All language subtitles for In.Defense.Of.Food.2015.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG2_English

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[Michael] I'm a writer.

I don't have
a scientific background.

And I thought, "Am I qualified
to take people on this journey

and offer any kind of advice?"

But as I delved into it,

I began to realize
it was actually a strength.

I brought a very open mind,

and I think
I could see it freshly.

I had spent a lot of time
writing articles and books

tracing the food chain

and showing people
where their food came from,

how it was produced...

following meals
all the way back to the farm.

But I found that what
I kept hearing
from readers was,

"Yeah, yeah, yeah,
you've told me
where the food comes from

and how the animals live
and everything."

But what I really want to know
is what should I eat?

And it's no wonder
people are confused.

Every day,
there's a new headline...

eat more fiber,

drink less milk,

eggs are bad,

eggs are good.

As eaters we feel whipsawed
by the changes

in the nutritional advice
we're getting.

And I became absorbed
in this question,

"Yeah, what do we know?"

What do we know about the links
between diet and health?

That was something I hadn't
really focused on very much.

So, I decided to see
if I could come up with

some guidance for myself,

for my readers,
for my family...

on how to eat if you're
concerned about your health.

I really thought
the answer to this question

would be so much more complex
than it has turned out to be.

[applause]

Thank you.

[Michael] I'm Michael Pollan.

Join me as I make the case
"in defense of food."

[indistinct chatter]

[slow instrumental
music playing]

[Michael] Food...

Why does it need defending?

It's everywhere around us.

And who doesn't love it?

[woman]
Oh my goodness, I love pizza.

[kid] My favorite dinner
is chicken pot pie.

[man 1] A nice piece
of char-grilled steak.

[man 2] I love arugula...
can't get enough of it.

[old man] And, of course,
I like ice cream, too. [laughs]

[woman] I think food is one of
life's greatest pleasures.

I don't have one favorite food.
I just like food.

[Michael] But the food
we're eating today

is very different
from what it used to be.

And that change has been taking
a heavy toll on our health.

[amusing instrumental
music playing]

[cow mooing]

The Scavotto family
lives outside Boston.

-Would you call this
shredded carrots?
-Yes.

[Michael] Anthony is 11.

Yes, I would.

[Anthony] Last year,
when I went to the doctor's,

he said that I gained
30 pounds in a year.

I didn't like that at all.

See if that says
"whole wheat" on it.

[Anthony] Most of my friends,
they can run

and they can not get tired.

They can, like, be athletic
and I can't do that.

I couldn't do that.

[Anthony's mother]
When I found out
he gained 30 pounds

under my watch,

that's crazy to me.

I definitely felt I failed
in the food department.

[Anthony]
My mother and my father

were buying foods
that said they were healthy,

but they weren't.

[Nancy]
You know, granola bars...

they're not so healthy
if you look at the sugar.

Yogurt...

We were doing all that.

All right,
then it's not healthy.

[Anthony] I was mad at myself.

I was trying to eat healthy,
but apparently it didn't work.

I didn't like it.

I wanted to change my body.

[indistinct chatter]

[Michael] Anthony's doctor
referred him to a program

for overweight kids
at Boston Children's Hospital.

It's a busy place.

[woman] Anthony.

[Michael]
Over the last 30 years,

the rate of childhood obesity
in America

has more than doubled.

More and more young people
are now getting a disease

that used to be very rare
in children--

type-2 diabetes.

[Doctor] Okay.

[Michael] Being overweight
increases your chances of
getting the disease.

Hold your hand out like that.

[Michael]
So Anthony may be at risk.

[Doctor] Obesity can affect

virtually every organ system
of a child's body.

And in some cases, uh,
resulting in type-2 diabetes...

the ultimate metabolic meltdown.

Swallow.

It's one thing
for an overweight adult

to develop type-2 diabetes
at age 50

and then have a heart attack
at age 60.

Take a deep breath.

It's a very different thing

if the clock starts ticking
at age ten.

[breathing deeply]

[Michael] Since 1975,
the percentage of Americans

who have type-2 diabetes
has more than tripled

and is expected
to keep on growing.

Four of the top ten things
that will kill you

are chronic diseases
linked to diet.

