Ohmygod this book is AMAZING.

I just finished this earlier this week and I can’t stop thinking about it. Really, really fantastic writing.

Animals, by Don LePan, is a novel about a dystopic future in which all of today’s standard farm animals/livestock have become extinct thanks to the combination of intensive factory farming and epidemic.

LePan has clearly done his research when it comes to the dangers of factory farming and he has a chilling, yet realistic, vision of what continuing down our current path may lead us to one day. “The Great Extinction” occurs over a period of a few years as widespread disease wipes out cattle, poultry, seafood, and pretty much all human sources of animal-based proteins. The diseases are particularly deadly and particularly efficient because we have spent so much time working to make these animals weak, fatty, and essentially defenseless against such a threat. We have monocropped our livestock, so to speak. And much like the Irish of the 1800’s, the people of this dystopic future (it’s about 200 years ahead, give or take) are forced to pay a dreadful price for doing so.

As nutrient sources disappear and the entirety of the planet is forced to align to a vegetarian way of life, society breaks down in some startling but expectable ways. Social classes become more stratified, with the poor becoming less and less able to gain access to enough nutrients to support themselves and their families. Gradually, disease and deformities that we have not seen in ages start creeping back into the population – due largely to malnutrition. Over time, birth defect rates increase and access to medical treatments and preventive methods decrease. A new class of people slowly comes into existence, whereas in the past one might simply have disabilities – such as being deaf, or having Peake’s disease, or the like – now, thanks to the sheer number of people with such defect, there is a breakdown between barriers. Instead of differentiating through the different causes for a disability or disadvantage, society instead starts to simply separate the normal from the (somehow) not-normal. These people become known as ‘mongrels’ – they are human, but there aren’t enough resources to go around for even the healthiest of the population, so soon these mongrels merely degenerate further and further.

After a few generations, mongrels start being viewed as separate from humans. They are kept as pets, or set loose as strays. But the number of mongrel births keeps increasing – from 1 out of every 500, to 1 in every 100, to 1 in every 25, to 1 in every 5.

Can you guess where this is going?

As the line between human and mongrel becomes more and more pronounced (at least from a social perspective), a grand solution to much of the world’s problems starts creeping into social consciousness. Mongrels have already been used now as pets, as cheap laborers… would it be that much of a stretch to start looking at them as livestock? Could two of society’s biggest problems – the overabundance of mongrel population and the scarcity of protein and nutrients – be solved by the same solution?

Animals takes the form of a recovered manuscript telling the tale of a girl growing up with a mongrel pet in her household, interspersed with scholarly commentary to fill in the historic gaps and to paint the picture of the environment in which the story takes place. The book is very powerful, very smart, and very important. It’s the kind of book I’d love to see in a high school curriculum.

I want to make it clear here that this book is not an attack on omnivores. Though LePan is a vegetarian himself, he makes effort to draw distinction between meat eaters that support factory farming and those who do not. His attention is more focused on the lines we draw between different types of animals than the line we draw between human and animal. It is not his intention to say that we are no different from animals, though perhaps an argument to the effect could be made, but rather to question why we make such distinction between our pets, or animals in the wild, and our livestock – the livestock that we raise in factory farms and condemn to a life of torture and despair – when similar acts taken on pets or wildlife would be a criminal offense.

I want to wrap this up by including a statement in the author’s afterword that I very strongly identify with, and I hope that it will encourage others in making the right choices when it comes to the food they eat.

…probably the biggest single thing we can do to help bring about change [to factory farming methods] is simply change our own habits.

For those of us who may be considering such a change for the first time, it is important to recognize that it need not be an all or nothing thing. Many who have thought about these things and who are not comfortable supporting the cruelties of factory farming nevertheless continue to do so because they cannot readily see themselves changing their entire lives, and they imagine to do anything they would have to do everything, would have to change their entire lifestyle. Some may argue that anything short of a totally vegan diet is an inadequate response, and certainly people who are inspired to make that sort of revolutionary change in their lives in one dramatic step are to be commended. But most recognize too that any improvement is a step in the right direction. Anything is far, far better than nothing, and things may be done in a series of small steps.

