Unhappy Meals(mēl)

Unhappy Meals(mēl)

By Michael Pollan

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly(səˈpōzidlē) incredibly(inˈkredəblē) complicated(ˈkämpləˌkātid) and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally(ˈmaksəməl) healthy. I hate to give away the game right here at the beginning of a long essay(īsā), and I confess(kənˈfes) that I’m tempted(tem(p)t) to complicate(ˈkämpləˌkāt) matters(ˈmatər) in the interest of keeping things going for a few thousand more words. I’ll try to resist(riˈzist) but will go ahead and add a couple more details(diˈtāl,ˈdētāl) to flesh(fleSH) out the advice(ədˈvīs). Like: A little meat won’t kill you, though it’s better approached as a side dish than as a main(mān). And you’re much better off eating whole(hōl) fresh foods than processed food products. That’s what I mean by the recommendation(-ˌmen-,ˌrekəmənˈdāSHən) to eat “food.” Once, food was all you could eat, but today there are lots of other edible(ˈedəbəl) foodlike substances(ˈsəbstəns) in the supermarket. These novel products of food science(ˈsīəns) often come in packages festooned(fesˈto͞on) with health claims(klām), which brings me to a related(riˈlātid) rule(ro͞ol) of thumb(THəm): if you’re concerned about your health, you should probably avoid food products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food product(ˈprädəkt) is a good indication that it’s not really food, and food is what you want to eat.

Uh-oh. Things are suddenly(ˈsədn-lē) sounding a little more complicated(ˈkämpləˌkātid), aren’t they? Sorry. But that’s how it goes as soon as you try to get to the bottom(ˈbätəm) of the whole vexing(veks) question of food and health. Before long, a dense(dens) cloud bank of confusion(kənˈfyo͞oZHən) moves in. Sooner or later, everything solid(ˈsälid) you thought you knew about the links between diet(ˈdī-it) and health gets blown(blōn) away in the gust(gəst) of the latest study.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html