Eating Healthy Options

[Hartmann]

I just finished "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan. He basically rips apart the idea of "nutrionism" pointing out that things like omega-3 pills are nowhere close to as good for you as just eating fish. How beta-carotene pills that were touted to prevent cancer actually cause it.

His whole point is that if we eat food we should eat mostly plants and not too much. He cites the French, the Italians, the Japanese and how their diets are completely different from each other but they're still healthier than us.

[Spectatrix]

Didn't see your reply until this morning. I'll dig up some quotes & citations tonight, unless Hartmann gets to it first.

The main thrust of his book wasn't so much that processed food was bad, though. He was largely complaining about reductionist nutrition. E.g., researchers look at people eating carrots and conclude that beta carotene is good for you. Or fish -> omega 3's. Then instead of recommending people eat the whole foods that show beneficial effects, they talk about the importance of getting X amount of Y nutrient in your diet, whether through diet or supplementation.

He also talked about the benefits of eating locally-grown produce over stuff that's picked unripe, out of season, and shipped halfway across the country/world.

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RDA on sodium is a little wonky. Most people can (and do) tolerate much higher levels than the RDA. In some folks, though, high sodium pushes their blood pressure up. I have hypertension (treated with meds), but I never found that reducing my sodium helped lower it.