Post number 2: "real" food vs. "fake food"

Growing up my mom wanted to make us happy; whether it was taking us to the park to play, allowing us to occasionally stay up an extra 30 minutes at night to read us a story, or even give us a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on Wonder white bread for lunch. Little did by mother know at the time just how bad wonder bread/white bread, can be for your body.

Wonder white bread looks, smells, and even taste's more "appealing" than a piece of whole grain wheat bread. Wonder bread has a soft, smooth texture that comes from refined wheat flour. Refined wheat flour has had the natural wheat fiber removed. This explains why Wonder bread taste's so delicious; although when you eat this bread you lose the nutritional benefits natural wheat is supposed to give your body.

What Wonder white bread lacks is fiber; fiber is important to the body because it helps regulate the digestive system. Eating fiber regularly also lowers the level of cholesterol in your body and reduces the risk of colon cancer. This Wonder white bread creates a "full" sensation in your stomach that can help with weight control.

I switched from eating Wonder white bread to whole wheat bread when I was probably about 15 years old when I started to understand what nutritional facts are and how to read them. Reading In Defense of Food also helped me open my eyes to the world of what is "nutrition" and how America needs to be careful what we eat and that food companies protray their food better than what it truly is. To know more about what some differences are between these two breads, this website was helpful, http://www.streetdirectory.com/food_editorials/pastry/bread/white_bread_vs_whole_wheat_any_questions.html.

Post 1: Responce to In Defense of Food

In the beginning of In Defense of Food Michael Pollan states his aim of the book to be to "help us reclaim our health and happiness as eaters" (7). Pollan assures his readers that there are edible food substances in the world - but that we as consumers have become too lazy to eat healthy food or even prepare a meal. Another one of Pollan's arguments is that the food industry is the reason we have become lazy about what we eat. “The Western Diet” is the term that describes our countries current eating habits; this term explains our naivety about the food we eat and what we are told we are eating. Pollan notes that “most of the nutritional advice we’ve received over the last half century has actually made us less healthy and more considerably fatter” (7). An interesting article I found on WebMd http://www.webmd.com/heart/metabolic-syndrome/news/20080122/western-diet-ups-heart-diabetes-risk address how our western diet eating lifestyle is increasing one’s risk of a heart attack and diabetes. This book and article is a good way to allow readers to understand the long term effects of our choices we make today.

In the second half of the reading Pollan compels readers to realize that we have been fed the idea that having an amount of nutrients can be a substitute to eating healthy food. Pollan states it perfectly with the quote, “even processed foods may be considered to be healthier for you than whole foods if they contain the appropriate quantities of some nutrients” (32). An example of this could be Cocoa Puffs cereal, on the box there is a “Whole grain guaranteed!” statement. Is this account supposed to do justice for the high amounts of sugar, calories, sodium, and carbohydrates Cocoa Puffs contain? Being able to read in between the lines and understand what healthy foods truly are is crucial in being a smarter eater. So far in this book Pollan doesn’t put the blame on anyone for America’s bad eating choices, but rather looks at ways to change the way our country eats and learn how to appreciate food again.