Eat Good Food

Chapter summary

• Americans eat 20% of meals in a car and eat out 4.8 times a week. Australians spend 28% of their food budget eating out, 50% more than six years earlier. Fast food provides 47% of an adult’s daily energy.
• Diets fail because they ignore social behaviour. Most failed dieters say the diet was too hard or too restrictive.
• Eating out and dieting may be mutually exclusive.
• The 5:2 diet is popular partly because you can socialise and eat out on the normal days.

Michael Pollan’s rule

• “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Pollan says Western diets replaced food with nutrients, and common sense with confusion.
• Marketing for 17,000 new food products a year uses $32 billion, which overwhelms tradition.
• Plants rich in fibre protect against disease. The author’s rule is “fat or fart”: soluble, refined food turns into fat, while roughage produces gas in the gut.

Why we eat more with others

• De Castro (1990s) showed that eating with one other person raises intake by 44%, and larger groups eat more.
• We drink more alcohol and eat more dessert in company. Sitting close to the dessert bar increases dessert.
• Clendenen showed women ate more dessert in company, regardless of meal length.
• Pachucki (Framingham) showed our social network influences what we eat. Overweight children eat more with friends (Salvy 2009).
• Eating out is about enjoyment. A Unilever World Menu Report of 5,000 diners in ten countries found it is about experience, company and not cooking.
• 66% say they want healthier choices, but 71% take the treat.
• Lower-income groups face higher costs for fruit and vegetables and cheaper, more available junk food.

Where views differ

• Industry self-regulation: The Australian Quick Service Restaurant code is voluntary. The NSW Cancer Council says it has failed.
• Blame fast food: Many point to fast food as the “evil”. The author says it is more complex because food is a social activity.
• Policy: Some propose economic help for vulnerable groups. Others prefer personal choice.

Strategies

• Eat more unprocessed plants, or choose treats that are not loaded with carbohydrate.
• Do not diet harshly. Diets that are not too restrictive work best.
• Plan restriction days away from social events.
• Be anti-social at the table. It is healthier.

References

• Pollan, M. (2009) In Defense of Food. Penguin.
• Rosenheck, R. (2008) Fast food consumption and increased caloric intake. Obes Rev 9(6):535-47.
• Schröder, H. et al. (2007) Association of fast food consumption with energy intake, diet quality, BMI and risk of obesity. Eur J Clin Nutr.
• Salvy, S. et al. (2009) The presence of friends increases food intake in youth. Am J Clin Nutr.
• Unilever Food Solutions (2013) World Menu Report.
• Cancer Council NSW (2013) Fast food: exposing the truth.