We have a national eating disorder.

We see constant news reports that there is a widespread obesity problem (I'm not sure I want to call it an "epidemic"). Meanwhile, nutrition advice doesn't really tell you to eat food--it tells you to eat less fat, more fiber, less carbohydrates, more beta-carotene...

Huh?

This guidance to eat nutrients is a result of the federal government's nutritional advice. In the old days, they cooked up the "four food groups". The food groups were an idea that was created in collaboration with big agri-business and had little to do with your health and more to do with the health of those food industries. Then they put together the "food pyramid", which began to break down the food into components like sugar and fat. All the while, the feds also issued suggestions about how much sugar, fat, sodium, protein, and other nutrients you should consume. All of this is, again, the result of big government and big agri-business. There's science, paid for by industry, to show that each nutrient has a benefit, but nothing about, you know, food.

Do you really think you could eat those components, rather than a glass of milk and a grilled cheese sandwich and get the same nutrition?

I read Michael Pollan's Eater's Manifesto where he talks about how we need to avoid processed food. The simple advice is to only eat stuff that you understand (hey, I have no idea what "soy protein isolate" is but Mr. Pollan assures me it's not food). But what bothers me most is this widespread practice of thinking about food as a delivery system for nutrients.

It's food, for crying out loud!

Beyond a general understanding that some foods are better than others, we need to get back to thinking of food as simple sustenance, as pleasure. I say we stop listening to the government and the food industry. Let's get back to eating, not consuming and let's eat the stuff that we understand.

CDs listened to today:

• Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4
• Various Artists: Sounds Of The Seventies: 1975
• The Earlies: These Were The Earlies
• David Ward-Steinman: Concerto No. 2 For Chamber Orchestra
• Samba Mapalanga & Orchestra Virunga: Ujumbe
• Franz Schubert: Piano Quintet In A, "The Trout"