Eating Real Food
After Jeremy and I read Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, both by Michael Pollan, we’ve been trying to avoid processed food as much as possible. In the books, Pollan discusses all sorts of reasons for eating real food as opposed to processed food. First, you know what you are getting, he says that humans in the United States get more calories from corn than just about anywhere else. Even if you don’t think you eat much corn, between corn oil, high fructose corn syrup, and many of the ingredients you don’t recognize on packages, which are often corn, you probably eat more than you realize. Second when you process foods it often removes the nutrients, of course they are sometimes added back in, but it may not be the same. We don’t know much about nutrition and how components in fruits and vegetables work together, and we are always learning more. Antioxidants are a recent discovery and we are still learning about interactions between antioxidants and vitamins that are crucial to getting the most from them. Third, we just don’t know how processed foods will affect us in the long term. For example, until recently we thought that partially hydrogenated oils were better for us than saturated fats and things like margarine were better than butter. Now that we know what trans-fats are, we know that margarine is actually worse for us than butter.
When we in the US look at cultures in France and the Mediterranean we wonder how they can eat the way they do with lots of fat and carbs and still be healthier than us. When you think about it, it actually makes sense, they eat real food, most of ours is processed. They rely on fruits and vegetables for their nutrition, we rely on nutrition bars and vitamins. Since Jeremy and I have tried to cut out processed foods (sticking to Pollan’s rule of 5 ingredients or less, all that you recognize), we have both felt much healthier and been sick less, and now when we eat too many processed foods, like we did when we were traveling this weekend, we crave normal food again.
We know we will never be perfect and totally eliminate processed foods from our diet. But we can try to be a little better, and at least try to cook real food at home whenever we can. If you haven’t read either of the books above and would like to learn more we highly recommend both books. Omnivore’s goes more in depth into the food industry and agriculture and In Defense is a quicker read focusing more on what to eat and simple rules to eat better.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 9:10 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
March 4th, 2009 at 7:21 am
My only question is: Does cheese count as real food? If so, I’m covered! But I’m guessing it doesn’t.
March 4th, 2009 at 8:29 am
I just finished In Defense of Food and I loved it. I eat a lot of processed foods, so I am thinking I am going to have a hard time with the “real foods”. I noticed at the grocery store there are still some easy and yummy options that follow Pollan’s rules, like Target organic yellow corn tortilla chips and some jars of spaghetti sauce. I think for me it’s going to be a slow process, but the book is very convincing, so I have to admit that I am going to try harder!
Angie- I’m going to have the same problem with cheese. I’m going to look for a cheese that isn’t as highly processed, if I find one, I will definitely let you know!
March 4th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Hey Angie – Cheese counts as real food as long as it’s not like Cheese Whiz (which is actually a large percentage corn). You should read his book!
Melissa – I’m glad you liked In Defense of Food so much! I think you can do it, it takes a little looking at foods at the grocery store at first, but once you get in the habit it’s not really too hard.
March 4th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Anyone giving up Reese’s eggs? I’m not! The processed chocolate and peanut butter is too delicious.
March 4th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Yeah, you just have to get good cheese. Like Cabot. Usually it won’t have tons of ingredients unless it is Velveeta. I could never give up cheese. And probably this would mean that the Cold Stone cupcakes are out. Wait, how many ingrediants: frosting, icecream, cake-that’s only three! We are set!!
March 4th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Amanda – I’m definitely not giving up Reese’s eggs! Actually I’m not really planning on giving up any foods, just cutting back, if I try to give them up it’s not going to work.
A world without Reese’s eggs would be a sad place!
Amy – Good work on the cupcakes, I’m SO glad their are only 3 ingredients. Actually Melissa and I looked at the list of ingredients last night and it was crazy!! There were at least 100, but I figure eating super processed food every once in a while isn’t a big deal.
March 4th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Yeah, eating less processed crap is something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. I think I’ll read In Defense of Food to give myself and extra push to cut out more of the processed crap I eat. It does give me more motivation to cook more of my own food, so I know exactly what’s in it.
March 5th, 2009 at 9:18 am
I have to admit, the cupcakes were definitely worth breaking the rules!
Steph- I am having a hard time finding bread that doesn’t have highly processed ingredients. Have you all been able to find a brand that is “real”?
March 5th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
We’ve had the best luck finding bread that’s not highly processed at Whole Foods in the bakery section where the breads are all fresh. You have to be careful as some of the breads are really expensive ~$4+. We try to get the ones on sale or the French Baguettes which are only a dollar or two.