So something's wrong.

The diet most of us eat
these days

has become known
as the Western diet.

It includes lots of meat,

white flour,

vegetable oils and sugar,

and very little fruit,
vegetables, and whole grains.

It's cheap.

It's convenient.

[sizzling]

And most of it has been
processed to taste really good.

[man]
The food industry has gotten
incredibly good at manipulating

the properties of food

so it has
just the right texture,

just the right color,
just the right smell

to make you consume
as much of it as possible,

miss it when you don't have it,

crave it to the point where

you want to keep
coming back for more.

[Michael] And the key
to getting us hooked

is our inborn craving for salt,

sugar,

and fat.

[Kelly]
We're biologically designed

to like foods that are
very high in calories,

very high in
sugar, fat, and salt

because that was adaptive during

almost all of human history

when food was scarce and
there were things like famines.

But now food is abundant
and our biology is mismatched

with what's occurring
out there in the environment.

[man] Take Buffalo wings.

What are they?

You start off with
the fatty part
of the chicken.

Usually fried in
the manufacturing
plant first.

That pushes a lot of fat
into that chicken wing.

Fried usually again
in the restaurant.

That pushes more fat
into that wing.

That red sauce, what is it?
Sugar and salt.

That white creamy sauce
on the side?

Fat, sugar, and salt.

What are we eating?
We're eating fat on fat,

on fat on sugar,
on fat, sugar, and salt.

[Michael] From fast food meals

to all the packaged products
in the supermarket,

we're eating
more processed foods
than ever before.

They now make up
some 60 percent of our diet.

[man] The food industry
makes its greatest profits

through the most
extensively processed foods.

[Michael] The key ingredients
for those foods...

corn, soybeans,
wheat, and rice...

don't cost
the food companies much

because government subsidies
keep supplies high
and prices low.

The food companies
turn those crops

into things
like hydrolyzed soy protein,

mono and diglycerides,

and high fructose corn syrup,

ingredients that end up
in so many processed foods.

[man] The American farm system

has turned into
a calorie conveyor belt

that produces massive
amounts of commodities

to make sugary beverages,

fast food, junk food...

very, very cheap.

[Michael] You've added
all this packaging,

and this marketing,
and these characters,

you know, that appeal to kids,
and you're selling it

for an order of
magnitude more money.

[Kelly] And, of course,
this is a good business model
for the companies

'cause they want
to maximize their sales.

But it's not very good
for human health.

[Michael] People who eat
a lot of processed foods

struggle more
with health problems.

And so we've been really curious

to understand
what happened to the food.

So we look at what's present
and absent from processed foods

to understand
where they went wrong,

why they make people sick.

Take bread,
one of my own favorite foods.

It's made from
a few basic ingredients...

flour, water, yeast and salt,

which you mix together,
let rise,

and then eventually bake.

We've been eating it
for thousands of years.

But the bread our ancestors ate
was very different

from what you find
in most supermarkets today.

Flour used to be made
by grinding grains like wheat

between two big stones.

This kind of flour
called whole wheat,

contains all of the wheat seed
including the bran
and the germ.

But whole wheat bread was
usually dense and hard to chew.

Removing the bran and germ

made the flour white
and the bread softer.

But white flour was a luxury
few people could afford

until the late 19th century,

when a new technology
came along.

[man] Roller milling
was this great idea.

You could shake the bran
and the germ of that grain off.

And it would fall down
into the bottom

underneath the roller.

You could feed that stuff
to the cattle.

Whoops, it turns out that
that stuff is the good stuff.

[Michael] The bran
and the germ are rich
in many nutrients,

including vitamins.

The part that's left
is mostly carbohydrates,

which break down
when we eat them

into the sugar molecule,
glucose...

one of the body's
main sources of energy.

And we love that.

We love that sensation
of sugar coming into our body.

Our brains crave sugar.

They live on glucose.

That's the brain's
high-octane fuel.

And white flour is very stable.

It will last on the shelf
indefinitely.

Unlike whole wheat flour,
it doesn't turn rancid

because the germ, which can
easily spoil, has been removed.

And when you moved
to white flour,

it was a great boon
for the food industry

because, you know,
one giant mill could feed
millions of people

and send out flour
that would last forever.

