I Used to Ignore Michael Pollan’s Advice About Eating
My husband’s cancer helped me see the light
Over a decade ago, my book group selected The Omnivore’s Dilemma as the monthly read. Early in the heavy tome (aka doorstop), Michael Pollan explained the chemical makeup of corn. Chemistry? In a book group? Lord, I found the reading torturous. And, no, I didn’t finish it! I wasn’t ready, I suppose.
But that corn story made an impression on me. Mainly because I already disliked corn. Well, the canned or frozen kind in particular. Living in the South, a girl’s gotta love her some Silver Queen corn on the cob. It’s like veggie-candy.
Corn is an ingredient in many foods. Before it was even fashionable, I started banning from my pantry anything containing high fructose corn syrup. We were already reading labels because of my daughter’s peanut allergy. This was just one more thing to be on the lookout for.
Now in deep middle age, I go through diet or eating phases about once a year. I suppose I’m not that rare in doing so. But it’s really time to think more deeply about the food I bring into the house. Only my husband and I stock the pantry now, and sometimes our ideas diverge.
My husband is battling his third cancer in five years. He remains on a feeding tube because of throat cancer in 2020. Food buying is fairly easy, but getting him to eat is a monumental struggle. Radiation nuked his tastebuds last year, so eating is unpleasant. I’m really sad for him.
“Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food.” Hippocrates
But I still have to do what’s right for me. One, I want to prevent any cancer in my future. My family doesn’t have an extensive cancer history, but my mom had colon cancer at age 65. She’s 86 now and thriving pretty well.
I want “thriving at 86” to be my story too.
You’d have to be a hermit to not have heard the grocery-shopping prescription to shop the outer edges of the store. It’s in the middle aisles where you find the processed stuff. The junk food. Oh sure, you’ll find oil, vinegar, spices, and other cooking essentials in an aisle, but don’t wander down the other ones.
We should eat Earth’s bounty as close to its original form. That’s an easy rule, right? Here’s related advice from Pollan —
“…avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number, or that include d) high-fructose corn syrup.” (In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, 2008)
You don’t have to read Pollan’s books if that’s not how you learn. PBS featured his In Defense of Food presentation several years ago and it’s still online. You can find a few Pollan videos on Netflix too. He has an interesting, captivating style. He’s an excellent teacher and writer.
Most people want to be healthy and eat in ways that preserve their health. But, Americans especially are busy people, rushing here and there all the time. Convenience foods are appealing, but what’s not ‘convenient’ about an apple in its perfect package?
Worse still, Big Food has created millions of addicts. We’re addicted to sugar, corn syrup, unpronounceable fillers, and unhealthy fats. Addicted to junk that gums up our internal works in myriad ways.
Do you know someone who’s battled drug or alcohol addiction? They truly live a struggle, don’t they? I think it’s just as difficult for humans to break the processed food addictions that are creating a host of health crises — diabetes, heart disease, obesity, to name a few.
Pollan wrote an Eater’s Manifesto. This post is the preamble to mine. Happy Healthy Eating!
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