• You a past Labor member? That's a good one! So presumably you were once concerned about social justice. You railed against rampant materialism but because you perceive the ABC and its audiences believe in what you presumably once believed in, you want it slashed and burned and its journos tossed out into the streets? Huh? - Kel
  • Well what's your take on why the ABC PLUS the MSM refuses to investigate the Ashby affair; you know where a federal justice adjudicated that an LNP candidate in concert with Ashby conspired to bring down the government by fraudulently claiming sexual harassment by Slipper. Is this left wing bias? Who gains from non investigation of this issue? Furthermore why won't any journalist including our truth seeker Alberici, ask Pyne why he lied when asked about his dealings with Ashby. What about when Hockey denied meeting with Brough and Brough denied the number of times he had met Ashby. Gee this isn't about left or right wing bias, this is about the truth. Given that Limited News' 70% monopoly is dedicated to bringing down the government how does a citizen learn the truth about any issue confrronting this nation? - Kel
  • Well put, and I hope to see your documentary. I hate the idea of vaccinations and believe they can be harmful individually but we are part of a community and as such, we have responsibilities to each other, so my son'a vaccinations are up to date. The reality is that no one knows what will happen to us or our children, whether we are talking about injury by vaccine, or injury by preventable disease, or running in a marathon where a terrorist is in wait, or getting in a car and being wiped out by a drunk driver. We all do what we can for our kids and we can try and protect them as much as we can - but none of us escape misfortune. I have a friend whose son has shocking tumours and a limited life span. My own son has a platelet disorder which means we have to be constantly vigilant that he doesn't injure himself lest he bleed internally. Let's do what we can for our own - but let's not harm others in the process. - Alice Smith
  • What a fabulously challenging topic. Jackdan, very well delivered argument. I'd love to see your research. Publish it! Sonya, I look forward to tomorrow night's documentary. Thanks for taking (what sounds like) a rational approach. - Misty
  • Thanks jack... a very interesting response and, from my communications with Sonya I think this is exactly the conversation she's hoping for. Be very interested to hear your response after viewing the doco. - Wendy Harmer
  • As someone who doesn't follow the Australian Vaccination schedule, I already feel like I am risking ridicule and worse posting here. We have been hassled and hounded by doctors, nurses (one of us is a nurse) and other parents. Blamed for the resurgence Whooping cough and related deaths, etc. Our stance is that we immunise based on our own needs and intelligence. As a for instance, we are not convinced that our children needed to be vaccinated against Hepatitis B at birth, especially given that the vaccine contained Thiomersal when it was recommended to us. I'm not sure how aware you are of the Japanese experience with the DTP vaccinations in the mid 1970's, but as a result of many adverse reactions and over 30 deaths as a direct result of the vaccine, the schedule was altered and children were vaccinated later. I am aware that the vaccine is no longer a whole cell vaccine, however it is worth considering the delicate balance of the immune system in infants below 6 months of age. So we immunise roughly to the Japanese schedule. There is no Hep B or vericella. And MMR is given as MR and Mumps separately. We will make the call on Japanese when we visit next month. I note that the tone in the promotion of the doco appears to depict the non vaccination school as driven by emotion with the pro vaccination argument being driven by Science (which is a pretty broad concept). Our decision to vaccinate alternatively has been based on a lot of careful research and is based on risk mitigation considering that vaccinations do carry a percentage of risk, however small. We have the advantage of also being Japanese citizens, (myself a spouse resident) and can access the differently combined vaccines and scheduling. When recently discussing this on a facebook post I was branded an anti Vaccinator. Abused and blamed. My response is that I think there is a better way. A much better way. And the heavy handed pressure to Immunise to schedule, which then elicits a strong anti response from those who question, but are discouraged strongly and frowned upon for questioning, has created a climate of 'for or against', emotion or science, us against them. All pretty narrow reductive way to explore a whole collection of different diseases, risks, and vaccines (including their varieties of compositions, combinations and timing). So we have attempted to immunise the best way that we can ascertain. It's a tricky time consuming task to get all the info on each different vaccine from the manufacturers, to research each and every disease to ascertain the risks of actually contracting it and then what the risks associated with the disease are, but it has been worthwhile. I think that the community could benefit from a less doctrinal approach to the current immunisation schedule and regular review of disease risks and the vaccination schedule response. - Jackdan
