Omnivore’s Dilemma

This informative, eye- opening book is a must- read for healthconscious consumers hungry for answers & unexposed truths.

Did you know...
- The disease formerly known as adult- onset diabetes has had to be
renamed Type II diabetes since it now occurs so frequently in children.

- A child born in 2000 has a 1 in 3 chance of developing diabetes.

- In 2000 it was reported that the number of people suffering overnutrition- a billion- surpassed the number suffering malnutrition- 800 million. 3 of every 5 Americans are overweight.

- Corn Syrup, or corn in general, the ingredient most responsible for our raising epidemic levels of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes, is subsidized by the government... yet health foods are not.

- There are 38 ingredients in a chicken McNugget, 13 of which are derived from corn. They contain known carcinogens, trans fats, several quasi- edible synthetic ingredients that come from petroleum refinery or chemical plant- and are finishedwith a small amount of TBHQ, a form of butane, to preserve freshness. (Delicious!)

- Feeding cows grains (corn) rather than grass destroys the natural balance of their digestive systems, making them susceptible to a number of life threatening illnesses which explains why they are pumped full of antibiotics through their bovine lives. Each year 70% of the US supply of antibiotics end up in animal feed, making antibiotics ineffective to consumers. We are not only what we eat, but what we eat eats.

- There is a growing “dead zone” the size of New Jersey, an area of wild algae growth which smothers and kills the fish and marine ecosystem, in the Gulf of Mexico. By fertilizing the world with nitrates, we are altering the planet’s composition of species and shrinking its biodiversity.

- Grass fed beef is higher in omega- 3 oils, therefore healthier, than farm raised salmon, which is fed grain, and therefore imbalanced in omega oils. Rising rates of heart disease have a lot to do with the imbalance of omega 6 oils (which thicken the blood) and omega 3 oils (which thin the blood) due to our practices of feeding livestock grain and corn.

- Organically grown fruits and vegetables are actually proven to contain higher levels of potent antioxidants, polyphenols, antimicrobial properties, and vitamins, all of which play an important roll in human health and nutrition, as well as cancer prevention.

- Atrazine, an herbicide found in feed for conventionally grown livestock, was banished in Europe after research showed vanishingly small traces transforming male frogs into hermaphrodites. And yet... the US has not banned this substance from being sprayed over our livestock feed.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, an essay exploring the roots and the consequences of our national state of health, brings to light some very interesting, and troubling, facts. It traces the history of how our foo has become so industrialized, and what the processing does to our bodies, our environment, and the future of our national health. We are bombarded every day with new diets, new fads, new suggestions on what to eat. As Michael Pollan shows in the Omnivore’s Dilemma... it’s no wonder we have a “national eating disorder” with all the contradictory information. If these issues interest you, take the time to read this one.

“How and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world- and what is to become of it. To eat with a fuller consciousness of all that is at stake might sound like a burden, but in practice few things in life can afford quite as much satisfaction. By comparison, the pleasures of eating industrially, which is to say eating in ignorance, are fleeting. Many people today seem perfectly content at eating at the end of an industrial food chain, without a thought in the world; this book is probably not for them. There are things in it that will ruin their appetites. But in the end, this is a book about the pleasures of eating, the kinds of pleasure that are only deepened by knowing” (p11).