This is how I’ve made my own changes, personally. And I see in others the exact same intimidation towards making changes that he describes. But it’s so important to understand how the world is not black and white – you don’t have to be the most obsessive, vigilant, and noble person in the world in order to make a difference. Everyone can have an effect.

Sound like a great book? It is. Want a copy?

Leave a comment on this post before midnight on September 30th, and I’ll randomly select a reader to receive a free copy. Tell me what you think about these issues, and share ideas or methods you’ve taken – or plan to take – to minimize your support of the factory farming system. Or just let me know you want the book.

So this past week I grabbed and subsequently tore through a copy of Mark Bittman’s Food Matters.

Bittman’s book covers a wide range of topics regarding the American/Western food system, what it is today, and how it got there. He addresses the massive consumption of the typical American diet – specifically meat and animal products – and illustrates points as to why it is problematic for us both as individuals as well as on global terms. There is some discussion of the pros and cons of government interference and policy at the various levels of the food system – from seed to table – and some of the often cited issues with so-called healthy ingredients and tenants of nutrition science.

Admittedly, a lot of this is fairly familiar ground, especially if you have read Pollan’s book In Defense of Food. But the approach is a bit different.

Bittman’s book reads more as dietary advice, whereas Pollan’s approach lends itself a little more toward intellectual meditations on diet. This is certainly a fine line (and perhaps it’s entirely in my mind), but despite the fact that both books include advice on what to eat and how to adapt a healthy diet that’s not only friendly to your wallet and your waist but also to your local and global communities – the subtle tones of their writing are still distinct.

What particularly set Bittman’s book apart for me was the time he spent talking about the environmental impact of food. A lot of this was pretty new to me, and really pretty shocking. Bittman cites a report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as being his impetus for writing a book like this – the report stated the statistic that…

…global livestock production is responsible for about one-fifth of all greenhouse gases – more than transportation.

That’s ALL of transportation. Cars, trains, aer-o-planes. Wow.

While explicitly specifying that his intention was not to make vegetarians of us all, Bittman does level some pretty damning charges on meat eating. I think we all know fairly well by this point about all the issues with industrial meat and CAFO livestock (and if you don’t know by now, then you really should look into it) – but seeing some of the statistics in print were truly eye-opening for me.

We live in a world now where global warming is pretty much accepted as fact. It’s happening, like it or not. And if you don’t believe me, I’m sure there is a forum out there somewhere for you to debate it with somebody late into the night, but I’m personally no longer interested in that particular argument.

All food production yields greenhouse gases but raising livestock is exponentially more damaging. I’ll assume here that you’re familiar with the idea of Calorie as a unit of energy . It takes roughly 2.2 calories of energy to create one calorie of corn, whereas it takes 40 calories of energy to create one calorie of (industrial) beef protein. This is for the entire process – from growing feed, to pesticides, to growth hormones and drugs, to transportation, to slaughter, to transportation again, to processing, to packaging, to transportation, and ultimately to your grocery store refrigeration unit. So for every calorie of beef protein you consume you are responsible for 40 calories of energy.

According to one estimate, a typical steer consumes the equivalent of 135 gallons of gasoline in his lifetime… – try to imagine each cow on the planet consuming almost seven barrels of crude oil.

Another way to put it is that eating a typical family-of-four steak dinner is the rough equivalent, energy-wise, of driving around in an SUV for three hours while leaving all the lights on at home.

If we each ate the equivalent of merely three fewer cheeseburgers a week, we’d cancel out the effects of all the SUVs in the country.

Okay, so I read this page about five times before I was convinced I was actually reading it correctly.

ALL THE SUVS IN THE COUNTRY. ALL OF THEM. THREE CHEESEBURGERS.

To me, that’s just crazy. And what’s even more crazy on top of that, is that nobody knows this. Or if they do, you certainly don’t ever hear about it.

