Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Five - Food Matters - Mark Bittman

We all struggle to eat better and keep those pounds off. Methods for improving your diet and decreasing your risk for diseases seem to be popping up all over the place. For Mark Bittman, a report from the UN Food & Agriculture Organization about livestock being raised caused him to stop and pay attention to his diet. Bittman's hypothesis states that eating less meat and junk food while eating more vegetables and whole grains will not only increase the nutrition in your diet but also help reduce greenhouse gases.

Bittman explores rethinking consumption and our dependence on factory farming of livestock as well as the history of how our culture has developed around overconsumption. Marketing of food also impacts which items we eat versus don't eat. Government legislation doesn't always help and often confuses us into what is considered "healthy".

Bittman suggests not cutting calories or fat, but simply eat less of certain foods - specifically animal products, refined carbohydrates and junk food - and eat more plants. His main principles are to deny nothing, enjoy everything , but eat plants first and most.

The second half of this book includes a monthly meal plan and over 70 recipes that focus on Bittman's principles.

I had a hard time agreeing with Bittman's overall hypothesis - eating less meat will help with global warming. There were some interesting facts within the history of food consumption, but overall this book was a snoozer.

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