  • I'm an E cup. When I was younger and skinnier I was only a C cup and could handle underwires. Then I got pregnant and discovered the bliss of maternity bras. Post babies and breastfeeding I went back to the wires only to find they poked me and now I've got 'birdseyes' in my cleavage. I cannot fathom the underwire. Obviously the person who designed it has never had to wear one. Having big boobs we're all encouraged to wear them, but now I'm old and fat they're far too uncomfortable to contemplate. I'm happy with my 'wirefree' bras. I figured that if manufacturers could make a maternity bra without wires that fitted perfectly and provided excellent support to lactating breasts, they could do the same for large, non-lactating breasts too. I found the perfect fit for me at a large chain store and bought the same type for years. Not terribly sexy, but comfortable and serviceable. Now I've discovered same large chain has a moulded cotton bra in large sizes. Better still, you can order them online when the sales are on and collect them from the store. Bliss! - BeansGran
  • Well put Sonya. I am so glad that you have created this documentary. Also, you have put forward a voice of reason backed up by compelling evidence & your own credibility. I am pro-vaccination, but I understand why it is an delicate decision for many parents. I haven't come across the anti-vax theories (I'd never even heard of the AVN until Mamamia kept writing & tweeting about them). I'd always just followed the immunisation schedule. But I have come across a lot of pushy pro-vaxxers and I have to say, it is a turn off. I understand that it's a passionate issue. But is it an effective way of increasing immunisation rates? Of course not. Some pro-vaxxers make it their full time job to name, shame & harass people opposed to vaccination. Is harassment going to change their position, heck no! Is it going to galvanise their anti-vac position, quite probably! I just think we need to be smarter about this. I know it is not a "debate" in the sense that the science is in on the benefits & general safety of vaccines. But it completely normal to feel uneasy about purposely injecting your child with something most of us know very little about. And then watching their every breath that evening as they process that vaccine. Sonya, I hope that your documentary is the beginning of the change in the way we talk about immunisation. Well done. - Kasey
  • I am very impressed by what you've set out to achieve and how you've come about it. Much of my work these days is in vaccination and I work hard to break down the myths and false beliefs people have about vaccines. I find listening to concerns, empathy and responding with good evidence based information has been the most successful manner I've had so far. I also reassure parents that it is always their choice, but I also share that I am a mum too and that I choose to vaccinate my child fully. And funnily enough that's usually the clincher. Respect, good information and empathy can go a long way. I really hope that many people watch your documentary and help absolve the many concerns and myths surrounding vaccination that are out there. You must be proud of your work :) - The Huntress
  • Not everyone has access too or any interest in the internet, you cannot drive a tractor and watch the internet but you can listen to radio, you cannot drive a car and watch the internet but you can listen to radio, you cannot wash the dishes, the clothes, yourself and watch the internet but you can listen to the radio, you can also lie in bed with Phillip Adams, half my University of the Third Age students go to bed with Phillip. Australia's best journalists were trained by the ABC. What I don't understand Gee is your palpable hatred, how can you be so angry all the time, just relax and learn that we are all different and some of us prefer the quiet nature of the ABC compared with the ranting and rage of radio shock jocks and commercial TV. Your phrase 'slash and burn' is shocking to me, no one I know hates anything, no one I know wants to destroy things or institutions, not even the IPA, why such violence of language? - sue Bell
 
