June 25, 2008
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Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.
This simple yet elegantly worded statement is the subtitle of Michael Pollan’s excellent new book: In Defense of Food.
Unpack and examine the words in that sentence. They boil down the Zone dietary recommendations to their very essence.
But in fairness to every diet program that has come down the pike in the last 50 years — it boils them down to their essence as well.
You could walk up to the chief theoretitian of every name brand weigh loss program and ask, “Tell me, does any part Pollan’s prescription conflict with the advice you normally give your customers?”
I can already imagine their answer. “No, Pollan’s advice does not technically conflict with what we advocate”. But I can also imagine the thought going through their head which they dare not speak aloud: “But you must understand Mr. Zone Practitioner that our typical customer has little self control around food and cannot be trusted to adhere to two of Pollan’s recommendations — the first being: “Not too much”, and the second: “Mostly plants”. Then in a small gesture to their customers they quickly add: “But they do quite well with Pollan’s first recommendation: ‘Eat Food’, and one out of three ain’t bad”.
The most powerful part of Pollan message is what he dosen’t say. All the nutritional particulars that the advocates of each diet use to differentiate themselves from the competition — are missing as well.
Pollan’s messge, one which he elaborates in the book — is that eating right does not have to be complicated. If the American people could live by Pollan’s dietary prescription, we would be far healthier and better fed than we are now.
Top Diets. Complete Zone Diet review and rankings from dietitian’s perspective.