American Society's Relience on Nutritionists

In Michael Pollan's latest book, In Defense of Food, Pollan argues that as a society, American's depend on the views and theories of nutritionists and scientists overly much. We look at food labels, nutrition facts, articles, and periodicals. Pollan believes that we should learn to eat correctly ourselves. However, Pollan contradicts himself in the book, giving out his rules to follow.

Pollan begins the book by making the claim that any "packages elaborately festooned with health claims (Pollan 2)" should be avoided on the basis that it is not really "food". These labels are done by nutritionists and scientists that have prepared these foods to contain, or not contain, certain things, such as vitamins, nutrients, and cholesterol. This in itself both points to his argument and contradicts it. He is telling us the fact hoping to broaden our perspective, while also telling us something that we should do.

Pollan spends an entire chapter in his book, simply describing how far off the science is from being accurate, beginning on page 61. In the way Pollan describes the science, taking the nutrient completely out of its environment to study how it reacts with different ingredients, he shows just how wrong the scientists are. He states "it takes the nutrient out of the context of the food, the food out of the context of the diet, and diet out of the context of the lifestyle (Pollan 62)". According to Pollan, it is wrong because a nutrient will react differently when it is in the food, then when it is out of the food, and when combined with other foods. In this chapter Pollan does a good job of not contradicting himself, not really giving out advice to follow, other than proving his point that the way this science is being done nothing.

Pollan than makes the mistake of writing two entire sections describing his own rules to follow. The first one starts on page 161 and is telling us, the readers, what to eat. He tells us things like "eat like an omnivore" and "eat mostly plants, especially leaves", "eat wild foods when you can" and the one that really gets me "eat more like the French, or the Italians, or the Japanese. Or the Indians. Or the Greeks." The last one is a not great advice at all. Just because something works for one group of people, doesn't mean it'll work for everyone, notice how those listed all eat differently. Everyone has different make-ups, different life-styles, and different likes and dislikes. For example, a Marine can't eat like the French all of the time, because most of his meals are taken out in the field, with MREs (meals ready to eat) that are packed with calories. A Marine in the field doesn't have the time to sit back and take his time to eat his meal.

For his second section, which starts on page 183, Pollan discusses how to eat. This section includes advice such as, "paying more, eating less", "do all of your eating at a table, don't get your fuel from the same place your car does", "consult your gut", and "eat slowly". Some of these make since, but still he is contradicting his original philosophy of figuring out your own method of eating. Pollan is trying to get everyone to follow his steps.

Pollan successfully manages to convince people not to trust nutritionists and scientists, but he fails at his attempt to make America self-reliant, as he gives out his advice in, and at the end, of the book.

Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. New York: Penguin Books, 2008.