Book Review; "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan

Sometimes an idea comes along that is groundbreaking in its simplicity, something that a lot of people have ignored that has been right there in front of their eyes all along. Something that makes perfect sense and answers a question that we have all been asking for some time: what should we eat?

I've worked in the food business for a long time and have seen a lot of fads come and go. Every time you turn on the television or open a newspaper you hear about the latest fad diet, exercise machine, or pill that will make you lose weight. Food manufacturers and even the medical community have been caught up in this. Your memory doesn't have to stretch back too long (by the way did you know that there is a herbal formula that will improve that also?) to remember the low carbohydrate phase when bread and pasta became the enemy and everyone was putting themselves into metabolic acidosis with the high protein diets. The low fat craze has been around forever and still it hasn't been conclusively proven that a low-fat diet will help you lose weight. Billions of dollars a year are spent on trying to lower our cholesterol and now it's discovered that inflammation may be just as an important factor. And the list goes on and on: first vitamin E was the miracle vitamin and now it's switched over to vitamin D.

But most doctors all along (except those who are paid to hawk something on TV) have said that the best way to lose weight and stay healthy is to eat a balanced diet and exercise. That's why the new book "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollan (Penguin Books, January 2008) is such a good read. In his first best-selling book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" Mr. Pollan shows us the history of food in America and why it has led us into trouble and made us one of the most obese nations on the planet. And he shows us that most of the food in the modern supermarket and even some "organic" foods are not real food, but rather a food scientist's attempt at replication. Sort of like the replicators on Star Trek, all of the necessary nutrients are there to ensure survival, but something is missing.