Can Food Win by a Nose?
Top ten superfoods! Nutritious foods you must include in your diet! My curiosity is piqued by such claims. I usually bite and scan the list. But why are we so enthralled by the magical nutrients concept? Carefully chosen daily food can heal. I’ve experienced it. But how do we really know which foods have the most nutrients? How can I tell if my broccoli is chalk full of vitamin C without sending it to a lab? Do I have to carry “Bowes & Church’s Food Values of Portions Commonly Used” in my shopping cart to get feel I’m getting the maximum nutrients for my dinner?
This from Michael Pollan’s article Our National Eating Disorder: “So we’ve learned to choose our foods by the numbers (calories, carbs, fats, R.D.A.’s, price, whatever), relying more heavily on our reading and computational skills than upon our senses. Indeed, we’ve lost all confidence in our senses of taste and smell, which can’t detect the invisible macro- and micronutrients 
science has taught us to worry about, and which food processors have become adept at deceiving anyway. Most processed foods are marketed less on the basis of taste than on convenience, image, predictability, price point and health claims — all of which are easier to get right in a processed food product than its flavor. The American supermarket — chilled and stocked with hermetically sealed packages bristling with information — has effectively shut out the Nose and elevated the Eye.”
When I first read this it sank in deep. I mean, I teach for the nutrition department at a university. Am I enabling this disorder?
I made a decision. When students or participants ask me if they get more nutrients from their broccoli when it is steamed or if it is raw I ask them, “Which way tastes best?” That’s right. I’ve come to believe when a food is at its peak of flavor (fresh, in season, not too many miles on it, not under or over cooked) you are likely getting the most nutrients. When enjoyment is added to the equation, I bet the absorb-ability of nutrients triples. Raw broccoli tastes nasty to me, blanched is nice, but blanched with some groovy sesame dressing to dip in– now that’s a dish worthy of a smile. Numbers be damned.
Tags: broccoli, Michael Pollan, nutrients, Our National Eating Disorder
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I had a conversation with my husband and kids about this very thing the other day. Relying on books and articles and calorie count and the latest report on phytochemicals can be paralyzing. It may be possible for someone (not me) to create a balanced and healthy diet with this information, but it’s not enjoyable. I was thinking about how green beans are so delicious if they’re steamed and lightly sauteed in butter or olive oil, but I really cannot force myself to eat them if they’re raw, nor if they’re boiled until they’re gray and soft. When they get bright green, they’re wonderful. Same with broccoli.
It makes sense in my mind that veggies are healthy to eat if they have a vibrant and pleasing color, if they smell nice (not sulfury!) and if they’re paired with other foods that add to the texture and flavor, like lovely oils, butter, herbs, spices, lemon juice, etc. It’s easier to think about that than it is to try to get some of each of the things on someone’s list every day. Plus, those lists aren’t based on what available seasonally or locally. I’m pretty sure pomegranates don’t grow in Ohio.
Comment by sarah k. — July 14, 2010 @ 12:22 pm
I’ve been choosing food at the grocery and farmers’ markets by smell for years, especially stone fruits and melons. If I can’t smell something delicious at the flower end of a melon, I don’t buy it. I do notice some disapproving glances from other shoppers, though. Hey! I’m inhaling, not exhaling, folks.
It’s become next to impossible to get a fishmonger to let you sniff fish anymore, which is a shame.
Our whole obsession with taking things apart and recombining them in unnatural combinations is taking an unhealthy toll on us. Focusing on one or two components of a food utterly ignores the thousands of other compounds and enzymes present, many of which remain unstudied and poorly understood. You don’t have to study nature for long to learn that all things exist in balance. It seems to me that when we deconstruct a whole food, remove bits of it, and recombine it with other things, we are destroying that balance. When we eat a whole piece of fruit, we are getting thousands of different things from that fruit, not just a few isolated antioxidants.
I’m eating more and more whole foods and my health is improving. Go figure!
Comment by Richard McFarland — July 15, 2010 @ 8:39 pm
Well put Richard. Bravo.
Comment by Cynthia — July 15, 2010 @ 8:47 pm
Thanks Cynthia!! Your postings always give me hope out here in the land of nutrients! Makes me feel a little less alone…..
Comment by Anna Macnak — July 30, 2010 @ 10:53 am