Real Food and Fads

Pollan dispelled quite a bit of what I thought to be true about food in about 15 pages. Is really all were eating one big fad dreamed up by some nutritionists at the best paid companies so that they and few else can make money? I really hope it's not. But with each new fact and each time he told us how many times we were told, believed and followed the notions of "low-saturated fat" diets and then wait, maybe fat isn't so bad and then back again to the low fat dieting. It's exhausting and incredible that society continues to believe it.

I couldn't help but think the whole time I was prone to many of his fallacies of "eating": I take a multivitamin which is just "vitamins" and not "food". I enjoy breakfast cereal occasionally - is that really just "corn crap" were all being spoon-fed because our moms told us too?

I love the idea of eating mostly real food that doesn't need much endorsement and not too much "vitamins" or "nutrients" or boasting food labels. It's incredible how much our society has become label-readers, many people now do it. We look at what we're ingesting but how often does it help us to alter our decision? Do we let it get in the way of how we want something to taste? I'm not convinced we are.

This reading is really making me look at fad foods differently. Right now Greek yogurt is really popular, so are different kinds of milk (coconut, almond, soy, etc.), gluten-free options and dairy-free to name a few. Are all of these (besides actual intolerances and allergies) just fads that are being pushed by companies to try and get us to eat them? Pollan is telling us to eat in moderation just like the Greeks did. But what is moderation anymore; and of what? If we can't trust the government or nutritionists then where do we look for a concrete (or more concrete than Pollan's rules to eat by) list of what amounts and how we can eat? A solid, unbiased opinion on this could really make the difference.