good rule to follow.
10. Use Your Brain - Great last rule to finish with.  Fitness isn’t just about the body.  We need to pay attention to the most important muscle of all, their brains.  Use it or lose it folks!

Is the Primal Blueprint Worth Reading?

Absolutely.  Even if you disagree with some of what Mark says you’re still going to find a lot of worthwhile information here.  Plus the Korg chapter alone is worth the price of the book because it shows us just how unhealthy our modern lives have become.  However, there’s a more important question here.

Is the Primal Blueprint Worth Following?

That is, is this a healthy way to live?  For the most part, I think so.  I agree with Mark on 80% of what he says.  Still, there’s a lot that seems off to me.  Whole wheat is bad?  Jogging is bad?  Cavemen are healthier than modern men?  Mm…  Still, I’m an open minded person and I feel odd rejecting this idea out of hand.  After all, there’s a lot here that makes sense.  So

The 60 in 3 Primal Blueprint Challenge

For the next couple of months, June and July, I’ve decided to adopt the Primal Blueprint in its entirety and see what kind of a difference it makes in my life.  That means the following:

• No more jogging.  Trading this in for occasional sprints and more hiking and walking.
• Eliminate those poisons.  No more breads, pastas, rice, caffeine, sugar and the rest.  Yes, even whole wheat.
• Add a bit more protein to my diet.  Yes, that means eating more meat.  I’ve already found a local farmers market vendor who has great organic beef, chicken and venison plus another vendor who sells fresh fish.
• Focus on vegetables, fruits and nuts for my other nutritional requirements.
• Change my weight lifting routine to be a bit faster in line with Mark’s recommendations.

I’ll blog about my progress here in a series called The Primal Blueprint.  At the end of July, we’ll see how I feel.  That’s when I can tell you if the Primal Blueprint makes for a good lifestyle and not just a great book.

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Mark’s site can be found here: Mark’s Daily Apple

Mark’s book can be found here: The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram Your Genes for Effortless Weight Loss, Vibrant Health, and Boundless Energy

Boxing Workout

As owner and author of 60 in 3, I tend to get various offers for free stuff.  Most of the time they’re for things I’m not interested in.  Things like diet pills, weird workout gadgets, energy bars and so on.  On rare occasions though, someone comes through with an offer that’s interesting enough for me to look at.  That’s what happened to me last week with LA Boxing.

LA Boxing is a string of gyms spread all around the US which specialize in boxing and boxing related workouts.  Their PR rep made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse.  “Come down to one of our gyms and try out a boxing workout.  Then tell us what you think.”  This came at a perfect time for me since I’ve been thinking about buying a punching bag for my house and I’ve been wanting to try out boxing for a while.  So last Saturday morning I went the local LA Boxing gym in San Jose and spent an hour training.  Note that this was not some special class that they set up for me.  This was their normal Saturday morning class with their regular customers.

First Impressions

My first thoughts as I entered the gym were “huh, this is not what I was expecting.”  Maybe I’ve seen too many boxing movies, but I was expecting a run down gym filled with men hitting one another.  Instead, LA boxing has just one ring, a few exercise machines and class workout area filled with punching bags.  Everything was clean and well maintained.  Also, the customer base included a lot of women and children.  The ratio of women to men was actually a lot higher than any other gym I’ve been to.

Equipment

Each participant picked a punching bag and had boxing gloves.  That was all the equipment necessary.  Gloves were provided by the gym if you didn’t have any.  I would also recommend hand wraps since without them, you’re going to scrape some skin off your knuckles.

The Workout

I’m not sure what I expected from a boxing workout.  A lot of punching a bag I suppose.  What I got was very different.  We started out with the gloves off doing a bit of calisthenics to warm up.  Jumping jacks, push ups, crunches, lunges, jumping squats and so on.  Fast sets with the instructor urging us on.  After 5 or so minutes, we stretched for 5 more minutes and then the workout began in earnest.

The workout alternated boxing combos with calisthenics.  For example, the instructor would show us a 6 or 8 move combo and have us repeat it multiple times using either speed or power.  Speed means you punch fast, power means you punch hard.  Either way, the workout was very fast paced and much more demanding than I expected.  After each 5 minute punching set, Tony (the instructor) had us do 5 minutes of other exercises like crunches, leg lifts and lunges.  These sets worked out muscles that the boxing parts of the workout did not.

The combination of boxing and calisthenics had me sweating in no time.  Now I’m in pretty good shape but I have to say that I found the workout very challenging.  I got caught up in the boxing parts and was enjoying them so much that I didn’t notice how much energy I was pouring out into that bag.  By the end, I was sore and covered in sweat.  Still, it was a good kind of sore, that kind you get from a great workout.

