"Real" versus "Fake" Food

When I was in high school I would eat apples quite frequently. Just like the doctor said, I ate an apple a day to keep him away. Now that I am in college I really don’t eat very many apples. I eat applesauce more often and it ‘s usually full of sugar, cinnamon and extra preservatives. This is definitely a more “fake” form of eating apples even though it’s not necessarily “bad” to eat. It is definitely different from an apple in the fact that it’s in a jar along with added sugars, high fructose corn syrup, and preservatives. Thus the applesauce does not provide the same amount of nutrients in a healthy way than does an apple. There are no added nutrients in the applesauce that I typically buy, but the label does say “FAT FREE.”
I would say that I switched to applesauce because every time I bought fresh apples, I would forget to eat them and they would rot. Applesauce lasts much longer than a fresh apple and tastes delicious with the cinnamon and sugar added. However, an apple can be equally delicious dipped in caramel or cinnamon sugar; it’s just with applesauce there is no preparation time versus preparing an apple and something to dip it in. It certainly is not more convenient that I have switched to applesauce because I can’t just grab and apple and go to class with it.
After writing this blog post, I have decided that I would much rather switch back to eating fresh apples as opposed to eating applesauce. Then I can get all of the nutrients of apples without the added sugars and preservatives of applesauce.
I found this article that talks about the debate between whole fruits versus processed juice because it talks about similar issues between whole fruits and their processes counterparts.

Celebrity Endorsement: Alton Brown for Welch's Grape Juice

I chose to look at food network celebrity, Alton Brown's new commercials for Welch's grape juice. He advertises Welch's grape juice as healthy and nutritious. He talks about the Concord grape or "vitus labrusca," stating that when the grapes are squeezed, they release natural antioxidants called polyphenols which help prevent cell damage. This all helps with one's immune system, heart and mind and the juice is tasty too! Here's the commercial, called "To Health". I think Alton Brown was the perfect celebrity to endorse this product, because he really knows what he is talking about. He is an amazing chef as well as a food scientist and has his own show on food network devoted to discussing the nutrients and attributes of various foods. The add campaign is relatively new, but I think it will certainly increase the sales of Welch's juice due to Alton's credibility as well as the information presented in the commercial. There is a lot of information about the health benefits of red and purple grapes. I looked to Mayo Clinic to provide answers and found an article regarding the health benefits of grapes to be similar to the heart benefits of wine. The article mentions that grapes can help lower risk for blood clots, reduce cholesterol, decrease damage to blood vessels in one's heart, and helping maintain healthy blood pressure.

Review of Section I "In Defensive of Food"

In the Introduction of his book, In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan discusses how Americans have strayed away from what a diet should be. He states that food is not at "real" as it was back in the day. He comments on how America has become reliant on a "western diet" full of highly processed foods, refined grains, added fats and sugars, as well as increasingly larger portion sizes. This type of diet has, in Pollan's opinion, made Americans unhealthy and fat. He gives an overview of what the rest of the book will be like getting into details of nutrition, the "western diet," and an overview of healthy ways to eat in one's everyday life.

The first few sections (1-4) of Chapter 1 discuss what Pollan calls, “The Age of Nutritionism.” He explains that in the 1980s “real” ingredients vanished from the supermarkets in America. It became almost impossible to buy vegetables that hadn’t been sprayed with chemicals or buy foods without the terms “low cholesterol,” high fiber,” or “low fat.” He gives a history of vitamins and nutrients and talks about when people stopped eating food and began eating nutrients. He clarifies the difference between nutritionism and nutrition, explaining that “nutritionism” is the ideology of understanding the nutrient in order to understand the food. Pollan refers to food as being about divided into the healthy ones and the unhealthy ones, the good nutrients and the bad ones. The author insinuates that eating margarine, while advertised to be smarter and healthier, can actually be more dangerous than eating the butter it was designed to replace. He talks about how there are so many “fake” products in the market, such as imitations of actual ingredients. When the imitation law requiring those ingredients to be labeled “imitation” was thrown out the window, it paved the way for manufacturers to produce more of these fake low-fat products. Pollan discusses the “Golden Age” (after 1980) for food science, when the food industry began to reengineer popular foods to have more of the good nutrients and less of the bad. He makes a good point that many foods in the supermarket have health claims that do not necessarily mean that what a person is eating is good for them.

I agree with a lot of Michael Pollan’s key points, but I think he presents the information in such a way that is scares the audience into thinking that no matter what they are eating, it isn’t healthy and it will make them fat. The way he writes makes it confusing to know what is his opinion and what is fact. For example, I found an article from the Mayo Clinic regarding the butter margarine issue, which states that most margarines are actually better for your health than butter. I suppose he'll address some of these issues later in the book and things will be clarified.