Why is it the government can shout from the roof top about conserving gas, create policy that requires more fuel efficient cars, encourage public transportation, etc., etc. – yet never would you dream of hearing a suggestion that maybe, just maybe, we might benefit from eating less meat. Not that we can’t eat meat ever again, just that maybe it’s not really all that necessary to be consuming it three or more times a day (most people in developed countries eat at least 1/2 pound of meat per day). It just won’t happen. They can tell us to eat more veggies, of course, with perhaps an underlying implication that those veggies maybe should be replacing some of that meat rather than merely supplementing it, but eating less meat is something you are certain to never hear.

The reason is all because of money. We simply don’t have a government that is strong enough, functional enough, or perhaps courageous enough to take on the corporations that represent the meat and animal product industry. Tyson, Cargill, Archer-Daniels Midland… these are the people who own your government-endorsed food pyramid. Pork is the other white meat. The egg is both incredible and edible. Beef – it’s what’s for dinner. Oil, it’s what you swim in at the beach.

I have no intention of giving up the meat in my diet, or any other animal products such as eggs or dairy. But I will say that some of the things I have read in this book easily make the strongest argument for vegetarianism/veganism that I have ever seen or heard. However, as Bittman is certain to point out, not all meats come from the industrial livestock system. Not all animal products are created equal.

It’s been some time now since I stopped buying my meats and produce from the grocery and have now been buying about 98% of them locally. It’s not really as hard as it might seem if you take things in baby steps. Start with beef. Find a way to source all your beef from a provider that you know practices sustainable animal production. Allow yourself the occasional restaurant steak if you really want to, but make it the treat and not the norm. It’s okay. It will pay off in spades. Once you’re comfortable with that, make the same switch for your poultry. And your pork. And your produce. And so on. The changes will start to fall like dominoes as you build momentum. And it will be rewarding in many, many ways – you will not only feel like (and be) a better person morally, but physically as well. I promise you, you will feel the difference.

Bittman goes on to attack the junk food industry, which I will abstain from diving into here. Suffice it to say there are again some alarming statistics, and some very convincing arguments. It’s worth a serious read (or two).

Another aspect that sets his book apart from Pollan, is that he actually does angle it as a real diet book. Whereas Pollan merely provides some guidelines for purchasing your food and supplying your kitchen (very helpful guidelines, by all means) – Bittman actually provides you with a cookbook, and some sample weekly meal schedules to get you started. It’s not only a great book but also a very useful tool to have around.

So this all got me thinking about the world today and the catastrophic oil spill in the gulf. There have been many (nobly intentioned, I’m sure) calls for boycotting BP and driving less frequently and so on. And this is great. But it does take a moment of thought and consideration to boycott BP on one hand without merely benefitting Exxon (or Chevron, or Sunoco, or Amoco – one and the same, really) on the other.

The fact of the matter is, Americans aren’t going to stop driving any time soon. We can maybe stop driving such ridiculous gas guzzlers (gradually), but as a country we have no serious rail infrastructure, and most of our major cities have only mediocre public transit at best. America is sprawling suburbs. It would be fantastic if we could all ride our bikes to work, I mean really great.. hell, riding a bike is just plain fun. But it’s not going to be a reality any time soon.

So maybe, while we’re taking our sweet-ass time working on that whole little car addiction thing we have going on, we should think about some other energy and oil intensive actions we still manage to commit on a regular basis.

Like eating meat. Please don’t misread me here, as I’m no vegetarian saint. And I don’t want to be, and I don’t want you to be one either. But it’s actually kind of fun when my wife and I know that every Monday is Meatless Monday, and we have to give a moment’s thought to putting together vegetarian meals for the day. It’s not a lifestyle shift, but it’s a perspective shift. The Western diet is never going to change on a national level, it must change on an individual level.

There are other ways to boycott BP as well. Like cutting back on your use of plastics and petrochemicals.