23
Categories:  News and Opinion, Wellbeing

FOOD. SCIENCE VS YOUR GRANDMA

By Helen Razer
July 11, 2012

Folate Enriched. Vitamin Fortified. A Great Start to the Day. 

These are the promises made to our bodies by the market. These are promises – apparently based in science – that fail to deliver.

Michael Pollan. Photograph by Jenelle Schneider, Canwest News Service.

Recently in Australia on a short speaking tour, US journalist, author and educator Michael Pollan has been asking questions of this cereal-box guarantee.

If nutrition is such a big deal, why, he wants to know, then why are we suffering overweight, chronic disease and malnutrition in greater numbers than ever before?

Pollan’s answer and passionate defence of food can be crudely translated as: “When it comes to food, don’t listen to science, listen to your grandma”.

Listen to your grandma and stop speaking like a dodgy food scientist.

I’ve certainly done the dodgy talk. Failure in high-school chemistry notwithstanding, Professor Razer has felt entirely confident in giving up gluten BECAUSE OF SCIENCE. Exactly what science, I’ve never been sure. But it must be some science.

Gluten, after all, is touted as evil on so many scientific-looking food packets.

“Nutrition science is where surgery was in about 1650; you know, really interesting and promising, but you wouldn’t want to have them operate on you yet,” says Pollan.

Speaking in Australian capital cities this week, Pollan startled many when he described the tentative nature of nutrition science. The supermarket and our conversation within it, says Pollan, might feel like it’s grounded in science.

In fact, its basis is in what he calls “nutritionism”.

Short on verified research and long on shaky promises, “nutritionism”, says Pollan, is what happens when we all begin to read, and believe, the cereal-box.

This new religion is driven by marketing and bolstered by our very human need to believe in salvation. Nutritionism is the widespread faith that the chief function of food is to offer nutrition.

In one reading, this last statement appears to be perfectly reasonable: the chief function of food is to offer nutrition. And, in a purely biological sense, of course this is the case. Pollan’s concern, however, and the central theme of his highly regarded 2008 book In Defence of Food, is that the idea of food as nothing more than a sum of nutrients has led to a sort of communal eating disorder.

Eating has become less of a pleasure or a communal activity and more of a chore in decoding food science fads. And this can be exhausting. 

In my own lifetime, I’ve seen cholesterol, fat and gluten all take turns as the gastronomic bad-guy and heroes like antioxidants and bloody fish oil – which apparently can cure everything save for fishy breath – emerge to conquer the plate.

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23 Responses to this article

  1. Margi Macdonald July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Fabulous!
    Wonderful!
    About bloody time!
    My Grandma never dieted and was ‘overweight’.
    Grandma ate butter, hell she MADE butter.
    She grew up on bread and dripping; always had chocolate in the house; drank alcohol but never to excess, and made her own wine from fruits and berries.
    She was a fine cook in the English tradition; walked to and from the shops several times each week until arthritis made it too painful (have you seen that hill in Katoomba?) and lived til she was 93.
    What she DIDN’T do, was eat over-processed foods, or go in for fads.
    My Grandma LOVED food – growing it, shopping for it, cooking it, sharing it, talking about it.
    She hated that modern hybrids of fruit and veg have lost flavour in favour of appearance; she scoffed at out-of-season produce forced into existence at the wrong time of year, and knew exactly what type of fresh, unhomogenised, unpasteurized milk you need to take real cream off the top.
    We need more of this!

     
  2. Helen Razer July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    That’s the odd thing, Margi. When we look at the food principles of our grandmothers, they seem like radical anti-GM activists today!

     
  3. Julie July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    As a grandmother – it’s about time we were finally recognised as the anti-GM activists we were, and are! If grandmothers, and particularly great-grandmothers were acknowledged as the wise women most of them are, and consulted as parenting and nutrition, and exercise (go outside and play until it’s dark) ‘experts’ rather than the ‘mommy bloggers’, we may have a chance at sensible living and survival.