The one little problem is,
as you made the flour last,

you basically ruined it
as a food source

because you were taking out
all the nutrients,
or most of them.

You still had some starch
and you still had some protein,

but you lost the vitamins.

The shift to white flour,
and to processed corn and rice,

took a toll on people's health.

They were getting diseases,
like Beriberi and Pellagra,

which are often fatal.

But the link between
those diseases
and people's diets

remained unclear
until the 20th century,

when we discovered
they were caused
by a lack of vitamins.

[woman] You had
these deficiency diseases.

Nobody knew
where they came from.

And then you fed these people

a food that had
the right vitamin in it,

and they'd become healthy.

This was a true miracle.

Scientists,
nutritionists, chemists

were delving into
the miracle of vitamins.

And this information was
delivered to an excited public,

through newspapers,
through magazines.

[Michael] Before long,
everyone was
talking about vitamins.

And food companies
jumped on the opportunity.

[woman] For food marketers,
it was kind of like

being given this
beautiful gift of this word

that the public's obsessed with

that no one really understood,

you know,
the chemical details of.

My favorite example was

Schlitz beer came up with
Schlitz Vitamin-D beer,

with the tag line that
"beer is good for you,

but Schlitz Vitamin-D beer
is extra good for you."

[Rima]
Manufacturers were quick
to pick up on the fact that

vitamins were
a very good selling point

and if they weren't
naturally in the food,

then why don't you add it?

[over television]
You want to grow bigger
and stronger, don't you?

-Golly, sure!
-Okay!

A sandwich daily
and two slices of Wonder Bread
every meal

give you eight elements
you need...

as much muscle building protein
as roast beef,

as much calcium for bones
and teeth as cottage cheese,

as much vitamin B1...

[Michael] The story of
Wonder Bread, in a way,

is the story of the food system
writ small.

Why do you need
to add all these
special vitamins to bread?

Well, because you've
taken them out of flour.

And had we left
good enough alone,

and we'd continued
to either eat whole grains

or even partially whole grains,

you wouldn't have created
this problem.

So Wonder Bread
was an amazing technology

solving a problem
that technology created.

I mean,
you're essentially selling

the problem and the solution
in one neat package.

Some of our dietary problems

began long before the rise
of modern technology.

When we invented agriculture,
which gave us bread,

we set in motion other changes

that are still affecting
our health today.

We used to eat a lot
of green plants.

They're one of
nature's best sources
of a class of fatty acids

called omega-3s
that are vital to our health.

But once we started
farming seed crops

like wheat, rice, and corn,

they began
to dominate our diet.

The bulk of what
agriculture does is grow seeds.

Seeds are full of energy.

They have lots of carbohydrate
in them and protein.

I mean,
they're wonderful things.

They have everything
a new life needs.

But green, leafy plants
are usually much better
than seeds

as sources of omega-3s.

Omega-3 fats are essential
for optimal brain growth,

for optimal heart health,
and for optimal
immune function.

And omega-3 fats can't be made
by the human body.

They have to be eaten.

[laughter]

[Michael]
Traditional diets gave us
many ways to get omega-3s.

In addition to Green plants,

omega-3s are also
plentiful in fish,

which eat lots of plants
in the ocean.

Meat used to be a good source
of omega-3s

because farmers fed livestock
their natural diet...

green, leafy grass.

But now, most of the animals
we raise for food

are mainly eating corn and soy.

So they get fewer omega-3s

and their meat and milk
have less of them, too.

But many of the foods we eat

are quite rich in
a rival group of fatty acids

called omega-6s.

There are lots of them
in oils pressed from seeds,

like soy and corn oil.

Omega-6s are the darlings
of the food industry

because they have a much longer
shelf life than omega-3s do.

[Michael]
Though we need both omega-6s
and omega-3s to survive,

there's evidence
that eating too many sixes

blocks out the threes.

[Susan]
It's like a game
of musical chairs.

There are only so many seats.

And if they're occupied
by the omega-6s

you're gonna have
many fewer omega-3s.

[Michael]
And some scientists believe

the loss of omega-3s
is hurting our health.

A deficiency
in omega-3 fatty acids

increases risk
of heart disease death.