Bottled water, for instance, is one of those highly fashionable trends that has that distinct American irony to it. It is estimated that 50 million barrels of oil are used per year on the production of those plastic bottles. Buy yourself a filter, and a good stainless steel bottle, and be done with it. Same goes for plastic bags – I know many of us probably rolled our eyes as those permanent re-usable bags started making their way into our grocery stores, but I can honestly say that I use re-usable bags pretty much all the time now and it’s actually quite handy. You go through a period of adjustment, of course. First you have to decide you want to use them (which is the biggest step), then you have to actually *remember* to bring them to the store, and then you have to actually remember to bring them into the store with you while you shop. I know, I’ve been there. It helped me to start storing a few of them in the trunk of my car so they’d always be there even if I hadn’t initially been planning on going to the store.

Lastly, if BP themselves really grind your gears, consider buying less aluminum cans. BP owns such a large share of the aluminum production in our country that 2 out of every 6 cans in a 6-pack is made by BP. Switching from cans to glass bottles here would have an impact. Of course, aluminum is one of the most recycled materials, so this is a choice that maybe isn’t quite so clear cut. Still it’s worth bearing in mind.

So, I did in fact mention a giveaway at the beginning of this post. Here’s how I want to do it.

Leave a comment on this post and tell me what you pledge to do to cut back on your reliance on big oil. Doesn’t matter how big or how small, and yes, I will be checking up on your pledges in 6 months to make sure that none of you is a liar. Let me know if you’re going to start using re-usable bags, or maybe cut back on your meat consumption – Meatless Mondays is an easy and fun trend, and it even has an alliteration.. and as we all know, alliterations are always awesome all the time.. always. Whatever you’re going to do, let me know. Or let me know what you’re already doing. Or, tell me that you hate the earth and you plan to continue aggressively using as many petro based products as possible to support your belief that the only reason the human race is here on this planet in the first place is to create a massive amount of indestructible plastics for use by a future race of intelligent beings. I mean if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it with conviction.

Cut-off for entry is 6pm, Thursday July 1st.

The winner, chosen at random, will be announced on July 2nd and will receive a brand new copy of Mark Bittman’s book.

So should I just talk about the winner first?

Or maybe the dip recipe first – I’ll make you all suffer through that if you want to find out about the contest winner.

Yeah, I think that’s the way to go.

Ramp season is almost over!!! PANIC!

If you haven’t had a chance to go out and take advantage of ramp season, I implore you to get to your nearest farmer’s market as soon as possible as they will only be around for another week or two at this point.

Ramps can be used in place of onions or leeks in nearly every recipe (at least, every recipe I’ve tried so far). There’s some more background information about ramps on my bbq chicken with ramp mustard post from a little while ago.

Something about the ramps in this dip really just make it come to life. My wife couldn’t get enough of it, and in what is always a pleasant little twist of fate she then couldn’t get enough of me.

Never underestimate the power of good food. For a man especially, picking up a few skills in the kitchen is something that simply can not be overvalued. If only my bachelor friends could understand this…

I remember one of the first dates Amanda and I ever had. She came over to my apartment in Adams Morgan, in downtown DC, where we practiced for a gig (we were both club djs for awhile there) and then had dinner at home. I remember making a mango salsa steak, and eating it on the floor because I didn’t even have a table at that place. No table, no nice dinnerware, no nothing, just good food and good company and that is really all it ever takes. I must have been doing something right that day.

Anyway, this is a really simple and straightforward dip recipe with just a few ingredients.

You will need…

- 1 bunch of ramps
- 6 oz pancetta
- 1 pkg cream cheese
- 2 cups creme fraiche (sour cream if you have to)

Creme fraiche is really pretty easy to make in your own home if you don’t have any easy way to get it. Check out this recipe from evil chef mom for a quick and simple explanation of how it’s done. If you’re gonna do it from home though, make sure to plan ahead – it does take some time.

Take all the ingredients out of the fridge and leave them on the counter. The cream cheese should be about room temperature, because you want it to be malleable.

First you want to blanch the ramps, so start some water boiling – enough water to cover all the ramps.

Then as your water is warming up, start the pancetta frying in a skillet in some light oil. Generally it takes about 3 minutes per side – it’s just like frying bacon.

When your water is boiling for the ramps, toss them in for about 2-3 few minutes (make sure they have been cleaned and the roots removed first) and then take them out and plunge them into a bowl of ice water so they will stop cooking.

