Clutter, and Michael Pollan on food

[vaneramos]

The daily junk removal habit has gone well so far, except yesterday morning. I left for work in a hurry, didn't even see the little picture by the doorknob, and simply forgot. It's not really a big deal, just a reminder why my place gets so cluttered in the first place: distraction. This is a good habit for me to work on, because most days it comes to mind before I reach the door.

A nice thing about our dumpster is, it is well scavenged. If I think something might be valuable to anyone, I put it down beside and it disappears within 24 hours. So I don't need to worry about where to donate stuff.

On another theme of change, I've been reading about food and diet. Specifically, Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food. He has attracted controversy for criticizing the food and health industries in this and his previous book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. His ideas resonate with some of my concerns, and increase my resolve to change the way I eat. Has anyone else read Pollan? What did you think? I will post something more substantial at speedriverjourn when I finish the book.

Comments

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I appreciate the perspective from another food lover!

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

Thank you for "donating" things by leaving them neatly at the side of your dumpster...and I've been avoiding reading Pollan's work, because I suspect that, like Nicholson Baker's works, they'd only leave me too fuming to think straight, much less come up with a coherent explanation of why I didn't like them.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I didn't know anything about Baker until I went and skimmed the Wikipedia entry just now. I'd be interested to know what you mistrust about Pollan.

[inishglora.livejournal.com]

I have read most of his books. I disagree with him on certain minutiae about dietary principles, but other than that, he's done a valuable service in drawing people's attention to the various food-related messes we're in these days.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I read Second Nature many years ago when I was an active gardener, and loved it, though now I can barely remember it. I might reread it, though some of the other titles look more interesting.

One thing I like about his style in this book is that he doesn't seem absolutist about his suggested principles. I read it as a wake-up call to stop top taking certain things so seriously and use more common sense.

As you know, one of the things I worry about is cholesterol because of my dad's condition. This reading nudges me toward eating as well as possible rather than seeing higher-than-average cholesterol as an illness I need to treat. And maybe rather than taking Omega-3 supplements I should take leafy greens more seriously.

[apel.livejournal.com]

"A nice thing about our dumpster is, it is well scavenged."

I like that. There's no dumpster here. I have clothes that I'd like to give away but I don't want to give it to a religious charity. So then it doesn't happen. That's not ideal either.

[artricia.livejournal.com]

I really like Micheal Pollen's stuff.