sherming's review against another edition
3.0
A relatively brief book for Pollan (200pp instead of 450pp for Omnivore's Dilema) with a briefer premise: Eat Food, Not too much, Mostly Plants. Divided into three parts, it's not until the last third that Pollan elaborates on the premise. The first two parts talk about overreliance on nutrition science and the decline of quality of "food" that most people eat these days. I've found myself looking more closely at ingredients and seeking out food I know was grown locally.
rejena's review
2.0
So I learned things I didn't know about the food industry in America. So that alone merits 2 stars. But it's a repetitive and simplistic analysis of that industry. So that gets a minus 3.
loomistj's review
4.0
3.75-4. I wanted less of the beginning and more of the end yet it pulled me in by midway.
inthecommonhours's review
5.0
His NYT's essay (that began with the same classic opening lines: Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.) was the best thing I read last year.
I'm not sure I learned more from the book, necessarily, but as always, his writing was a pleasure to read, and I really wish this book was mandatory reading for every American. Such common sense about a topic we have made so over-complicated.
Unlike so many books that reveal deep flaws in our culture today, Pollen's actually presents solutions and great rules of thumb for how to actually accomplish his simple directive to "eat food" (in contrast to fake food, which is most of what our grocery stores contain today). The last third of the book is the best for that reason.
I'm not sure I learned more from the book, necessarily, but as always, his writing was a pleasure to read, and I really wish this book was mandatory reading for every American. Such common sense about a topic we have made so over-complicated.
Unlike so many books that reveal deep flaws in our culture today, Pollen's actually presents solutions and great rules of thumb for how to actually accomplish his simple directive to "eat food" (in contrast to fake food, which is most of what our grocery stores contain today). The last third of the book is the best for that reason.
mbm1311's review
3.0
High-fructose corn syrup is the devil's brew. Do yourself a favor and remove it from your diet. (If you have kids, here's a place to start: Heinz smartly offers an "organic" ketchup, made with sugar.)
Avoid any food product that makes health claims --- they mean it's probably not really food.
In a supermarket, don't shop in the center aisles. Avoid anything that can't rot, anything with an ingredient you can't pronounce.
"Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does."
"You are what you eat eats too." Most cows end their days on a diet of corn, unsold candy, their pulverized brothers and sisters --- yeah, you read that right --- and a pharmacy's worth of antibiotics. And they bestow that to you. Consider that the next time there's a sale on sirloin.
-- "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." By which Pollan means: Eat natural food, the kind your grandmother served (and not because she was so wise, but because the food industry had not yet learned that the big money was in processing, not harvesting). Use meat sparingly. Eat your greens, the leafier and more varied the better.
In short: Kiss the Western diet as we know it goodbye. Look to the cultures where people eat well and live long. Ignore the faddists and experts. Trust your gut. Literally.
In all this, Pollan insists that you have to save yourself. And he makes a good case why. Our government, he says, is so overwhelmed by the lobbying and marketing power of our processed food industry that the American diet is now 50% sugar in one form or another --- calories that provide "virtually nothing but energy." Our representatives are almost uniformly terrified to take on the food industry. And as for the medical profession, the key moment, Pollan writes, is when "doctors kick the fast-food franchises out of the hospital" --- don't hold your breath.
Avoid any food product that makes health claims --- they mean it's probably not really food.
In a supermarket, don't shop in the center aisles. Avoid anything that can't rot, anything with an ingredient you can't pronounce.
"Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does."
"You are what you eat eats too." Most cows end their days on a diet of corn, unsold candy, their pulverized brothers and sisters --- yeah, you read that right --- and a pharmacy's worth of antibiotics. And they bestow that to you. Consider that the next time there's a sale on sirloin.
-- "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." By which Pollan means: Eat natural food, the kind your grandmother served (and not because she was so wise, but because the food industry had not yet learned that the big money was in processing, not harvesting). Use meat sparingly. Eat your greens, the leafier and more varied the better.
In short: Kiss the Western diet as we know it goodbye. Look to the cultures where people eat well and live long. Ignore the faddists and experts. Trust your gut. Literally.
In all this, Pollan insists that you have to save yourself. And he makes a good case why. Our government, he says, is so overwhelmed by the lobbying and marketing power of our processed food industry that the American diet is now 50% sugar in one form or another --- calories that provide "virtually nothing but energy." Our representatives are almost uniformly terrified to take on the food industry. And as for the medical profession, the key moment, Pollan writes, is when "doctors kick the fast-food franchises out of the hospital" --- don't hold your breath.
sxtwo's review
3.0
Great introduction into the practice of becoming more thoughtful - both individually and as a society - of what we eat and how our food choices impact our bodies and our environment.
But, if you're only going to read one book about the consequences of the Western diet, make it Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.
But, if you're only going to read one book about the consequences of the Western diet, make it Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.
maureenmakes's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of my favorite Micheal Pollan books. It reminds me to think consciously about how I eat every day.
chelseasofia's review
5.0
Everyone should read this. Please, lets all eat real food, not 'food products', and help to get back to enjoying food, savoring food. Eating deliberately, cooking our own meals and valuing quality over quantity and whole foods over refined will help us be happier and healthier automatically, without having to think in terms of fat/calories/cholesterol/carbs/etc etc etc. This book has changed my life.
Michael Pollan gives us a succinct and easy to read book that manages to provide a picture of the American or Western Diet and the food industry and the food science that drives it. He outlines simply why most of our common western diseases (cancer, heart disease, diabetes, even alzheimer's) are linked to our processed and refined food diet and why we need to stop putting the major decision of our life, into the hands of 'food science'. And then he gives us easy to follow, simple, logical, and transformative policies to follow when we think about what to eat. He doesn't tell us exactly which foods to eat or how much of one food group or another, but he takes a more general approach that values whole foods, local produce and farming, and valuing how we eat as much as what. Read this book!
Michael Pollan gives us a succinct and easy to read book that manages to provide a picture of the American or Western Diet and the food industry and the food science that drives it. He outlines simply why most of our common western diseases (cancer, heart disease, diabetes, even alzheimer's) are linked to our processed and refined food diet and why we need to stop putting the major decision of our life, into the hands of 'food science'. And then he gives us easy to follow, simple, logical, and transformative policies to follow when we think about what to eat. He doesn't tell us exactly which foods to eat or how much of one food group or another, but he takes a more general approach that values whole foods, local produce and farming, and valuing how we eat as much as what. Read this book!
emueller5's review
3.0
I read this book for an environmental science paper. I read it on a Friday night in the library cafe trying to finish it as soon as possible. This attributed to the fact that science is not my thing really did not make this book enjoyable for me. The first six works of the book, summed up the next 200 pages. Good writing, good descriptions, but very blah to me.