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The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick And What We Can Do About It (2009)

by Robyn O'Brien(Favorite Author)

3.78 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0767930711 (ISBN13: 9780767930710)

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

Random House

review 1: Anyone who has paid attention to recent (within the last 10 years) information about GM food or who has watched any number of documentaries about American food (Food, Inc., Fast Food Nation, etc.) and the problems created by large companies like Monsanto, will not be "shocked" by anything presented in this book. The author uses the word "shocking" multiple times in a way that makes it seem that her research is new; it's not! But to her, because it was new, she presents it as such. That said, what she does share is good info for any novice researcher who hasn't paid attention to what chemicals and GM does to food. Her casual voice may annoy some, but it does make the info easier to swallow than a strictly academic voice. I found her strident, self centered, and annoying (mo... morestly because I couldn't believe someone could be this ignorant about so many things), but I cut her some slack for her efforts to spread a good message. After developing an argument on why we should avoid certain foods, she loses ground. The last chapter in this book is laughable. After preaching about how bad food is, she offers solutions that include simply eating less of the harmful food (despite earlier claiming that even a small portion is detrimental to health). Rather than advocating total avoidance or a change in lifestyle and diet (the only way to really avoid "bad" foods), she seems to slip from her position and give in to the argument that convenience really does win out in the end.
review 2: I would give this 5 stars for the incredible job the author did of researching the history and political information on our food system, and exposing all the backhanded ways that the FDA uses to allow unsafe products in the market. It was very eye-opening to read how much stricter nearly every other country in the world is compared to the US. In fact, major companies like Walmart, McDonald's and Kraft, adhere to much stricter regulations overseas than in our own countries. It hasn't seemed to hurt their businesses - they were told to conform or else get out, and guess what? They did. For example, Kraft Mac-n-cheese -the fluorescent orange wonder on most kids' favorites list? In the UK, it has none of the nasty artificial yellow dye! Coca-cola - after a huge study (Southhampton) showed that the combination of artificial coloring with sodium benzoate had a definitely negative effect on children's behavior and learning ability, those chemicals are not in the UK versions of Coke. But they are still here in the US.The reason I held off on the 5th star is that near the end the author gives many examples of how she's modified her family's meals to avoid chemicals, GMO foods, etc. I realize she is striving for "better" not "perfect" and doesn't want people to give up simply because it seems too hard. However, I would love to see her move on from the white bread ("buy it at the supermarket bakery instead of off the shelf and you avoid the preservatives") and rice and beans ("cheap easy meals") to real food like meat and fresh, green vegetables. Her shopping list only included 2 vegetables, carrots and tomatoes. And hopefully she'll start looking into how nutritionally poor grains are in general, especially modern wheat. Since she already has kids with food allergies, going grain-free might benefit them even more. Maybe in her next book :) less

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