Page 29 - Aruba Today

PEOPLE & ARTS A29
Tuesday 29 December 2015

What’s On TV:

Weight-loss resolution? Watch ‘In Defense of Food’ first

ed ideas and self-imposed healthy, he said. They do
restrictions, Pollan said. take time and planning,
Food doesn’t have to be but Pollan urges us to con-
local or even fresh to make sider the payoff in our well-
the grade, with frozen and being.
canned vegetables good “Part of my argument is
nutritional choices. And try this is so important its worth
cooking instead of bringing making a priority. When
home dinner in a fast-food the (food) industry repre-
box, even if it’s just once a sents such an easy alterna-
week to start. tive, it’s very attractive. But
Homemade meals can you can’t let them set the
be economical as well as agenda for you,” he said.q

In this undated photo provided by Kikim Media, author and host Michael Pollan educates viewers
how to shop the outer perimeter of the supermarket to find real food rather than “food-like sub-
stances,” in a scene from the documentary film, “In Defense of Food.” The film is based on Pollan’s
book, “In Defense of Food,” and premieres on PBS on Dec. 30, 2015.

(John Chater/Kikim Media via AP)

LYNN ELBER ized that painting things in substances” that don’t de-

AP Television Writer black and white is not the serve to be called food. “If

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Janu- way to help people move, it came from a plant, eat

ary is looming, and we all because people move in- it. If it was made in a plant,

know what that means: A crementally,” said Pollan, don’t,” he says.

resolution to lose weight whose books include “In — Use smaller plates and

and get healthy. Just like Defense of Food: An Eat- glasses to reduce portions.

the 2015 declaration. And er’s Manifesto” and “The Pollan says his inclusion of

the one before that. Omnivore’s Dilemma.” meat — in limited quanti-

What diet to choose this “Relaxing about our eat- ties — hasn’t made his ap-

time? Low-fat? Low-carb? ing is really important, too. proach popular with carni-

Gluten-free or prehistoric? I don’t want to make peo- vores who feel he’s dissing

Or just throw out the scale ple more anxious about it,” their choices or with vege-

and surrender to fate and he added. “We already tarians. But it reflects his ap-

French fries? are made very anxious.” proach to being a happy

Stop, take a breath and But there is reason for con- and healthy eater.

consider instead a seven- cern. A sharp rise in U.S. “Absolutism in the quest for

word alternative offered obesity and diabetes par- food is a huge mistake,” he

by prominent food writer allels our devotion to a diet said.

Michael Pollan that em- heavy in meat, white flour Even those eager to

braces clarity and shuns and fat. change their diet face

extremism. And sugar: We consume daunting challenges. Pro-

Here goes: Eat food, not about 1,000 percent more cessed foods are conve-

too much, mostly plants. of it per day than we did nient, loaded with the salt,

Behind that advice is a 200 years ago, Dr. Robert fat and sugar that “really

wealth of scientific, medi- Lustig , a professor at the push our evolutionary but-

cal and anecdotal evi- University of California, San tons” and are backed by

dence as explored in the Francisco, says in “In De- multibillion-dollar market-

documentary “In Defense fense of Food.” ing efforts, Pollan said.

of Food,” airing 9-11 p.m. Among the guidelines Pol- And there are communi-

EST Wednesday on PBS sta- lan offers in the documen- ties where residents have

tions (check local listings). tary: limited or no access to af-

Pollan is an amiable, en- — “When I say, ‘Eat food,’ fordable and nourishing

gaging guide through a I’m basically saying eat the food (although the correla-

buffet line that includes the kinds of things that people tion between bad eating

how and why of the mod- have been eating for a and such “food deserts”

ern diet, the ever-shifting long time,” including meat, is more complicated than

barrage of confusing, con- fish, vegetables, fruit and has been discussed, Pollan

flicting decrees (Don’t eat grains, but everything in contends).

eggs! Eat eggs!) and, most moderation. Whatever the obstacles, he

importantly, realistic alter- — Avoid supermarket cen- refuses to give Americans

natives to chew over. ter aisles that harbor the a pass when it comes to

“The more I worked on processed foods that Pol- making better choices.

this issue, the more I real- lan labels “edible food-like Start by dropping misguid-