It will impair the development
of kid's brains

so that they don't have
optimal IQ.

They will have greater risk
of major depression.

[Michael]
So we've gone from a diet

that gave us
all the omega-3s we needed

to one where
they're much harder to get.

♪ I'd like to buy
The world a home ♪

♪ And furnish it with love ♪

[Michael]
But perhaps the biggest
threat to our health

comes not from
losing a nutrient,

but from flooding our bodies

with one we seem
powerless to resist.

♪ I'd like to teach
The world to sing ♪

♪ Sing with me
Perfect harmony ♪

♪ Perfect harmony ♪

♪ I'd like to buy
The world a Coke ♪

♪ And keep it company ♪

[Micheal] We now consume
about 1,000% more sugar per day

than we did 200 years ago.

[Michael]
Sugar's appearing in foods that
were never sweetened before.

There's sugars now in bread.

There's sugars in ketchup

and condiments
of all different kinds.

We have figured out a way
in this country

to make sugar, sweeteners
very, very cheap.

When soda costs less than milk,

or even bottled water,

and is marketed
as a normal thing
to have with a meal

or give to toddlers
and young children,

we have a problem.

[man] When we look at factors
that are related
to obesity and diabetes,

the single most important factor
we have seen

is sugar-sweetened beverages.

[man] Increasingly,
you're seeing sugary drinks

that have labels on them
that'll say that
they have vitamin C

or they're good in antioxidants

or otherwise somehow imply
that they're healthy for you.

They're still
basically sugary drinks.

There's more sugar in
a 20-ounce bottle of lemonade

than there is in a Coca-Cola.

We know that sugar
has a lot of calories.

But sugar causes other
metabolic changes, as well.

[Michael]
Roughly half of the sugar
in sweetened drinks and foods

is a kind of sugar
called fructose.

[man] Fructose is
the sweet molecule in sugar.

We love it.

It's the reason
we go after sugar.

[Michael] But there's evidence
that too much fructose

can damage the liver.

[man]
And when your liver gets sick,

type-2 diabetes, hypertension,

heart disease, liver disease,
all start accumulating.

[Michael] Eating foods
like potatoes, white rice,

or anything made
from white flour,

also floods our bodies
with sugar.

Because, even though
they may not have
added sugar,

they're made up
of carbohydrates

that break down into glucose
when we digest them.

And flooding our bodies
with glucose

triggers the release
into our bloodstream

of a very important hormone
called insulin.

[man] Insulin is
necessary for life.

So what does insulin do?
Well, it lowers blood sugar.

Your blood sugar rises
because you've eaten.

When you're healthy,

your pancreas
senses the blood sugar rise.

The insulin goes up,

and the various cells
of the body
will take up the glucose

so that the glucose
will come back down
in the blood to normal.

[Michael]
But there is evidence
that eventually too much sugar

can push insulin
to the breaking point

and lead to type-2 diabetes.

It's a disease that's hitting
low-income communities
the hardest.

[Girl] Yesterday, I decided
to write down some ingredients
in my day-to-day diet.

First, there was
a million things
I could not pronounce

and then there was sugar,
flour, sugar...

[Michael]
This video was made
by the Bigger Picture campaign,

which brings together
young poets

and health care workers
in the San Francisco Bay area

to highlight the problem
of diabetes.

It's like let me hit
that cookie one time.

It's like knowing most
of your family has diabetes

but your still smacking
on your Sour Patches

as you're walking your aunt
into her dialysis appointment.

It's like aunty Marlo
being blind at 32.

It's like grandma Suzie dying
from a heart attack at 51.

[man] The people
who are suffering the most

in the obesity epidemic today
are the poor and the minorities.

Twice the rate of diabetes
in African Americans,
Latinos as whites.

That's not because
of their genes.

That's because of the marketing
in those
low-income neighborhoods

of food that's bad for people.

[man]
We dealing with a crisis
that's at an emergency level.

Their lives are at stake.

I think all
of our lives are at stake.

[Erica] It's like damn.

It's like suicide.

It's very painful for me

to watch my family
literally pass away.

We will go to funerals that
were caused because of food,

and then turn around
and eat the same food

that put the person in the grave
in the first place.

