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 Bee Wilson, as you may know, is one of my favorite writers on the subject of food, eating ... and eating disorders. Her earlier volume, This is Not a Diet Book, is a perfect work, and it seems to be out of print, so I buy it whenever I see it and just mail it to clients as fast as I can.
So obviously I pre-ordered The Way We Eat Now the moment I heard about it.
Reader, this book does not disappoint. I recommend you get your hands and eyes on a copy today. It is a huge relief to read.
Here is what I love about Bee, and find mostly missing in other works on the subject: She thinks about SYSTEMS. She is asking the big questions. Bee is looking at the global picture, from a historical perspective - from the Paleolithic period (which may have been a little different from the way Paleo-diet boosters like to think about it) through the last few momentous decades.
Here's an example of the kind of thinking I find unusual, smart and required, if we're going to eat, drink and be healthy in this nutty world:
"[C]ulture is far too critical of the individuals who eat junk food and critical enough about the corporations that profit from selling them. We spend a lot of time discussing unhealthy foods in terms of individual guilt and willpower and not enough looking at the morality of big food companies that have targeted some of the poorest consumers of the world with products that will make them sick, or the governments that allow them to do so."
Bee does not add that by "poor," she also means time-impoverished people obliged to work long hours, whether well-paid or low-paid. (But I haven't finished the book, and I'm sure she's going to get to that.)
The point is, Bee describes us: living in a world where what seems like the best option available is often the worst for our health and weight, because the world is set up that way. But when the inevitable consequences of poor health and extra weight come home to roost, that same world is quick to say that it's not because of the system, it's the fault of the individual.
The truth is, in our world right now, if we want to be healthy, we are rowing upstream.
We can do it, of course. We are up to that.
And I want to give you the best, easiest and fastest ways to do it. So the first thing I want to offer is this reminder:
It's NOT JUST YOU. We're going to do this together.
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