“That eating should be foremost about bodily health is a relatively new and, I think, destructive idea-destructive not just the pleasure of eating, which would be bad enough, but paradoxically of our health as well. Indeed, no people on earth worry more about the health consequences of their food choices than we Americans-and no people suffer from as many diet-related problems. We are becoming a nation of orthorexics: people with an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating.”
Explore This Quote Further
Analysis of Quote from Michael Pollan
In this quote, Michael Pollan challenges the modern notion that eating should primarily be about bodily health. He argues that this idea is destructive not only to the pleasure of eating but also to overall health. Americans, in particular, have become obsessed with the health consequences of their food choices, leading to a rise in diet-related problems. Pollan suggests that this obsession with healthy eating is unhealthy in itself and contributes to a disturbing trend towards orthorexia.
Overall, Pollan highlights the balance needed between enjoying food for pleasure and nourishing the body for health, cautioning against a narrow focus on solely the health consequences of food choices.
The Pitfalls of Obsessive Healthy Eating
In today's society, there is an increasing pressure to make healthy food choices in order to maintain optimal bodily health. However, author Michael Pollan argues that this obsessive focus on healthy eating may actually be counterproductive and harmful to both our pleasure in eating and our overall health. He warns against the dangers of becoming "orthorexics", individuals who have an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating. This idea challenges conventional wisdom and raises important questions about our relationship with food and health.
Michael Pollan's Perspective on Healthy Eating
“That eating should be foremost about bodily health is a relatively new and, I think, destructive idea-destructive not just the pleasure of eating, which would be bad enough, but paradoxically of our health as well. Indeed, no people on earth worry more about the health consequences of their food choices than we Americans-and no people suffer from as many diet-related problems. We are becoming a nation of orthorexics: people with an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating.” - Michael Pollan.
Reflection Questions
In Michael Pollan's quote, he raises important points about our current societal obsession with healthy eating and its potential negative impacts. To reflect on this idea, consider the following questions:
- How do you personally define "healthy eating"? How has this definition evolved over time?
- Do you find yourself becoming overly preoccupied with the health consequences of your food choices? How does this affect your overall relationship with food?
- Have you noticed any negative physical or mental health effects as a result of your focus on healthy eating?
- How does our cultural emphasis on healthy eating influence the way we view food, treat ourselves, and interact with others?
- In what ways can we find a balance between prioritizing our health and indulging in the joy and pleasure of eating without guilt or obsession?
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“Is it just a coincidence that as the portion of our income spent on food has declined, spending on health care has soared? In 1960 Americans spent 17.5 percent of their income on food and 5.2 percent of national income on health care. Since then, those numbers have flipped: Spending on food has fallen to 9.9 percent, while spending on heath care has climbed to 16 percent of national income. I have to think that by spending a little more on healthier food we could reduce the amount we have to spend on heath care.”
“Eating is an agricultural act," Wendell Berry famously wrote, by which he meant that we are not just passive consumers of food but cocreators of the systems that feed us. Depending on how we spend them, our food dollars can either go to support a food industry devoted to quantity and convenience and "value" or they can nourish a food chain organized around values--values like quality and health. Yes, shopping this way takes more money and effort, but as soon as you begin to treat that expenditure not just as shopping but also as a kind of vote--a vote for health in the largest sense--food no longer seems like the smartest place to economize.”
“The repetitive phases of cooking leave plenty of mental space for reflection, and as I chopped and minced and sliced I thought about the rhythms of cooking, one of which involves destroying the order of the things we bring from nature into our kitchens, only to then create from them a new order. We butcher, grind, chop, grate, mince, and liquefy raw ingredients, breaking down formerly living things so that we might recombine them in new, more cultivated forms. When you think about it, this is the same rhythm, once removed, that governs all eating in nature, which invariably entails the destruction of certain living things, by chewing and then digestion, in order to sustain other living things. In The Hungry Soul Leon Kass calls this the great paradox of eating: 'that to preserve their life and form living things necessarily destroy life and form.' If there is any shame in that destruction, only we humans seem to feel it, and then only on occasion. But cooking doesn't only distance us from our destructiveness, turning the pile of blood and guts into a savory salami, it also symbolically redeems it, making good our karmic debts: Look what good, what beauty, can come of this! Putting a great dish on the table is our way of celebrating the wonders of form we humans can create from this matter--this quantity of sacrificed life--just before the body takes its first destructive bite.”
“...There's a lot of money in the Western diet. The more you process any food, the more profitable it becomes. The healthcare industry makes more money treating chronic diseases (which account for three quarters of the $2 trillion plus we spend each year on health care in this country) than preventing them. ”