Comments on: In Defense of Food- But Not in Defense of Book.

By: Chad

Chad — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:05:54 +0000

Thanks for the review it was nice to read a more thought-out review of the book.

Though I wish I could say the same regarding the book. Firstly he critiques that nutritionism is harming the world by miss guideing the consumer in regards to good calories, bad calories, extra protein, added vitamines ect.. That we now consider food on the merits of its nutritional content other on the box than the good old days with home cooking that was more healthy for us. Its ironic to say, that not only does he prove his point, but the only way he can prove his point is by discussioning nutrional information about food. Just complicating the matter and ironically being part of the problem he is trying to solve.

The main objective of readers who read the book will want to “lose weight” this book DOES NOTHING in HELPING a person lose weight. It only seeks to confuse them. Yes they can eat mostly fruits and vegies and stop the proccessed foods and wow they lose weight. The truth is soooo much simplier. The reason why this ‘healthy’ diet is making you lose weight is because you’re consuming less calories per day bellow your maintenance of your body, requiring your body to use fat as fuel to make up the difference.

I take this a step further. You can lose weight ON JUNK FOOD! You can lose weight eating NOTHING BUT PROCESSED FOODS. As long as the calories you’re consuming is less than what you’re using during the day “YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT” GUARANTEED.

The shocking truth is next.
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You can put weight on with his diet advice
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SHOCK!
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This is true, even if you ‘consume’ otherwise healthy food you can still put weight on and most Americans do because they don’t understand the simple basic principle of the human body. Our body has this wonderful ability to convert anything we put into our mouths as food into energy, this being fat,protein, or carbohydrates. By consuming an excess of calories per day above the energy requirements of our body it WILL convert this excess calories into FAT. The opposite is true too. By consuming less than the energy requirement of our body’s per day the body WILL use fat as a energy source.

Personal note:
I lose 30kgs in 7months, and I feel great.

By: Mae (OhhMay.Wordpress)

Mae (OhhMay.Wordpress) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:47:41 +0000

Thank you for this review! I’m definatly choosing this book for my argumentative research paper. It sounds like it has some fallistic arguments I could run with? (Hopefully!!)

By: LindsayRuns

LindsayRuns — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:34:55 +0000

haha i love the part where you said your brother in law cringes at the word corn! that is exactly my take away from that book! I enjoyed his writing, but yeah I think it’s a little too chicken little for my tastes. But yeah, stay away from the corn cows!

By: Shannon

Shannon — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:28:17 +0000

I actually really like this book. I’ve read them both and even though I am studying to be an RD, I liked his take on nutrition science. It made me thing harder about just how difficult it is for scientist to study food. It’s just so complex! How do you isolate and study one thing when the benefit of that thing might come from its interaction with other things.

I agree with you about snacking. For some people, like me, snacking is the way to go.

Thanks for the review

By: Aimee (I Tri To Be Me)

Aimee (I Tri To Be Me) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:56:40 +0000

I just finished reading Omnivore’s Dilemma a week ago and while I thought it had some interesting things to say I think the book could have been condensed quite a bit! It was so long and he would go off on these tangents explaining things in great detail which in my opinion was unnecessary. Most people I’ve talked to said I should have read In Defense of Food first, but I may just skip it because I don’t think I could sit through another hundred pages or so of his writing/talking!

By: Heather

Heather — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:29:46 +0000

I have both In Defense of Food and Omnivore’s Dilemma – I’m reading In Defense of Food right now. I am very early into the book but I look forward to reading more of it.

Great review.

By: fromatopink

fromatopink — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:18:08 +0000

I like your honest opinion of the book – it’s refreshing! I haven’t read any books by him but am tempted to. I’m leaning toward The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

By: Heather

Heather — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:28:02 +0000

I use Windows Live Writer (not sure if you do or not, but it saves me a lot of time trying to upload pictures on my super old super slow computer!). When you click on the picture you have the option to change the dimensions- I just make the picture small enough so they fit next to each other.

Hope that helps!

By: poetreearborist

poetreearborist — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:56:06 +0000

I prefer The Sunfood Diet Success System. I’m not even a vegetarian let alone on the verge of becoming a raw-foodist. However, this book taught me and because of that I made some important changes to how and what I eat. Mainly, I eat a seriously large amount of vegetables and fruit. I lost weight, have awesome cholesterol levels, and my skin looks healthier now than it did when I was in college.

(http://www.amazon.com/Sunfood-Diet-Success-System/dp/1556437498/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264359147&sr=8-1)

By: marathonmaiden

marathonmaiden — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:38:03 +0000

i read the omnivore’s dilemma and while i agree with some of the points in the book (and i think it would be the same with in defense of food) i really just don’t have the means to make changes and overhaul my diet and i found myself getting resentful and frustrated with it

and i don’t like the anti-snacking thing. i was watching the biggest loser and they were all anti-snacking too as no snacking = less calories but i totally think snacking can be a part of a healthy diet