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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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I usually try to use my weekend roundups to link to other sites with useful articles. Sometimes though, I find something that I’m so impressed with that I just want to give it a bit more spotlight. Today is such a case.

I forget how I stumbled onto this site.  In fact, I think I did use Stumble Upon to get to it.  Quick plug - If you like any 60 in 3 articles, don’t forget to Stumble them! Anyway, I found it quite randomly but I was amazingly impressed by what I saw.  It’s such a simple idea and yet very powerful.  What the author has done is take picture of 300 calorie servings of various foods, from fruits and vegetables to meat and dairy.

Why So Impressed?

Because it’s great to talk about portion control and serving sizes but it really doesn’t sink in until you see it visually.  For example, the difference between 300 calories of apples and 300 calories of bacon is easy to understand but seeing it in pictures really drives home the difference in what you’re eating.  Even better, these pictures can take differences that are a bit less obvious and make them clearer.  For example, compare the 300 calories of grapes to 300 calories of raisins.  It’s hard for many people to see the difference between eating grapes and eating raisins, and this sort of visual aid really makes a difference.

But Wait, There’s More!

Not only did the author include all the weight measurements used for these pictures, she also included the prices.  Now some of these might not be accurate for your neighborhood, but it’s still useful information.  For example, it’s easy to see why so many people eat too much meat, it’s cheap, something you can chalk up to our government’s misguided farm policies.  300 calories of beef cost less than 300 calories of tomatoes, which is just crazy.  I should probably get off this topic before I go into a full political rant!

How To Use This Information

This isn’t meant to be a reference guide.  I don’t think you should come to this site and check out the pictures every time you’re going to eat.  Just take a good look through this link.  Spend some time and get to know your typical food serving.  Come back a few days from now and do it again.  Basically, I want you to educate yourself so that, when faced with real food, you know how much is too much and how much is just right.

Without Further Ado…

Here’s the link:

Health Assist

And a similar link only this time to 200 calories servings:

Wisegeek

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It’s Friday and the weekend is about to start.  For most people, that means a couple of days of rest and relaxation.  Unfortunately, the weekend also means many unhealthy habits for people.  People tend to eat more and be less active on the weekend.  So how about ending this week right with a few ideas for a healthy weekend.

Go Outdoors

The weather is beautiful in the San Francisco Bay Area.  If it’s this pretty where you live, how about finding a fun outdoor activity?  This could be anything from hiking and biking to playing frisbee in the park with friends.  It could even be something as simple as finding a friend or loved one and taking a long walk through your neighborhood.  Whatever it is, outdoor activities tend to be healthier than staying indoors.

Work On The Yard

If you have a yard, why not spend some time working on it?  I don’t just mean mowing the lawn, although that’s a pretty decent physical activity right there.  I mean plant a few things, especially vegetables or fruits.  Planting a garden will provide you with physical activity for months and with fresh produce at a cheap price.  It’s the best of all worlds!

Lay Off The Beef and Grains

The majority of what we eat is meat and grains.  How about changing that for a weekend?  No, you don’t have to go vegetarian for the weekend, but how about sticking to healthier meats until Monday morning?  That means fish, chicken, turkey and so on.  No beef, no pork, especially not the overly processed varieties.  Also, stay away from breads this weekend.  So no pizza, pasta or breads.  Commit yourself to doing this for just a weekend and see how easy and tasty this sort of healthy diet can be.

Go Dancing

Dancing is a wonderful workout which most people don’t consider a workout.  If you’re part of a couple, why not invite your partner to a night out at a dance club?  If you two have never danced before then find your nearest dance lesson or hall and go try it out.  There’s always beginner nights.  If you’re single, what better place to meet people than at a dance hall?  That’s especially true of you shy guys out there.  Trust me, you’ll enjoy it

Start Each Day Right

Commit to starting your Saturday and Sunday mornings right.  That means plenty of sleep the night before (you can forego the late night drinking binges for one weekend), a good breakfast and a 5 minute workout.  Do that for two mornings and see how much better you feel for the rest of the day.  Again, I’m not asking you to commit to this for the rest of your life, just two mornings.

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I hope everyone has a healthy and fun weekend.

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Every once in a while, I like to share a healthy meal idea with you.  Today, it’s breakfast time.

What You Need

• One small cucumber
• Some Cheese.  Any kind will work.  I’m partial to pepper jack.
• A handful of blueberries

Preparations

This is an ultra simple breakfast.  Just slice up the cucumbers and the cheese.  Stick one on top of the other and you’re done.  The blueberries are great either between bites of cucumber and cheese or afterwards.

Calories

What calories?  Well ok, that’s not quite true.  Depending on the amount of cheese you use, this meal could have a few hundred calories in it.  So be careful not to overdo the cheese.  The cucumber has almost nothing.  Blueberries do have some calories in them but relatively few.  Using my portions, I get about 300 calories in a breakfast like this.

Nutrition

This is an amazing meal in terms of nutrient.  Zero emptry carbs, good amount of protein and fiber, plus the blueberries are a great source of antioxidants.  It’s hard to find a better way to start your day.