     
  4. Helen Razer July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Haha, Julie! Not only are grandmothers vehemently G-Mod and pro aerobic activity, you lot are also the world’s greatest up-cyclers. My dear Nan re-used everything and thought our attitude to consumption was a crime.

     
  5. Roni Jean July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    My dear old Mum used to say to me, “You know, originally, we all grew and foraged for our own food. It’s what we were designed to do.” Sure, we still die from disease, and cars have replaced dinosaurs as our biggest cause of death, but we’ve always been told, “natural and fresh is best”. What I don’t get is someone handing me a manufactured pill and telling me it’s ‘all natural’. Natural, as opposed to what?

     
  6. anna July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    my Nonna had a glass of home made wine every day with her lunch and dinner..grew all her veges, only ate small amounts of meat and worked in the garden every day,until at 92 , the flu took her.

     
  7. Luke July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Good article Helen. I attended sunday night’s seminar in Melbourne and really enjoyed MP’s pragmatic approach. The constant barrage of marketing to which we are exposed has changed all of our senses of what is normal and natural. We seem to have outsmarted ourselves with nutrition but I think we’re slowing starting to understand that.

    I think MP’s teachings must be a little bitter sweet for him. After all those thousands of hours he has spend reading the research and speaking to the “experts”, his findings can be best summed up in 7 words that his grandmother could’ve coined.

    Here’s my take on Sunday. http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=24f0b16fbb70caf97def22dbd&id=81edbbcd20

     
  8. Helen Razer July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Hey Luke: agreed. It’s certainly a turn-abut from The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Pollan can certainly argue biodiversity, GM, non feedlot beef etc etc with the best. In the end, though, he’s decided to cut through all the marketing and abandon all the science and say: look! Just use your noggin! I like the fact that he’s a practical activist.

     
  9. Wendy July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Woohoo, back to basics , why did we change what our Grandmas taught us ?? I have been working towards using the same principles as my Nan, i grow my own vegies, have chooks for my eggs, have fruit and nut trees from which I make my own jam,I actually don’t eat it myself , but give it away. We hardly buy groceries anymore, its a great way to live. Now just got to stop the pesky caterpillars from eating my crops !!

     
  10. Tori July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    We try to eat as much “live” food as possible, and as uncorrupted as possible. Difficult sometimes since we live in a rural area without access to whole food stores, but we basically shop the outside aisles at the store, avoid white food products, stick to mostly lean meats, vegetables, and fruit, and save sweets for only special occasions. I’ve had to learn a whole new way of cooking (bye-bye breaded, fried foods) and had to pretty much give up eating out. I only wish it had resulted in any weight loss, but after 6 months I still weigh the same.

     
  11. Alex July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    It’s not just the food aisles that are full of useless crap. All those other products that you pick up at the supermarket, the cleaning products specific to this and that, the mould removers, the air fresheners and the like that your grandmother would never have known existed. You can ditch those too – they’re all marketing. It’s your cleaning that makes things clean not the product you use.

     
  12. Jenny July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    A great article! I have tried over the years to feed my own family pretty much the way my own mother fed us. I am now the grandmother, and my grandchildren love coming here to dinner, which I have cooked. A reasonable quantity of mostly lean meats, and lots of fresh vegetables. Desserts for special occasions, otherwise fresh fruit. No fizzy cordials, small amount of wine or beer for adults. Home-made cakes, pizzas etc so that I know and control what is in them. Hardly ever any takeaway food, maybe just sandwiches if necessary because you can’t go too wrong with those. if I need a meal to be quick and easy, a stir-fry with rice is a great option and is good nutrition.

    The amount of takeaway junk foods that so many people buy, and the huge range of “manufactured” foods available in the supermarkets really staggers me! The total food bill for some families must be huge. The typical supermarket specials catalogue each week is a good indication of what is popular with the average shopper – pages and pages of junk foods and “ready meals” which offer minimal nutritional value and cost far more than plain wholesome food does. And the amount and content of TV advertising for junk foods, aimed at children and teenagers, is almost criminal! Along with the foods advertised as “health foods” because of additives which we don’t need if we have a healthy balanced diet.