So what if I told you
that a hundred years ago,

one in a hundred people

contracted a disease
called type-2 diabetes.

Only one in a hundred people.

What if I told you
that 50 years from now,

one in three people...

one in three people are
gonna have type-2 diabetes.

How would that
make you all feel?

Type-2 diabetes, obesity,
heart disease, heartbreak...

you know, a lot of misery
has been created
by this modern diet.

[amusing instrumental
music playing]

It seemed clear
that the Western diet

is making lots of people sick.

So I started looking
at the kind of diet

that we evolved to eat...

Food that comes not
from factories,

but from nature.

My search took me back
to the beginning of life.

[man]
It turns out that one thing
did literally evolve

to nourish
healthy individuals...

lactation and milk.

Everything that the infant
requires has to be in milk.

So milk is literally
a comprehensive diet
in one product...

All the essential nutrients,

every vitamin, every mineral,
every amino acid,

every fatty acid that the infant
needs has to be in milk.

[Michael] At the University
of California at Davis,

Bruce German and
his colleague Daniela Barile

are trying to understand
how mother's milk
keeps babies healthy

and what the rest of us
can learn from that.

[Daniela] Milk is really
the perfect food
because it's always changing.

If you have milk from day one
and milk from day ten,

the vitamin content,
the lipid content, the protein,

the carbohydrate is evolving
to match the needs of the baby.

[Michael]
But not all mothers
can breastfeed.

[woman] If there's
any kind of challenge

that you'd like
to share with us,

that gives us an opportunity
to discuss it mother to mother.

[woman] I've had struggles

with breastfeeding
from the very beginning.

I had low supply,

so I've been
supplementing with formula.

[man] Mothers have been
unable to feed their babies
throughout history.

If you couldn't
breastfeed a baby,

that baby
was really in trouble.

[woman]
In the 19th century,

infant mortality rates
were extremely high.

People were very fearful for
the lives of their children,

particularly infants.

[Michael] Then, in the 1860s,

parents were offered
a potentially
life-saving alternative

when a German scientist
named Justus Von Liebig

introduced the first
commercial baby formula.

He believed
his product contained

all the essential nutrients
in breast milk.

Liebig's food opened up
an entire market.

It quickly was followed
by many copiers.

[Michael]
But our attempts to make
a substitute for breast milk

have taught us
just how hard it is

for science to mimic nature.

Those early formulas were
missing valuable nutrients.

Vitamins hadn't been
discovered yet.

And the importance of omega-3s

wasn't understood
until the 1970s.

We learned that
as close as we get,

the ultimate goal
is constantly retreating

because mother's milk
is a very complex food.

In 2006,
Bruce German and his colleagues

discovered one of its secrets

when they solved
a longstanding mystery.

One of the things
that was absolutely astonishing

is that human milk contains
indigestible material.

The babies
literally can't digest it.

It goes right through them.

[Bruce]
When we looked
at how much there was,

it was staggering.

It was the third-most
abundant component in milk.

[Michael]
It was a kind of complex sugar
called an oligosaccharide.

Mothers literally are feeding
indigestible matter
to the baby.

Why?

[Michael] German had a hunch.

The first thought was,
"Well, babies can't digest them.

Maybe bacteria can."

Because we know
bacteria inhabit

the intestine of all of us,
including babies.

Bruce came over to my lab
and we tested

to see if the oligosaccharides
that he found in milk

could grow any bacteria

that I happened to have
in my lab.

[Bruce] And he tested them
and he came back and he said,

"No, they don't."

And he was looking at
bacterium after bacterium
after bacterium.

Nothing... no growth at all.

But then he found one.

And at that point, we began
to realize the genius of milk.

[Michael]
What Mills found was
a little-understood bacterium

called
bifidobacterium infantis.

[Bruce]
And when you look
at breastfed babies,

their lower intestine is full
of just that bacterium.

The great question is why would
this bacteria be valuable?

What could the bacteria
do for the baby?

It occupies all of the surfaces
of the baby's large intestine

and prevents germs
that could cause disease

from attacking the baby.

So it starts to grow
and multiply

and grows and multiplies
until the baby
is literally full

of just this one group
of bacteria.