Cost

Most expansive part of this breakfast is usually the blueberries.  However, if you keep that part under control, you’ll probably spend around $3 each time you eat this meal.

Time

Preparation time is about 1 minute.

Small Editorial

When I told a friend about this, he said “wait, that’s not a breakfast, that’s an appetizer.”  Folks, there’s no rule that says what you can or cannot eat on a given part of the day.  There’s nothing that says you can’t have an egg for dinner and there’s nothing that says an appetizer can’t be breakfast.

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What a great day to start the day.  I feel full, it tasted wonderful (those blueberries were amazing!) and I got a good start to a very nutritious day.  Now I’m going to go take a short walk to the post office.

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For some strange reason, people assume that vegetarian means eating a lot of salads.  It’s not true folks, there are plenty of good non meat dishes that don’t involve meat.  However, I’m quite often asked about salads as soon as I tell people that I don’t usually eat meat.  Well, ok, I give up!  Yes, I do occasionally eat salads, and when I do, I’m still pretty careful to make sure that they’re healthy.  So follow along for a quick five tips on what to do at the salad bar.

Salad = Vegetables

The first and most common sense tip is to focus on vegetables.  You wouldn’t think this would be a necessary tip until you see some of the salads people get.  Tuna salad which is mostly pasta and tune with maybe a cherry tomato.  Potato salad that’s mostly potatoes and mayo.  Chicken salad which is mostly chicken, lettuce and dressing.  Taco salad which is mostly chips, beans, salsa, sour cream and that ever present lettuce.  These things are not healthy folks, even if they do include the word salad in their name.

You want salad?  It better be 90% or more fresh vegetables!

Go For Color

An easy way to make sure you have a good load of nutrients is to pick vegetables with different colors.  Sounds silly but it works.  Go for plenty of green with things like spinach and broccoli.  Add some reds with tomatoes and peppers.  Now toss in the yellows with zucchinis or bell peppers, mix in some orange carrots and top it off with a bit of white, gray and brown mushrooms.

Easy On The Toppings

Grabbing a healthy salad and then adding half a chicken to it is not healthy.  Want to add some protein?  That’s great, but in moderation.  A little blue cheese, some hardboiled egg, maybe even a chicken strip or two.  Maybe try some kidney or garbanzo beans.

Ditch The Dressing

A good salad doesn’t need dressing.  It tastes fine just the way it is.

Fruits Are Not Vegetables

Yep, there’s no doubt that fruit are good for you.  However, they also contain many more calories than vegetables.  So feel free to munch on some apples, oranges and other fruit, but filling your whole bowl with them might be a mistake (unless of course you were about to fill your whole bowl with a Philly cheese steak, in which case fruit are definitely a healthier alternative.)

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Salad does not necessarily mean healthy.  Many fast food places will lure you in with salads that have more calories than your average big mac.

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As some of you know, I recently started graduate school. It’s a part time program, which means I spend 1 weekend out of every three at school. Each one of these school weekends consists of a Thursday, Friday and Saturday during which I’m in class for 12 to 14 hours. I’m finding the schoolwork challenging but enjoyable and in general, I love being back in school, but my health is suffering.

The Problem With School

Actually, there’s more than one problem with school. First is the constant food. Starting from breakfast and lasting all the way to the end of the day, we are constantly surrounded by food. Apparently, the program administrators have decided that food makes people happy, which is true. They have therefore made it their mission to make sure that a student cannot turn around without hitting finding some kind of snack. Some snacks are healthy (fruit bowls are great!) and some are not (brownie bowls not so great) but even if all the food options were healthy there would still be too much of them. To make things even worse, the food is always high quality and very tasty. Yes, that does in fact make things worse since it’s harder to resist.

The second problem with school is the schedule. I am in class from 7am to 8am on average. Sometimes a bit more and sometimes a bit less. After class there is socializing to do, homework to catch up on, school books to read and of course, work to catch up on (all the students maintain a full time job while going to school). With all these time requirements, I’m finding it nearly impossible to work out.

The First Weekend

The first school weekend was two weeks ago and it didn’t go very well healthwise. I think I gained about three lbs and I felt really bad when I got home. I knew I had overeaten for four days and spend those same four days completely inactive. My body felt it and I was stressed out by it.

The Second Weekend

This past weekend I started finding solutions. First of all, I decided to get out of the classroom more often. We get a 10 minute break in the middle of each three hour class. Rather than spending those breaks in class snacking, I decided to take a walk around the campus (The UC Berkeley campus is amazingly beautiful by the way). On some of these walks I invited fellow students along, since socializing and making friends is part of the school experience. I also did mini workouts during some of the walks. Nothing special, just a few stretches, lunges and sqauts.

Second, I made time for real workouts. Yes, I had to sacrifice a bit of my socialization time, but I felt much better. Also, next school weekend I intend to find a workout partner so that I can workout and get to know my fellow students at the same time.

