In Defense of Food Discussion Questions:

1. From Peru to Tanzania to Alaska – what do healthy diets have in common?
2. The film notes that “the food we’re eating today is very different from what it used to be.”
3. What’s different and why does it matter?
4. How have changes in the way we raise animals changed the nutritional value of meat?
5. How has our health been affected by the shift from a diet rich in green leafy plants to a diet filled with seed crops like rice, wheat, and corn?
6. Nutritionally, what’s the difference between breads made from whole grains and breads made from white flour?
7. Over the last three decades, what has happened to rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes in American children? What’s the link between the increases and the typical American diet?
8. Why do we crave salt, fat, and sugar? How have food makers and marketers adapted their practices in response to the existence of that craving?
9. According to the film, why do processed foods make people sick?
10. What is “nutritionism”? What’s the difference between “nutritionism” and “nutrition?”
11. Other than adding calories to our diets, how do excess amounts of added sugars affect our metabolism?

Consider these statistics from the film:

• Over the last thirty years, the rate of childhood obesity in America has more than doubled.
• Since 1975, the percentage of Americans who have type 2 diabetes has more than tripled—and is expected to keep on growing.
• Processed foods now make up some 60% of our diet.
• We now consume about 1,000% more sugar per day than we did 200 years ago.
• There’s more sugar in a 20-ounce bottle of lemonade than there is in a Coca-Cola.
• A hundred years ago, one in 100 people developed type 2 diabetes. On our current trajectory, 50 years from now, as many as one in three people may have the disease.

What best describes your reaction to each stat?

surprised        scared       outraged            Indifferent         Other (please share)

MAKING SENSE OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS

1) In Defense of Food is, in part, a response to the acknowledgment that, “As eaters we feel whipsawed by the changes in the nutritional advice we’re getting.” What nutritional advice have you heard? What advice did you follow before the film? How will that change now that you have viewed it?

2) At the beginning of the film Pollan says, “I’m a writer. I don’t have a scientific background.” He then goes on to explain the extensive research he has done and why he believes people can trust him. Whom do you rely on for information about food? What’s their background? Why do you find them to be credible?

3) What role do commercial media outlets (news, talk shows, blogs, ads, etc.) play in disseminating misinformation about food and nutrition? How do they make money from the resulting confusion?

4) Some people would prefer that Pollan recommend “eat only plants” rather than “eat mostly plants.” What do you think?

5) Pollan says he has learned that “No matter where we live, nature offers us an astonishing variety of healthy foods.” What does this suggest about recommendations that everyone eat particular “super” foods, even if the foods aren’t local?

6) Ancel Keys found a correlation between heart disease and diets rich in saturated fats. He also had other evidence, including the fact that saturated fat raised blood cholesterol levels. How did his work lead to the public perception that fat caused heart attacks?

7) What did you learn from the film about how cold breakfast cereals got to be popular? What do you imagine John Kellogg would think about the most prominent products in the cereal aisle today? (FF)

8) Joan Sabaté states that there is no such thing as a “single nutrient or a single food” that is a “magic bullet.” If the science is clear that there is no “magic bullet,” why do you think we keep searching for one?

9) According to Pollan, those who promote “nutritionism” divide “the world into good and evil so that there is always a group of blessed nutrients and a group of evil nutrients.” Can you think of one or more nutrients that have shifted from one category to the other in your lifetime?

10) Anthropologist Alyssa Crittenden notes that “We don’t see so-called Western diseases among the Hadza — things like cancer, things like obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, very low rates.” So why do we tend to see tribal people as less healthy than Westerners