And no other bacteria
can compete.

That's an ingenious process.

[Michael]
The story of mother's milk

shows how well
nature provides for us.

And that's something
that remains true
throughout our lives.

No matter where we live,

nature offers us an astonishing
variety of healthy foods.

We are omnivores.

We live on six
of the seven continents.

We have managed to construct
from what nature has to offer

in all those
different places...

deserts...

jungles...

grasslands...

forests... a healthy diet.

[horn tooting]

In the Andes mountains in Peru,

the Quechua people eat
mostly potatoes and grains

with a small amount of meat.

In East Africa,
the Masai thrive on a diet

consisting mostly
of cattle blood,
milk, and meat.

In the Arctic,
the Inuit people's
traditional diet

includes tremendous
amounts of fat

from whales, seals, and fish.

And here in Tanzania,
members of the Hadza tribe

eat hundreds of different
wild plants and animals.

Although one in five
Hadza babies

still die before
their first birthday,

those who survive childhood
tend to live long
and healthy lives.

[woman]
We don't see these
so-called Western diseases

among the Hadza.

Things like cancer,
things like obesity,

type-2 diabetes,
heart disease... very low rates.

For the most part, they are
a very healthy population.

[Michael]
So what can we learn
from the way they eat?

The Hadza are some
of the last people on Earth

who still get their food
the way our ancestors did...

by hunting and gathering.

[woman]
For the bulk of our history,

we were living like the Hadza.

We were foragers.

What we are doing now
in the industrialized West

is what's different or odd.

[Michael] They're doing
what people used to do
everywhere on the planet,

which is figure out a way
to use what nature
has to offer.

[speaking in African language]

[Michael] The women dig
for roots called tubers.

They're very hard to chew.

But when other foods
are scarce, they're almost
always available.

They also collect a fruit

that falls to the ground
from tall trees.

It's called Baobab.

The inside is kind of
chalky and dry.

To make it easier to eat,
the Hadza pound it
into a powder

and sometimes add water
to make a sort of smoothie.

This is a kind of
food processing,
but very minimal.

[speaking in African language]

[Michael]
While the women and children
gather plant foods,

the men go out hunting for meat
and searching for honey.

[woman] Honey is
the number-one ranked
Hadza food.

Foragers will go
to incredible lengths

in order to access honey.

[speaking in African language]

[Michael] Imagine
if we had to climb a tree

every time we wanted
a sugar fix from a Coke.

We'd probably think twice.

[speaking in African language]

[Michael]
The Hadza get their meat
straight from nature, too.

[intense instrumental
music playing]

[shouting]

[Michael]
On days when the Hadza
kill a big animal,

they eat lots of
protein and fat.

On other days they might have
mostly sugar or starch,

it's not what we might think of
as a balanced diet,

but it works
very well for them.

The Hadza eat
what their parents ate

and their grandparents ate

and they don't stress about it.

[singing in African language]

[Michael] Here is a people
that don't know
what a nutrient is,

and have very good
dietary health
at the same time.

I think that has
something to teach us.

[amusing instrumental
music playing]

What you're gonna do is
you're gonna go down the center.

[Michael]
So, whenever I give a talk,

I explain the choice
we're facing.

We are at a fork in the road
when it comes to food.

We have two options:

one, surrender
to the Western diet,

stay on processed food,
and junk food, and fast food,

and wait for evolution
to adapt us to it.

[laughter]

It will happen eventually.

It should happen eventually,

but there will be
so much suffering.

There will be so much expense
before that happens

that I would argue
it's really not sustainable.

Well, there's another option.

We can take the more practical,
the more economical,

and the more beautiful path,

which is simply to change
the way we're eating.

And everything I've learned
about healthy eating

can be summed up
in just seven words.

Eat food, not too much,
mostly plants.

And those seven words
tell you all you need to know

about how to eat
in a healthy way.

When I say, "eat food,"

I'm basically saying
eat the kinds of things

that people have been eating
for a long time...

meat...

fish...

vegetables...

and fruits...

Grains.

Eat food, which is to say,
"Eat real food."

And that other stuff,
we shouldn't even dignify

with that beautiful word,
"food."

And so I call it
something else.

I call it
"edible food-like substances."

