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.

[impala454]

I can agree with the premise you mention for the book. I often read about a "study" that was done which I think draws silly conclusions. I.e. something like: "A study at such&such school of 500 people found that if they ate X food for 30 days then Y happened. This means X food is responsible for Y." Well to me (who questions everything (as if yall didn't know that )), I have to wonder if Y happened more because they were eating less of what they previously ate, or if it was some commonality as far as the region the food was served in, the way the food was prepared, etc, etc.

The scientific studies that I like to see are stuff like "in a lab, we did this to food X and found that preparing it a certain way did Y to the food". Without them drawing some fantastical conclusion about the food, just telling you the raw results of the study. Like in my Men's Health mag the other day, I read that some study found that if you fry an egg vs a lower heat method of cooking, it releases some chemical (forget the name) that promotes reduction of bad cholesterol. They simply told you their results, that the higher heat cooking brought out this chemical. They did not claim "eating fried eggs helps lower cholesterol." It's basically like, tell me what you did, show me the result, and I'll draw my own conclusions thank you.