Continue to mind your pancetta – it’s probably ready to be flipped now.

Remove the ramps from the ice and strain. Dice the white roots and chop up the green tops. I like to leave the chops of the green tops in slightly more substantial pieces.

Combine the creme fraiche and the cream cheese in a medium size bowl. Stir it up, mix it up, yeah.

The pancetta is probably about done by now. Put a paper towel on a plate and remove the pancetta to the towel. Let the oil drain off it for a few minutes.

Add diced up ramps to the medium size bowl. Chop/crumble up the dried pancetta and add it to the bowl.

Once you’ve got everything in there, make sure to mix it up good.

You can serve this with some good bread, with some vegetables, with crackers, whatever. We used some bread, and some carrots and green peppers.

BEWARE. This dip is both highly addictive and pretty high in calories (primarily from fat). I do not advise making this dip if there are only one or two people to eat, because you almost definitely will eat it ALL. Consider yourself warned.

As I mentioned before, this was a total hit with the wife…

My nephew, though, was a little bit skeptical.

But even he wound up loving it, once he could be talked into giving it a try.

The face betrays his emotions. He was proud.

One or two more weeks until ramp season is over. Go out there and try this stuff before it’s too late.

Okay so now we just have a small little matter to take care of concerning the winner of my latest book contest.

And that winner is…

Saint Tigerlily is the winner! Please email me your address at liam[dot]omalley[at]gmail[dot]com for your copy of Joel Salatin’s Everything I Want To Do is Illegal.

Thanks to everyone who played!

I hope you all have a great weekend – got any cool Mother’s Day plans? I’m hosting a brunch with 3 mothers at our home tomorrow – just finalized the menu last night. Can’t wait, the weather is looking to be fantastic.

I’m primarily talking about pain. Or more specifically, I’m talking about putting yourself through suffering for the purpose of challenging yourself to overcome it. To me, this is what running is all about. The endorphins are great, the adrenaline is great, but what really keeps me coming back time and time again is the sense of accomplishment I get from putting my body through a struggle – both physically as well as mentally – and coming out alive on the other side. And every time I reach that other side, I am a better person for it in some way, however small it may be.

Life is all about these challenges, whether you get them through running or otherwise. People constantly challenge themselves through physical struggles, in their personal relationships, in honing their talents. Without such challenge, suffering, and conquest there is little left to life. Once you have given up on making yourself a better person, what’s left? I don’t ever want to know the answer.

Of course I realize running isn’t for everyone, and I believe people have their own individual methods for attaining what I get through running – however conscious of it (or not) they may be. There are many paths to get to the places that I talk about, but at the same time I know that other runners will likely understand me best here.

I recently finished a book by one of my favorite fiction authors of all time, Haruki Murakami. It’s a book called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and it’s basically a bunch of ramblings about what running means to him and what being a novelist means to him. He talks at length about the challenges and the pains of being a runner and I found much common ground between what he said and what I felt, and indeed what I imagine most runners feel about what they do.

One of my favorite passages in this book was about a runner’s thoughts as he is running. I often wondered, before really becoming a runner, what I would think about all that time out there running. Murakami puts it best:

I run in a void. Or maybe I should put it the other way: I run in order to acquire a void. But as you might expect, an occasional thought will slip into this void. People’s minds can’t be a complete blank. Human beings’ emotions are not strong or consistent enough to sustain a vacuum. What I mean is, the kinds of thoughts and ideas that invade my emotions as I run remain subordinate to that void. Lacking content, they are just random thoughts that gather around that central void.

The thoughts that occur to me while I’m running are like clouds in the sky. Clouds of all different sizes. They come and they go, while the sky remains the same as always. The clouds are mere guests in the sky that pass away and vanish, leaving behind the sky. The sky both exists and doesn’t exist. It has substance and at the same time it doesn’t. And we merely accept that vast expanse and drink it in.

This is my meditation; this is my runner’s high.