And that's all
that processed stuff

in the middle
of the supermarket.

The Western diet
is in the center aisles.

Go to the produce section.

The healthiest food
in the store
is in the produce section,

and there are no health claims.

You go to the middle
of the store

where the food is just
screaming about
its whole grain goodness,

and there's cereals
that are gonna, like,
save you from heart attacks.

They don't talk that way over
in the apples and the broccoli.

Why is that?

Well, they don't have packages,

they don't have big budgets.

The quieter the food,

likely the healthier the food.

[woman]
You don't have to be
a scientist to know how to eat.

To me, that's one
of the interesting things
about nutrition...

is everybody
can eat a healthy diet,

and they can put together
their own healthy diet

without knowing thing one
about the biology of nutrients.

Just go around the outside
of the supermarket

and pick up fruits,
vegetables, meat,

and stay out
of the processed foods

because they're fun to eat
once in a while,

but they shouldn't be
daily fare.

[indistinct chatter]

[Michael] Saying that
we should eat food
may sound obvious.

But these days,
much of the food industry

is built on a different idea...

that what really matters
is eating the right nutrients.

Manufacturers bombard us
with claims

about the good nutrients
they've put into their products

and the bad ones
they've taken out.

This way of thinking
has a name... nutritionism.

And the more I learned
about it, the more
convinced I became

that it's the reason
something as simple as eating

has become so complicated.

Nutrition is one thing.

Nutrition science is a science,
but nutritionism
is an ideology.

It's the ideology of believing

that the nutrient is the key
to understanding food.

The big premise of nutritionism

is that the most
important thing about any food

are the nutrients
it contains, right?

A food is the sum
of its nutrient parts,

which is basically how
science studies food.

So, take an apple,
or take carrots.

And what's important
about carrots

is a certain amount
of beta-Carotene

and a certain amount
of vitamins

and a certain amount of fiber
and a certain amount of sugar.

That's what a carrot is.

So that seems kind of,
"Okay, no big deal.

That's... nutrients are
the basis of food."

But if you accept that idea
that the important thing
about a food

are the nutrients it contains,

you suddenly find yourself
dragged along

to tenet number two
of nutritionism.

And that is the idea that since
nutrients are invisible,

then it falls to experts
to tell us how to eat.

It's sort of like a religion,
'cause, now,

if what matters about a food
is something you can't see,

then you need a priesthood

to mediate your relationship
to that mystery.

And so we have a priesthood
that consists of doctors,

who we consult about food,
and various experts

and writers of books
on nutrition

and nutrition scientists
of all kinds.

And, and we defer to them.

Like most ideologies,
nutritionism divides the world

into good and evil
so that, in the nutrition area,

there is always a group
of blessed nutrients

and a group of evil nutrients.

So let's get a few examples.

Give me some examples
of a blessed nutrient.

[woman] Kale!

Kale is not a nutrient.
It's a food.

But thank you.

-[woman 1] Vitamin C!
-Vitamin C.

-[woman 2] Fiber!
-Fiber.

-[woman 3] Antioxidants!
-Antioxidants.

-[woman 4] Omega-3s!
-Omega-3s, yes.

So those are
the blessed nutrients.

And, on the other side,

there is always
the evil nutrients

we are trying to drive
from the food supply...

Saturated fat,
high-fructose corn syrup,

sugar, in general.
Evil nutrients.

But it's important
to know that the identity

of the good and evil nutrients
is constantly changing.

[amusing instrumental
music playing]

You go back to the turn
of the last century,

around 1900,
there was an ideology then

that the great evil nutrient,
was protein.

Now we think protein's great,

but then some people thought
protein was really bad.

The best-known critic
of protein was
Doctor John Harvey Kellogg...

a member of a Christian
denomination called

the Seventh-day Adventists
that promoted vegetarianism.

People flocked
to his sanitarium
in Battle Creek, Michigan,

to be cured of
the gastrointestinal curse
of the day.

[woman] America's diet
in the 1800s and early 1900s,

it was a lot
of meat and potatoes.

And constipation was, like,
an obsession.

Everyone was obsessed
with constipation.

[Michael] Which Kellogg
claimed was caused by
bacteria in our colon

that thrive on the protein
in a meat-heavy diet.

