Review of the audio book “In Defense of Food”
In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is another audio book that I borrowed from the library. In broad terms it was a very educational book. Even more importantly, I has helped me think of food a bit differently.
I have allergies to quite a few foods. I can’t drink beer or eat bread because I am allergic to yeast. So my diet is very different from the common American diet. That being said, I am always on the lookout on how to make my diet healthier (if I eat the wrong thing I get a migraine).
To try an eat a healthy or restricted diet in America is a challenge. Very few foods in the grocery store contain some preservative or artificial sweetener. For most folks this is not a challenge. For me it is always a battle. I spend hours going over labels to ensure that what I eat won’t disable me for a few hours.
This book provided helpful advice on how and where to find items for a healthy diet. It also went a long way to helping explain (at least partially) why we have so many rampant health problems in America. The one ‘ingredient’ to all of these diseases is the rise of mass manufactured foods.
The only part of the book that I did not like is the end where the author wanders into the usual trap of espousing that all produced food is evil and we should stay away from every bit of it. This California hippie-chic attitude is great if you want to spend every last cent in some vain chase for super healthy foods but the rest of us can’t afford that.
That being stated, I still recommend the book highly. At the very least, it will help those to see that eating the same garbage day after day is probably a cause for many of their health issues. A small change started by this book would be very welcome indeed. Especially to those of us struggling to find a diet that doesn’t debilitate us.
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