Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Studies show that organically grown crops produce more of the things (ascorbic acid, lycopenes, resveratrol, flavonols in general, etc) that our bodies need and also have less toxic residue. Science is still catching up with this. J. Agric. Food. Chem. Vol. 51, no. 5, 2003.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Organically grown crops provide essential nutrients and have fewer toxins, despite limited scientific recognition.
This quote by Michael Pollan emphasizes the benefits of organically grown crops, highlighting how they contain higher levels of important nutrients such as ascorbic acid and lycopenes while having reduced chemical residues. It suggests that while these advantages are evident, scientific consensus is still evolving, indicating a lag in research and recognition of organic farming benefits compared to conventionally grown produce.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about healthy eating at a community event, one might say, 'Studies show that organically grown crops produce more of the things our bodies need and have less toxic residue.'
More from Michael Pollan
All quotes →You look how much sugar is in a typical supermarket loaf of bread: it's a lot of sugar. It's just become one of those sugar delivery systems in our food economy.
There is nothing wrong with eating sweets, fried foods, pastries, even drinking soda every now and then, but food manufacturers have made eating these formerly expensive and hard-to-make treats so cheap and easy that we're eating them every day.
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He showed the words “chocolate cake” to a group of Americans and recorded their word associations. “Guilt” was the top response. If that strikes you as unexceptional, consider the response of French eaters to the same prompt: “celebration.
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