Finally, what really helped with the food being more aware of it. Rather than mindless eating, I paid attention to what I ate and how much I was piling on my plate. I usually don’t have to do that as much since my eating habits are relatively healthy these days. However, surrounded by so much food, I had to be more aware of when, why and how much I was eating. I constantly used my rules for eating to make sure I was eating healthy and not too much.

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I’m looking forward to school, it’s an incredible opportunity.  However, I don’t want to spend my school weekends stressed out about my health.  Spending just a little bit of time on being healthy should make this whole school experience far more enjoyable.

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Two weeks ago, I started talking about the five rules I use for eating healthy food. I use these relatively simple rules because It’s just too difficult to keep up with all the guidelines, recommendations and plans for eating the perfectly balanced diet. You can drive yourself crazy and still not be 100% perfect. Today we look at rule #1, which I like to call the “variety counts” rule. This particular rule is partially influenced by Michael Pollan but is also from my own history.

By the way, you may have noted that I’m not exactly following a sequential order in discussing these rules; I started with rule #2, followed by #4, then 3, then 5 and now #1. That’s for two reasons, one because I want to emphasize that none of these rules is more important than the other. Also, I picked each rule because it was appropriate to the day I was writing it. Today is Monday and we’re expecting a catered lunch here at work.  This specific caterer delivers food that is exactly like the food I grew up with.  So I thought today is a good day to talk about variety and expanding your cuisine choices.

What Is “Variety Counts” Rule?

I grew up in Israel with a mother who came from Eastern Europe.  That means my diet consisted of two different cuisines.  The first was the Mediterranean cuisine I would eat around town.  Things like falafel, shawarma and hummus.  The Med diet is relatively healthy if eaten in moderation.  The second cuisine was my mother’s eastern European style cooking.  Lots of heavy beef and potatoes type dishes with incredibly tasty sauces and of course, chicken soup!  The eastern European diet was slightly less healthy since it had more fat and calories and less vegetables.  However, the two diets, combined with an active childhood, kept me healthy.

Then we moved to the US.  My mother kept cooking her eastern European dishes, but my neighborhood diet had changed from healthy Mediterranean healthy to American fast food.  I was still active, which kept my weight in check, but my diet became far less healthy.  The final nail in the coffin of my healthy eating came when I moved out.  Since I didn’t cook, I either ate out at restaurants or bought frozen dinners and all of these meals were traditional American foods.  I ate burgers by the dozens, pizza, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, cheese pockets and microwaved chicken nuggets.  I’m guessing you can figure out what happened.  This new diet, combined with a lack of exercise, drove me to that health meltdown a few years ago from which I am still recovering.

Since then, one of the things I’ve discovered is the wonderful variety of food we have available to us.  I discovered sushi and sashimi, I found Chinese and Thai restaurants, I tried out Indian food and found that I loved it, I experimented with vegetarian dishes and saw that they were really good.  I even rediscovered Mediterranean food and reconnected with some of the healthy food I grew up with.  I used to be afraid of strange foods but now I seek them out.  I enjoy new flavors and new selections.

All of this has left me with a far larger selection of healthy choices to eat.  Want a good way to eat vegetables?  How about that incredible veggie stir fry from the Thai place.  Looking for a good protein choice?  Why not try the Salmon sashimi?  How about the pumpkin dish at the Afghan place for dinner or the burrito from the Mexican place down the road?  These are all healthy options that I would never have discovered had I not been looking for more variety.  So these days I welcome variety in my food.  I’m always happy to try out new dishes and I’m always looking to experiment with new cuisines.  Who knows, you may just find a new favorite dish.

Given two options, I will always pick out the dish I’ve never tried before.  That’s the “variety counts” rule.

Advanced Applications

Every week, try out at least one new cuisine or dish.  Ask about the ingredients, research the preparation and learn more about how your food was made.  It’s a wonderful education and you’ll discover many things you never realized about food.

Don’t limit yourself.  Why is an omelet only for breakfast?  Why can you only BBQ in the evenings?  Why do you have to have mashed potatoes with meat loaf?  Mix and match and see what works.

Clarifications to the Variety Counts Rule

No, this rule is not an excuse to gorge.  Yes, if you’ve never tried deep fried twinkies before, maybe you should just once.  However, did you remember to ask about how your food is prepared?  If you did, I’m guessing you’ll figure out that deep fried twinkies are a one time thing.  Not all food is healthy and that’s something you’ll figure out as you go.

Why Use the Variety Counts Rule?

Because a boring diet is one that won’t last.  Yes, there are healthy dishes in the classic American diet, but they are few and far between.  If you limited yourself to just those, you’ll soon get bored and fall back to unhealthy eating habits.  That’s why you need to branch out and try new things.  Doing so will help you discover new healthy dishes to add to your repartee.

But I Like What I’m Eating Now!

Sure, and if it’s healthy, there’s no reason for you to stop.  I’m not saying you should eat something new every day, just make sure to try out new things once in a while.

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I can’t imagine life without a variety of foods.  It would be boring and I would quickly revert back to unhealthy habits if I had to eat the same one or two healthy dishes day after day after day.  Do yourself a favor and try something new today.

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