     
  13. Helen Razer July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Jenny! What must I do for an invitation to your joint for dinner?

     
  14. Tracey July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Brilliant! About time somebody spoke common sense about what we put in our mouths. Thanks for this, Helen. x

     
  15. Astrid July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I’m stuffed then ;) My Nanna was all about cups of tea and bex powder. Don’t recall anything about food and her other than hot porridge in the middle of a Qld summer.

     
  16. Helen Razer July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    LOL, Astrid. Between us, it’s a generalist rule made to help demystify the rather unhelpful barrage of information we endure about food. Honestly,if I was to eat like my paternal Grandma – bless her – it’d be nothing but communion wafers and antidepressants.

     
  17. Loz July 11, 2012 Reply
     
     

    My grandmothers were of a generation and culture that spent hours cooking that evening’s dinner. Simple and humble dishes though they were, such as lentils, beans and casseroles. Nonetheless I like to cook some of the dishes I have learnt from my mum. As I’ve taken up fitness in midlife, I’ve become a lot more conscious about the nutritional value of foods and your article does raise a lot of things I’ve suspected for some time.

     
  18. Audrey July 12, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I like the idea on the whole, but it does rely on having a sensible grandmother. My hubby’s ex-in-laws tout grandmother-style food wisdom to my step kids like “don’t eat porridge too often because it’ll block you up” which, thankfully, food science totally debunks.

     
  19. Neel July 12, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Audrey I had a class of 3rd graders last month, none of whom had ever heard of porridge. We were graphing fave cereals for maths and Milo came out of top.
    About grandmas, sadly the older generation is no longer revered for their wisdom but rather seen as out of touch. What a great loss to a country. With the best of this generation passing will go housekeeping and cooking skills, parenting and discipline strategies, community service with our reward ideals, storytelling without technology, the ability to hold face to face conversation, good work ethic, commitment to anything and plain good common sense!

     
  20. Helen Razer July 12, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Hey guys. Perhaps I over-emphasised the “Grandma” a little; particularly as there seems to be such an oversupply of hard-drinkin’, burger scoffing grandmothers in your families ;) The point is: we HAVE the food knowledge. We really do. We KNOW we should be eating plants. We KNOW sugar is a “sometimes food” and we know that meat is to be consumed in moderation. In our guts, I believe, we know most absolutely that margarine, “diet” “yoghurt” or “health bars” have no place inside us. It’s time for us to stop being sucked in by the promise of the food science, marketing and diet industries and take responsibility for what we cram in our pie holes.

     
  21. Jacqueline July 12, 2012 Reply
     
     

    love the comments. One thing I have noticed is that if you cook sweet things from first principles – biscuits, desserts, pies, muffins- then you will become acutely aware of the vast amounts of butter and sugar in one small biccie. This may then give you pause for thought at the next work birthday “one- piece- won’t- hurt” morning tea.

     
  22. Helen Razer July 12, 2012 Reply
     
     

    SO true, Jacqueline.

     
  23. Danny Dix August 7, 2012 Reply
     
     

    You hit the nail on the head there Jacqueline. I replace sugar with smaller amounts of fruit, desiccated coconut and blended almonds…and it tastes better to boot.

     

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Comments

  • Kel: You a past Labor member? That's a good one! So presumably you were once concerned about social justice. You railed again...

    Reply|Read all

  • Kel: Well what's your take on why the ABC PLUS the MSM refuses to investigate the Ashby affair; you know where a federal just...

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  • Alice Smith: Well put, and I hope to see your documentary. I hate the idea of vaccinations and believe they can be harmful individual...

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  • Misty: What a fabulously challenging topic. Jackdan, very well delivered argument. I'd love to see your research. Publish it! ...

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