In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
Michael Pollan
TLDR: Nutrition scientists haven’t completely ironed it out. Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants
Tackling the question of what a healthy human diet looks, Pollan takes the obvious side in his book In Defense of Food. While it seems obvious that humans should be eating food, the complexity comes in when making the distinction between food and edible food-like substances in the supermarket. Our diets have been increasingly controlled by scientists and food marketers putting highly processed products on our shelves. Coupled with the growing belief that eating is only about sustaining the physical body, the Western diet, a diet overly concerned with being healthy, has become its own worst nightmare. Unhealthy for not only those consuming it but the environment around them, it needs to be stopped. So, if we aren’t currently eating right, what are we supposed to be eating? This is a question nutrition scientists have been working on since the 1800s. Unfortunately, most research is either contradictory or incomplete. However, we can point to diets throughout history that seemed to work. So, we’re back to the question What am I supposed to eat? Well, Pollan puts it simply. Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants. - Tyler