WIll Real Food Experience the Oprah Effect?

Yesterday, Michael Pollan gave Oprah fans a clear explanation of the common western diet when he defined it as, "lots of processed foods and meat, lots of added fat and sugar, lots of everything...except fruits, vegetables, and whole grains."   He went on to say, "before the Western diet...around the turn of the last century...populations did not have high levels of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity..."  

The western diet, the only diet known to cause chronic disease, is full of empty calories (lots of calories with little or no nutrition.)  And it's brought to us by corporations using unsustainable means. 

So how do we remedy this?  Pollan explains that it's simple in his new book "Food Rules."  "It's all about whole foods," he said on the show (whole foods meaning minimally processed foods, not the store) and he's right. 

While the nutrition industry has rightly been accussed of confusing eaters with nutritionism which can praise or vilify a nutrient from one year to the next, many dietitains have been espousing this same sort of simple advice for decades.  "Eat a well balanced diet by choosing a wide variety of foods from each food group," is standard dietitian speak.  However, it hasn't been so easy to translate.  Michael Pollan, Mr "Eat Food.  Mostly Plants. Not too Much,"  translates this message better than just about anyone else.  And now he's done it on Oprah.