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Jon Stewart later asks, “How do you change? How do you legislate deliciousness?” Pollan answers that we should encourage the production of real food. This seems like an easy solution, as obvious as his earlier statement that we should “eat food.” And yet Americans are often unwilling to make drastic lifestyle changes.
In order to avoid the food Pollan says is bad for me, I’d have to give up my favorite breakfast cereals like Trix, Captain Crunch, and Lucky Charms. It would mean staying away from Nestle hot chocolate with marshmallows, Keebler cracker snacks, Chips Ahoy cookies, and Cheez-Its. It would mean missing out on the Super Bowl snacks I’ll be eating in a few hours, fried chicken wings and chips and dip. Stewart says in the interview that telling Americans “what they can and cannot eat, may be the large infringement the government would ever attempt.” In order for our food industry to change, we must also change. I was so proud of myself for finally giving up soda, and yet this is just one small step in a long process of changing how I eat.
Are we willing to give up the food we love for our health?
Wow. It's crazy how definitive Pollan is in the interview about smoking and eating being parallel addictions.
ReplyDeleteI love when Pollan says the "cheap food has a very high cost." I was trying to explain to a friend why eating genetically altered foods is so bad for our health, and here he pretty much sums it up in several minutes when I couldn't do it in half an hour. He's just so eloquent, it's hard not to believe him. 4:50 through 5:15 was particularly shocking.
But it's a very difficult question you're asking Katie, and one that I don't really want to answer. I mean, I've never liked sugar cereals—yeah, I was always the party-pooper at sleepovers—and I think I could be perfectly fine if I never had to eat another Cheeze-It.
But the thought of never roasting a marshmellow again just sucks. Have you ever tried one of those shitty organic marshmellows? They're just not fluffy enough and they taste like air-filled cavities they have so much sugar. And I have to say, I can never pass a White Castle without craving one. I KNOW I KNOW. They're horrible. Disgusting. I disgust myself. But those cute, little, identical burgers are just so good.
I think again, it all comes down to choices. It's like no-meat mondays, or Bittman's Vegan before Dinnertime. If we're willing to cut a few things out, we can keep a few things in. Maybe not order a full 30-burger Crave Case every week but one every year is okay. I think.
And by one every year I mean one burger. No one should ever eat a Crave Case by themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think that you both touch on how important it is to shake an addiction... in baby steps. We hear stories about people quitting things cold-turkey-style, but aren't they the exception?
ReplyDeleteI feel like Pollan is really far ahead of a lot of us in the way that he thinks... to be so definitive, like you say, Katie, is a really hard thing for the rest of us. My dad, eating an extra piece of bacon over breakfast this summer, said that he'd rather die a little sooner and be happy now. (Kind of jokingly) I just don't think we're necessarily happier. I think we're disordered and anxious and confused a lot of the time.
Pollan's assertions also make me think that he's doing something that we Do really want from him: he's telling us what to do. He's not giving us choices anymore, because our choices are making us sick, you know?
I'm so glad you brought us the man behind the book. I can't wait to discuss this in class!
ReplyDeleteI am with you Katie! How much would I have to give up and be willing to give up for my health? After reading Pollan’s book I feel like almost everything we eat is in some way bad for us.. It’s almost depressing to hear him talk about one more area (or several!) to stay away from! It’s also not fun to picture myself addicted to food, I’m already addicted to caffeine and arguably nicotine, I can’t handle anything else!
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