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    In Defense of Food

    An Eater's Manifesto

    Author Michael Pollan
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    Paperback
    $19.00 US
    Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Books
    On sale Apr 28, 2009 | 256 Pages | 9780143114963
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    #1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of This is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and Food Rules

    Food. There's plenty of it around, and we all love to eat it. So why should anyone need to defend it?

    Because in the so-called Western diet, food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion--most of what we’re consuming today is longer the product of nature but of food science. The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American Paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we see to become. With In Defense of Food, Pollan proposes a new (and very old) answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Pollan’s bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating.
    In Defense Of FoodIntroduction: An Eater's Manifesto

    I. The Age Of Nutritionism

    One: From Foods to Nutrients
    Two: Nutritionism Defined
    Three: Nutritionism Comes to Market
    Four: Food Science's Golden Age
    Five: The Melting of the Lipid Hypothesis
    Six: Eat Right, Get Fatter
    Seven: Beyond the Pleasure Principle
    Eight: The Proof in the Low-Fat Pudding
    Nine: Bad Science
    Ten: Nutritionism's Children

    II. The Western Diet And The Diseases of Civilization

    One: The Aborigine in All of Us
    Two: The Elephant in the Room
    Three: The Industrialization of Eating: What We Do Know
    1. From Whole Foods to Refined
    2. From Complexity to Simplicity
    3. From Quality to Quantity
    4. From Leaves to Seeds
    5. From Food Culture to Food Science

    III. Getting Over Nutritionism

    One: Escape from the Western Diet
    Two: Eat Food: Food Defined
    Three: Mostly Plants: What to Eat
    Four: Not Too Much: How to Eat

    Acknowledgments
    Sources
    Resources
    Index

    • WINNER
      CODES Notable Books Council Award
    • WINNER
      James Beard Award
    © Christopher Michel
    Michael Pollan is the author of ten books, including This Is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind, Cooked, Food Rules, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and The Botany of Desire, all of which were New York Times bestsellers. He is also the author of the audiobook Caffeine. A Guggenheim and Radcliffe Fellow, Pollan has taught writing at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Harvard University. In 2010, Time named him one of the one hundred most influential people in the world.

    www.michaelpollan.com View titles by Michael Pollan
    "Michael Pollan [is the] designated repository for the nation's food conscience." —Frank Bruni, The New York Times

    "In this slim, remarkable volume, Pollan builds a convincing case not only against that steak dinner but against the entire Western diet." —The Washington Post

    "A tough, witty, cogent rebuttal to the proposition that food can be reduced to its nutritional components without the loss of something essential . . . [a] lively, invaluable book." —Janet Maslin, The New York Times

    "What should I eat for dinner tonight? Here is Pollan's brilliant, succinct and nuanced answer to this question: 'Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.'" —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

    "In Defense of Food is written with Pollan's customary bite, ringing clarity and brilliance at connecting the dots." —The Seattle Times

    "This is an important book, short but pithy, and, like the word 'food,' not simple at all." —New York Post

    "With his lucid style and innovative research, Pollan deserves his reputation as one of the most respectable voices in the modern debate about food." —The Financial Times

    About

    #1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of This is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and Food Rules

    Food. There's plenty of it around, and we all love to eat it. So why should anyone need to defend it?

    Because in the so-called Western diet, food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion--most of what we’re consuming today is longer the product of nature but of food science. The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American Paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we see to become. With In Defense of Food, Pollan proposes a new (and very old) answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Pollan’s bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating.

    Table of Contents

    In Defense Of FoodIntroduction: An Eater's Manifesto

    I. The Age Of Nutritionism

    One: From Foods to Nutrients
    Two: Nutritionism Defined
    Three: Nutritionism Comes to Market
    Four: Food Science's Golden Age
    Five: The Melting of the Lipid Hypothesis
    Six: Eat Right, Get Fatter
    Seven: Beyond the Pleasure Principle
    Eight: The Proof in the Low-Fat Pudding
    Nine: Bad Science
    Ten: Nutritionism's Children

    II. The Western Diet And The Diseases of Civilization

    One: The Aborigine in All of Us
    Two: The Elephant in the Room
    Three: The Industrialization of Eating: What We Do Know
    1. From Whole Foods to Refined
    2. From Complexity to Simplicity
    3. From Quality to Quantity
    4. From Leaves to Seeds
    5. From Food Culture to Food Science

    III. Getting Over Nutritionism

    One: Escape from the Western Diet
    Two: Eat Food: Food Defined
    Three: Mostly Plants: What to Eat
    Four: Not Too Much: How to Eat

    Acknowledgments
    Sources
    Resources
    Index

    Awards

    • WINNER
      CODES Notable Books Council Award
    • WINNER
      James Beard Award

    Author

    © Christopher Michel
    Michael Pollan is the author of ten books, including This Is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind, Cooked, Food Rules, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and The Botany of Desire, all of which were New York Times bestsellers. He is also the author of the audiobook Caffeine. A Guggenheim and Radcliffe Fellow, Pollan has taught writing at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Harvard University. In 2010, Time named him one of the one hundred most influential people in the world.

    www.michaelpollan.com View titles by Michael Pollan

    Praise

    "Michael Pollan [is the] designated repository for the nation's food conscience." —Frank Bruni, The New York Times

    "In this slim, remarkable volume, Pollan builds a convincing case not only against that steak dinner but against the entire Western diet." —The Washington Post

    "A tough, witty, cogent rebuttal to the proposition that food can be reduced to its nutritional components without the loss of something essential . . . [a] lively, invaluable book." —Janet Maslin, The New York Times

    "What should I eat for dinner tonight? Here is Pollan's brilliant, succinct and nuanced answer to this question: 'Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.'" —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

    "In Defense of Food is written with Pollan's customary bite, ringing clarity and brilliance at connecting the dots." —The Seattle Times

    "This is an important book, short but pithy, and, like the word 'food,' not simple at all." —New York Post

    "With his lucid style and innovative research, Pollan deserves his reputation as one of the most respectable voices in the modern debate about food." —The Financial Times

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