In Defense of Food

This summer, the school-wide summer reading was In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.  I had a very hard time getting into this book at the beginning, and I thought I would never finish it!  But in the end, I found that even if I didn’t really enjoy the book, I had actually learned a lot and that the book had made an impact on my life and the lives of my family.  We are trying to “eat food, not too much, and mostly plants” and live by some of the lessons in the book. 

I am a runner, and I love cross country and both indoor and outdoor track.  I have learned that to be a great athlete, I have to practice hard, stay focused on my goals, and take good care of my body.  Coaches can help me practice and stay focused, but taking good care of my body is totally up to me.  I have always known the importance of healthy eating, but some of the things that I thought were healthy are actually not, according to In Defense of Food.  I learned that my family tries to eat right, but we do have some things that we need to change, and that these changes could help me become a better athlete now and in the future by making my body stronger and healthier. 

In Defense of Food gave me lots of tips for making healthy choices and has caused me to make some changes in my diet.  One of my favorites is that I shouldn’t eat anything that my great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. I once ate Nature’s Valley granola bars almost every day because they were “healthy.”  My great-grandmother would have no idea what a granola bar is. She would have bought or made plain granola, but it wouldn’t have looked like a candy bar.  Another tip that Mr. Pollan gave was to avoid foods that contain ingredients that are unfamiliar, unpronounceable, more than five in number, or that contain corn syrup.  There are lots of things in my diet that fall in this category such as Aunt Jemima pancakes, graham crackers, soda, frozen Eggo waffles, Kraft mac and cheese (a staple in my house!), box blueberry muffins, goldfish, and Pepperidge Farm cinnamon bread (we eat loaves of this in my family every week). We have also tried to shop the peripheries of the grocery store rather than the middle and to shop at the farmer’s market when we can. There are lots of other changes that we plan on making, such as having a vegetable garden, planting blueberry bushes, and eating more fruits and vegetables.

I also learned that we do at least one thing right in my family.  It has always been a priority to eat dinner together.  Mr. Pollan explains the importance of eating as a community, whether family or friends, and how it can actually contribute to healthier eating and a healthier lifestyle.  We go to great lengths in my house to eat as a family, and even with five children, two schools, and eight different sports, we usually accomplish this.  It is the only time that we are all together to talk, and it is always the highlight of everyone’s day.

Even though I know that some of the things we eat at my house are not so healthy, we still have to balance healthy eating with a lifestyle that works for my family. I found that some of Mr. Pollan’s suggestions were unrealistic for us. Both of my parents work, and sometimes we have to eat frozen waffles for breakfast rather than making them from scratch.  We may choose to eat Pepperidge Farm cinnamon bread rather than making our own homemade bread simply because there isn’t time.  But if we balance out what I learned in In Defense of Food with our family lifestyle as best as we can, my body can become healthier and stronger, and I can become a better athlete.