Notes

Dexterity - This is one of the few workouts that I felt worked on dexterity as well as physical conditioning.  The various combos and moves you work on will improve your hand eye coordination as well as your overall agility.  That’s a benefit I have not seen in any other workout.

Full Body - I expected a boxing workout to only work out my upper body, but the combination of boxing and other exercises made sure that my whole body participated.

Boxing High - A few weeks ago I spoke about a runner’s high and mentioned that it’s something you can only get when running.  Well, now I’ve experienced something new, a boxing high.  It’s not the same as a runner’s high but there’s just something about punching that bag.  Maybe it’s a guy thing, I have no clue, but wow.  I wasn’t just physically tired at the end of that workout, I was emotionally spent as well.  Any aggression, hostility or other kind of negative emotion, it all went into that bag.  It felt good.

Recommendation

Would I go back?  Definitely!  LA Boxing is a bit far away from my house but still.  I enjoyed that workout so much that the trip back would be worth it.  In the meantime, I’m definitely thinking of installing a punching bag in my garage and doing some boxing workouts of my own.  If you have a boxing gym anywhere near you, sign up for a class and see if you like it.  I think you will.

Thank You

Thank you to Monica and LA boxing for giving me the chance to attend a class.  Thank you to LA Boxing San Jose for being my hosts.  And thank you to Tony Johnson, my instructor, for an incredible workout.  If you’re in the San Jose area, you can contact Tony and LA Boxing at (408)729-5269.

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And thank you to Me-Ander for including a 60 in 3 article in their debut weight loss carnival.

Review: Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein

Why do we make the decisions that we do?  Why do we make a bad choice when a better one is obvious?  Why do we choose a less than optimal course when a superior one is readily available?  How can we influence people to make better choices?  These questions are the subject matter of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness.

First of all, let me be clear about something.  Nudge is not a book specifically about fitness and physical health.  If you’re looking for a book that will tell you how to work out or what to eat, this isn’t it.  So why am I reviewing it on 60 in 3?  Because better decision making is a vital component of health and fitness.  Too many people make incorrect decisions about their bodies, even when they know better, and this book can help prevent that.

So What’s It All About?

Nudge is about decision making and how it can be influenced.  The authors have come up with various examples of bad decision making by people.  These examples include health, money, environmentalism and even the lottery.  In each one of these situations the authors point out the problems with how we human beings make decisions.  In fact, one of the very first subjects that the authors discuss is the fact that people do not make decisions rationally.

Human Vs. Econs

You make your decisions based on what’s best for you and your goals, right?  That would be the smart thing to do.  In fact, there are many books out there which claims that human beings are rational decision makers, capable of looking at a choice, analyzing the possibilities and then making the right decision.  Unfortunately, that’s simply not true and Nudge provides quite a bit of research on why and how people make irrational decisions.

For me, it was a fascinating look at what goes on in peoples minds as they make decisions and it helped me learn a bit about myself as well.  Why do I make the decisions that I do?  Why do I reach for that bowl of chips even when I know I shouldn’t?  Why do I make the financial decisions that I do?  Again, many if not most of the examples and research in the book are not specific to health, but they all show you how bad and good decisions are made and why.

How Do We Fix Bad Decision Making

Thaler and Sunstein use the latter part of the book to explain how people can be nudged to make better choices, hence the name of the book.  They believe that people should have as many options as possible.  However, they also think that, when possible, people should be nudged towards the right decision.  At first, this sounded a little suspicious to me.  Nudge people towards a good option?  Sounds like the authors are advocating a reduction in free will.  However, as I read the book, I realized this was not true.  The authors point out that people are already being nudged towards decisions by their own habits and weakness.  If so, why not nudge people towards good decisions instead of bad ones?

I’m going to leave the judgment of this approach to the individual reader.  However, I will say that I finished the book with a lot of respect for the authors and what they’re trying to accomplish.  I also finished with quite a bit of information about how to nudge myself towards better decision making, which is why I’m reviewing this book here on 60 in 3.

Should You Pick Up The Book?

If you’re the kind of person who frequently makes bad decisions about your life, then yes.  If you find yourself eating when you shouldn’t, not exercising when you should, paying too much for your groceries or picking the wrong investment for your retirement, then you’ll find good information in Nudge that you can apply directly to your life.

My only complain about the book is that it discusses theory more than practice.  It shows you the biases people have when making decisions but doesn’t offer many useful tips about avoiding them.  Still, if you’re the kind of person who can read the theory and then figure out ways to apply it yourself, then Nudge is a great book for you.

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And here’s another tip I picked up from a different book:

“optimism is good for you”.

So on that note…

Today is going to be a beautiful day full of great things!  I hope that your day ends up being as wonderful as mine.

