As I've been hanging out at Nico's parents place near Raleigh, NC, I have had some time to do some reading. A great book that I just read is "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan (same guy who wrote "Omnivore's Dilemma"). Interesting that "food" actually needs to be defended, although I think that we all (at least me before reading this) have kinda forgotten what food really is, or more what it is not. It is not food products, such as wheat thins, or diet coke, or 95% of what we see in a grocery store. Actually about 40 years or so ago, food products would have to be labelled as "imitation"; so margerine was imitation butter, and now there would be things like "imitation" yogurt, and "imitation" bread! There are so many additives and things taken out of the actual food that it is not quite the same thing anymore.
I write this for Rach, cause as a student in the nutritional sciences, I think that you should read this book and there is a lot that you can get out of it. In so many places Pollan kinda puts down nutritionists and nutritional science as something that is destroying our food and therefore our culture and us as people. From the way it sounds in the book at least, he is saying that most nutritionists are interested mainly in breaking food down into its nutrients and figuring out exactly how much of each one is needed to keep us healthy and strong. The argument here is that food is way more than just a set of nutrients. How our bodies process it all and how we get what we need out of it lies a lot in the interactions between everything in whole foods. Just eating bread that is processed with white flour and lots of things I cant pronounce and then refortified with vitamins and minerals is not nearly as healthy as having some whole wheat bread.
From what it sounds like, most nutritional scientists work on trying to single out nutrients and see how they work. How else can you do it scientifically, other than by changing only one variable at a time? That appears to be the norm, even though a few people are starting to figure out that it is not the best for us or what we need. I propose to you that you not take the easy path and do the sorts of research that your professors would most likely lead you towards. But rather to try to prove something different. As in why we should eat whole foods and not food products. Which I think is most of what any of us should do to be eating well anyway. There was one study mentioned in the book about a group of aborigines who've moved out of the bush and was eating a western (processed foods) diet. They all had diabetes and were overweight, bla bla bla, and after spending around 2 months going back to their traditional diet of eating what they hunt and gather, they all were much healthier.
It wont be easy to do something different. But I think that it can be way more fulfilling and definitely better for us all as eaters. At the very least I would recommend you read "In Defense of Food" with the mindset of how you can be different from all those other nutritionists that he talks about who figure out ways to create food products which requires processing ($$$), and then marketing ($$$), and then more science to figure out the latest and greatest nutrient ($$$) and then the medical system to take care of our malnourished bodies ($$$). Apparently we are about the most overweight, yet undernourished people ever to exist. Also we are the ones who eat lots of processed food products, instead of real food. Hence, food needs defending.
I write this for Rach, cause as a student in the nutritional sciences, I think that you should read this book and there is a lot that you can get out of it. In so many places Pollan kinda puts down nutritionists and nutritional science as something that is destroying our food and therefore our culture and us as people. From the way it sounds in the book at least, he is saying that most nutritionists are interested mainly in breaking food down into its nutrients and figuring out exactly how much of each one is needed to keep us healthy and strong. The argument here is that food is way more than just a set of nutrients. How our bodies process it all and how we get what we need out of it lies a lot in the interactions between everything in whole foods. Just eating bread that is processed with white flour and lots of things I cant pronounce and then refortified with vitamins and minerals is not nearly as healthy as having some whole wheat bread.
From what it sounds like, most nutritional scientists work on trying to single out nutrients and see how they work. How else can you do it scientifically, other than by changing only one variable at a time? That appears to be the norm, even though a few people are starting to figure out that it is not the best for us or what we need. I propose to you that you not take the easy path and do the sorts of research that your professors would most likely lead you towards. But rather to try to prove something different. As in why we should eat whole foods and not food products. Which I think is most of what any of us should do to be eating well anyway. There was one study mentioned in the book about a group of aborigines who've moved out of the bush and was eating a western (processed foods) diet. They all had diabetes and were overweight, bla bla bla, and after spending around 2 months going back to their traditional diet of eating what they hunt and gather, they all were much healthier.
It wont be easy to do something different. But I think that it can be way more fulfilling and definitely better for us all as eaters. At the very least I would recommend you read "In Defense of Food" with the mindset of how you can be different from all those other nutritionists that he talks about who figure out ways to create food products which requires processing ($$$), and then marketing ($$$), and then more science to figure out the latest and greatest nutrient ($$$) and then the medical system to take care of our malnourished bodies ($$$). Apparently we are about the most overweight, yet undernourished people ever to exist. Also we are the ones who eat lots of processed food products, instead of real food. Hence, food needs defending.
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