And the great thing of it is, I really don’t know what I’m thinking about. I have no IDEA. I have thoughts, sure. I think about nearly everything, actually. And nothing at all. The meditative mind seeks to clear itself of all thoughts, and yet with running you don’t really clear your mind.. you simply let the thoughts come and go as they please. Occasionally you focus on your body. Occasionally you notice as things pass you by. Occasionally you get the “eight hundred five eight eight, two three hundred… EMPIIIRRE!!” jingle stuck in your head for four goddamn miles. But in general, it is what it is. And that’s one of the things that’s so beautiful about it.

So right now I am challenging myself with two things when it comes to running. I am running a half marathon in just over a week, at the Alexandria Running Festival, with my wife. It will be my first. And I am attempting to run long distances without any headphones to accompany me. My mileage currently hovers between 9-11 miles (a half marathon is 13.1 miles), so I think I’m in good shape there. As for the lack of music, I thought it would be much more difficult than it is. I’m actually quite enjoying going out without the music – you see and experience a lot more that way. This past weekend, I ran 10 miles with Amanda, neither of us with headphones. We spent the whole time talking, and 10 miles just flew by. It was pretty awesome, actually. I’m lucky to have a wife who does these things with me.

You may have figured out by now that, as a blogger (i.e. “over-sharer”), I like to share the things I love with anyone who might be interested enough to spend some time with me. To this end, I want you to join me on one of my weekday training runs on one of my favorite trails.

So lace up and let’s get going. I’m not trying to stand around here all day.

I do most of my weekday running during lunch when I can sneak away from the office. Later in the year, when I plan to train for a marathon, I’ll have to supplement that with morning and/or evening running, but for now this is sufficient. When I first leave my office I’m in Arlington, VA, which is a pretty hectic and crowded city area at lunch time. I spend a lot of time dodging people on the sidewalks and avoiding cars. I run down a pretty large hill, and head towards the Key Bridge.

Running down through Rosslyn (a division of Arlington), I pass a landmark that never fails to amuse me.

Yeah, that right there is a gas station in a church. A gas station IN a church. I guess I have to admit though, if gasoline isn’t the one true American religion, then I don’t know what is. Worship at the altars of Chevron, my fellow Americans.

As I leave Rosslyn, the Key Bridge takes me over the Potomac River and into DC.

The crowd has thinned out by this point, but there are still many runners, bikers, and suits walking to and fro. There is a great view in both directions from this bridge, especially at this time of year when everything is so green and alive again.

The view from the bridge facing south shows me the Georgetown Waterfront on the left, and just peeking out on the right side of the frame there is the Washington Monument. I’m usually reminded at this point in my run that the DC area is actually kind of pretty, so long as you know where and when to look.

After I cross the bridge, I descend onto the C&O Canal tow path. This path is nearly 185 miles long and goes all the way up to Cumberland, MD, in the western panhandle. It’s quite a tow path, as tow paths go.

By the time I get down to the tow path, there are only just a few occasional runners and bikers, and me. Here, there is some escape. I am not in VA anymore, and even though I’m within the boundaries of DC, DC itself is just some vague idea to me by this point. I have run about 2 miles by now, and have hit a stride.

Another great thing about running is that it gets you outside. When you run regularly, you become much more in tune with the seasons, as every little change is something noticeable when you’re spending hours out there running. Many people in this area feel that Spring lasts but a week here, and while it’s undeniable that the season is fleeting, mostly this is a symptom of people just not getting out there to enjoy it. By the time you realize Spring has arrived and you plan to spend some time outside, it’s already passed you by. With running, I don’t need to make any plans. I just keep on doing what I’m doing.

And there’s wildlife, too. Some days I run streets, but I really love to run trails and be out in more natural surroundings.

On this particular run, I hadn’t been on the C&O trail more than a mile before I was greeted by a mama duck and her family.

Not a half mile later, a giant egret flew past.

Kind of hard to see against the stone wall, but very beautiful and regal as it flew by.

And shortly thereafter, I came upon a snake lounging in the sun in the middle of the tow path. He quickly and graciously moved out of my way and into the brush. Thankfully my wife was not with me, as she has a serious phobia of these slithering reptiles. So much so that I have only linked my picture of it rather than displaying it here prominently. You’re welcome, baby.