Meet Up: Use The Internet To Get Off The Internet

I’ve been looking for a soccer game lately.  I used to play every Friday night at my old place of work, but since I switched jobs, I haven’t played in a regular game.  I tried to look online and see what was available but couldn’t find anything in my area.  I pretty much gave up on it when I accidentally stumbled on a site called Meet Up with an interesting slogan of “use the internet to get off the internet.”  I played around with the site a bit and I have to say, I’m impressed!

Meet up runs along a basic idea, providing people with a shared interest a place to discuss and set up times during which they can meet offline, hence the tag line.  Like many other internet sites, it’s a simple idea but quite useful.  What is the internet after all if not a communication tool?  A place to meet others who have similar interests to you?  Meet up takes this and moves it one step further.  It’s a place for you to meet people with similar interests and then go meet them off line to enjoy those interests.

Health Connection

So what does this have to do with health?  Well, I entered in my zip code to see how many meet up groups were in my area.  The answer, 806.  Great, but what about fitness related ones?  Out of those, 67 dealth with health & support and another 62 were about sports & recreation.  I found hiking clubs, yoga groups, a morning tai chi group and yes, even a soccer meet up.  To me, this is what the internet is all about.  It provides you with a place to find people and information you would not have had access to before, and then enables you to use that information in your off line life.

So go ahead and try meetup.com.  Who knows what fun groups are in your area.  And if you can’t find a group you’re interested in, why not start one and see who joins?

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And yes, I did eat a bit too much yesterday. 

The HCG Diet, Yet Another Fad Diet

A reader sent me a note over the weekend asking me what I thought of the HCG diet. To be honest, I never even heard of it, but hey, I’m always open to learning about new things. So I turned to my trust search engine (hi Google!) and started researching. Here’s what I came up with.

What Is It?

HCG is a diet regimen in which you limit your daily calorie intake to less than 500 calories a day.  At the same time, you inject yourself with HCG, Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, a hormone found in the placenta of pregnant women.

Does It Work?

Assuming you’re still curious after hearing that you’ll have to inject yourself daily with hormones from the a human placenta, then yes, this diet works.  Dah! OF COURSE it works.  YOU’RE EATING 500 CALORIES A DAY! Heck, at 500 calories a day anyone would lose weight and the injections have nothing to do with it.  You can inject me every hour with hormones from the testicles of a rabid hyena and I’m still relatively sure I would lose weight on a diet of 500 calories a day.  It’s not magic folks, it’s simply starving yourself, and the hormone injections are just pseudo science intended to fool you.

Do I Recommend It?

In case that last sentence didn’t get the point across.  NO.  NO WAY.  NOT A CHANCE.  NO CHANCE IN HELL.  This diet is crap.  You’re starving yourself plus you’re injecting yourself with something that has no basis in science.  If you want to starve yourself, be my guest, but don’t fool yourself into thinking it’s healthy just because some one put scientific sounding words in the description.

Seriously

1. The diet claims you will lose .5 to 3lbs A DAY.  Even if you starve yourself you won’t lose this much.  3lbs lost a day means you burned 9000 more calories than you took in.  Unless you’re Michael Phelps, your metabolism just doesn’t work that way.  Anyone promising you more than 1 to 2 lbs lost in a week is either a quack or a liar, or both.
2. Speaking of liars and quacks, let’s do some research.  The guy who’s selling this diet, Kevin Trudeau, was busted multiple times already.  Once by the FTC for claiming his calcium supplement cured cancer and another time by the FTC because Trudeau “has misled thousands of consumers” about his weight loss plans.  This is the guy you want to buy hormone shots from?  I’d rather take stock tips from my 6 month old nephew.
3. While we’re on the subject of nutrition, the American Journal of clinical nutrition already looked into HCG and guess what they found?  It’s useless.  That was back in the 70’s, but hey, I guess everything old is new again at some point.

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Repeat after me, there are NO quick fixes.  There are no easy cures for extra weight.  There are no magic weight loss plans, no magic pills, no wonder drugs.  You want to be fit and healthy?  Eat healthy, be active and exercise.  It’s that simple.

Review: Omnivore’s Dilemma

i’ve talked about Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma before, but since I recently reread it, I thought I would officially review it here on 60 in 3.

What Is This Book All About?

The Omnivore’s Dilemma is a book about food.  It’s not a diet book, it’s not a nutrition book and it’s not a healthy eating book.  It is simply a book about food, where it comes from and how it gets to our table.  The book seeks to make you aware of what you’re eating and why it’s on your plate.

What Is The Omnivore’s Dilemma

First off, what the heck is the title supposed to mean?  The omnivore’s dilemma deals with an issue faced by all creatures who can eat a variety of foods.  Simply put, faced with many choices, we’re left wondering which is the best one.  That’s not a problem faced by creatures with a simpler diet.  For example, the Koala, which can only eat Eucalyptus leaves, rarely wakes up in the morning thinking “what should I eat today?”  Carnivores, who eat only meat, usually don’t have a problem picking out a proper dinner dish.  It’s us omnivores who need to make decisions each time we eat.  For humans, that’s especially bad since we’re faced with an incredible variety of foods, many of them bad for us.

What’s In The Book?

The book is divided into three sections, each of which follows a different food chain from raw materials to consumption of a meal.  The first section looks at industrialized food and how it goes from corn field to finished product.  The second section follows the “organic” food chain from farm to plate.  Finally, the third section looks at a meal completely foraged and collected by the author, with all components being personally obtained.  Each section includes a lot of information on why this food chain exists, how it came into being, what the various issues or problems with it are and what kind of impact this food chain has on the world around us.

The book is very personal by the way.  It is not scientific nor is it cut and dry.  In each section the author digs in and really gets involved with the food chain he’s examining.  Whether it is by working on a corn farm in section one, slaughtering a chicken in section two or going foraging for mushrooms in section three, Pollan gets up and close and personal with his food in every possible way.  That’s part of what makes this book so great, it takes a process which is often impersonal and alien and puts it into terms that are meaningful and easy to understand.  It makes us relate to our food, which I think is an incredibly valuable endeavor.

Section 1 - The industrial food chain

Pollan starts this section at the most logical point, the corn field.  Corn is the foundation on which the American industrial food chain is built and Pollan follows it from the field where it is grown and harvested to the place where it is most commonly served, the American fast food restaurant, McDonald’s in this case.  Pollan includes quite a bit of history on how corn came to dominate the American culinary landscape and what the impact has been on our wallets and waistlines.  Along the way, he visits a factory beef farm to show a bit about modern meat production.  It’s clear that Pollan is not really fond of this food production chain and he makes a very good case for how it hurts us in a variety of ways.  If you’re not angry at your government by the end of this section, you may want to go back and reread it

Section 2 - The “organic” food chain

Here Pollan follows organic food from field to plate.  I put organic in quotes because Pollan makes a point of saying that the term organic is a bit loose.  It can refer to a gorgeous little family farm in the middle of the woods or it can refer to a very industrial facotry that’s almost like the processed food chain he examined in section 1.  Again, Pollan presents a lot of background material on how this organic food chain came to exist and how various parts of it function.

Section 3 - The foraged meal

This final section was the least practical but also the most interesting.  Here, Pollan talks about a meal he foraged himself.  He grew the vegetables, he foraged the mushrooms and yes, he hunted the meat, specifically, wild California pig.  Pollan gets philosophical in some areas of this section, talking about animal rights and the morality of being a carnivore.  By the way, Pollan himself is not vegetarian, nor does he advocate it as a lifestyle, he’s just discussing the topic as yet another thing to consider when you eat.

Of all three sections, I enjoyed this one the most.  Sure, it probably didn’t have a lot of information I’m going to use in the future, but it really made me think about my food, which is the point of the book.  This is the most personal of the food chains, one in which you are the entire food chain and nothing stands between you and your food.  What you gather is what you eat.

So Why Is This Book Important?

Because we’ve forgotten what food means.  Too many of us see food and but don’t actually see everything’s that’s gone into that food.  We’ve forgotten or never knew how that food got to us.  We don’t think about all the work and effort that went into making the food and getting it to us.  We don’t think about the impact of our decisions and we fail to consider how a simple choice like what to have for dinner can have wide reaching consequences on the world around us.

Food is 50% of health (the other 50% being exercise).  Something this important shouldn’t be ignored.  We focus too much about nutrition and calories but we’re never really aware of what food is and where it came from.  We think of the differences between meat and vegetables but we don’t really think of the difference between this tomato and that one.  We worry about the amount of carbon our cars put out but we don’t think about the resources it took to put that steak on our plate.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma doesn’t try to get you to go vegetarian, it doesn’t tell you to start growing your own vegetables and it doesn’t preach about proper nutrition, it just wants you to be aware of what you’re eating.  The books seeks to make eating a conscious decision rather than a mindless activity and I think it’s a spectacular success.  After reading this book I can no longer walk into a McDonald’s without thinking about corn.  I can no longer look at a package that says organic without questioning the meaning of the word.  I don’t even think of hunters the same way I did before and, for the first time in my life, I have a real desire to learn how to cook.  In all possible ways, Michael Pollan’s book has made me more aware of what’s on my plate, which to me is the whole point.

If you’re interested in your health then you should be interested in your food, and if you’re interested in learning more about your food, then this book is a must read.

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There are very few books that have affected me as much as this one.  If you’re interested, here’s the link to Amazon.  Buy it online, check it out from the library, find it at your nearest used book store or borrow it from a friend.  Whatever you do, go and read this book.

Amazon link:

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