At about 4 miles from the office, I hit my turnaround point – Fletcher’s Cove. Fletcher’s is a great little spot, where you can rent bikes for the path, canoes for the canal, or row boats for the Potomac. I have great memories of coming here as a very young child, and spending afternoons canoeing with my parents and brothers. I have some other memories of this place as well, of skipping class in high school and heading out on a rowboat with a friend or two. And I have memories of taking Amanda here on a date just a few years back now.

Sometimes it’s a great thing to have grown up where you live. I never thought I’d be happy living in the same place my whole life, but as I get older I find that I’m not minding it all that much. It’s nice to see your memories still alive all around you wherever you go.

Turning around, the view coming back is obviously pretty similar to going out.

2 miles or so back on the path and I’m almost back to the Key Bridge.

I used to hide out and drink here from time to time before I was of age, then go play in Georgetown. Due to construction changes and trees and such, it used to be a bit more secluded. Or maybe I just thought it was because I was young and foolish.

Back in VA. Large buildings. Busy people. Stay with me, I’m almost done… only about a mile to go left.

This hill is a motherfucker. Every single time.

The last few blocks, I run past a bunch of fast food restaurants and people eating there outside on the sidewalk. At first when that greasy smell hits me I am drawn to it compulsively…

…but just a moment later it’s replaced with another thought, inevitably, as I draw stares running past. That thought? SUCKERS. They have no idea what they’re missing.

Awesome run. I hit 8 miles this time. This is an accomplishment, and it feels great. I can return to my desk fully renewed.

Let’s do this again sometime.

What are your favorite challenges? What do you do to make yourself a better person?

Free stuff is pretty awesome. You don’t even have to put an argument together for it, it’s generally agreed on as a near-universal truth. Really the only possible exception is when it’s crap, and hopefully the use of the phrase “free stuff” as opposed to “free crap” would imply there’s at least a marginal amount of redeemable value. So really, free stuff doesn’t need much of a defense at all.

The same can’t really be said about food, unfortunately.

I stumbled onto Pollan’s book randomly in an airport a number of years back and it changed my whole attitude about the way I eat. Though I hadn’t read any Pollan before, I knew his name and was aware enough of the US agro-industrial complex to know it warranted some serious concern (putting it lightly).

The great thing about Michael Pollan’s writing is that he’s one of the few writers in his field who manages to be both very informational and highly motivating without sounding like he’s shouting from an ivory tower. He’s funny. He tells stories. And he’s not out to shock you into change, or make you feel guilt for the way you eat.

If there were only one book I could ever recommend about both diet and food, this is the one. And that’s why I’m giving one away for free to a randomly selected commenter on this post.

In “In Defense of Food,” Pollan explains the history of nutrition science – where it came from, where it’s going, and what the problems are with it. He makes it simple to understand the faults with, not only trend dieting, but also government / FDA approved dietary guidelines. The book defines the Western Diet and follows our cultural history’s path in arriving where we are today, as a country and as a species, and accounts for the reasons why we’re so confused that fad diet books routinely sit on the top of bestseller lists for weeks and months at a time.

Best of all, he includes simple guidelines for stepping off the mechanized conveyor belt of CAFO meats / factories -> stores and restaurants -> consumers that is today’s US food industry. A few select guidelines here, which are further elaborated in the text…

- Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

- Get out of the supermarket whenever possible.

- Avoid food products that make health claims.

- Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does.

- You are what what you eat eats too.

Some of the guidelines are intuitive, others not so much. But they are all well explained and make a whole lot of sense.

I’ve read this book about 4 or 5 times now. It’s such an easy and pleasant read that I just keep picking it back up every few months, and every time there is more to learn.

So to win a free copy, care of me, leave a comment and tell me what you think is the most confusing, most contradicting, and/or most frustrating thing about your diet and your trips to the market. This can be what you’ve read in magazines, what you hear from the government, what you read on food labels, what your mother told you as a child, anything at all. Or, just post and tell me you want the book. That’s fair too. Contest closes at 9pm Thursday, March 18th, and the winner will be announced on the following day. 839VJNVBSAHW