They thought that it released
toxins in your gut

as it fermented and,

and that would lead to cancer
and all sorts of things.

Celebrities including
Henry Ford, Amelia Earhart,

and future president
Warren Harding

eagerly submitted
to Kellogg's vegetarian diet

and anti-bacterial treatments.

And people did
the most insane things

under the direction
of this pseudo-science.

I mean, go on all-grape diets
for a day

and eat 14 pounds of grapes
and nothing else,

take yogurt enemas.

And you were supposed to chew
every bite a hundred times.

That can interfere
with the pleasure of a meal.

Kellogg asked his brother Will

to perform experiments
to design healthier foods.

They really wanted
to dethrone protein,

which was the morning meal...
eggs and bacon and sausage.

And they thought
that carbohydrates

were the clean,
blessed nutrient.

One day in 1894,

the brothers stumbled
on a discovery

they hoped would transform
the American breakfast...

the flaked cereal, made mostly
of carbohydrates.

First came wheat flakes.

And then Will
invented the corn flake...

so wildly successful
it would make him wealthy.

But John Kellogg's theories
about the perils of protein,

not to mention his ideas
about yogurt enemas,

were eventually disproven
by science.

You know, we look back on that
and we think
this is complete quackery.

Well, I hate to say it,

but someone will look back
on us in a hundred years,

and say much the same thing
for a lot of our own
nutritional practices.

We look at gluten
the way they looked at protein.

You know,
we have millions
of Americans now

working to remove gluten
from their diet.

We're looking for answers.

We're looking
for dietary salvation.

And when someone comes forward
with a theory,

we fall into line.

[man]
Because so many women
are concerned about

too much saturated fat,
a great change in eating habits

is taking place
in homes all over America.

♪ Oh, I don't want it
You can have it
It's too fat for me ♪

♪ It's too fat for me ♪

[Michael]
The campaign
to reduce fat in our diets

is the best example yet
of what can go wrong

when the science of nutrition
gets hijacked

by the ideology
of nutritionism.

[woman] Reducing fat
in your overall diet

can help make you healthier.

[Michael]
We spent 30 years in this
country obsessing about fat.

[woman]
Health specialists
recommend that

children more than
two years old

begin eating a diet
that is lower in fat.

Eat foods that are low in fat.

-[woman 1] Low fat, low fat.
-[woman 2] Low fat.

-[man 1] Fat.
-[man 1] Fat.

[man] Fat.

[Michael] Fat got a reputation
as an evil nutrient
back in the 1950s

when scientists began
searching for the cause

of what seemed to be a big
increase in heart disease.

Finding the reason why
became an obsession

for a Minnesota physiologist
named Ancel Keys.

He and his wife Margaret,
a biochemist,

traveled the world
studying heart disease.

Ancel Keys' hypothesis
at the beginning
of his research

was that something in
people's diets

was responsible
for the generation
of heart disease.

His studies in Naples
made him think that

that something was fat.

[Micheal]
Ancel and Margaret first
visited Naples in 1952.

They had heard
that working-class Neapolitans

had less heart disease
than their more comfortable
neighbors.

So they decided
to compare their diets.

[woman]
Those who were more affluent
loved their steaks.

They loved their veal.

They loved
their rich, creamy sauces.

Now amongst
the working classes,

they were eating lots of pasta,

lots of vegetables,
lots of fresh fruits.

But they were missing the fat

that was so common
on the dinner plates

of the upper crust
of Neapolitan society.

The connection
that Ancel Keys saw

between fat
and cardiovascular disease
was cholesterol.

[Michael] This sticky substance

is something our bodies
make and need.

But scientists
were finding that

too much of it
in the bloodstream
clogged arteries.

[woman] Scientists
could see cholesterol

on the interior linings
of arteries,

especially the arteries
of those people

who suffered heart attacks.

[Michael]
Keys and others found that

your blood-cholesterol
level went up

the more you ate
a particular kind of fat.

Saturated fat, like
palmitic acid, stearic acid...

they are saturated
with hydrogens.

[Michael]
Saturated fats are usually
solid at room temperature.

We get them most often from
meat, milk, butter, and cheese.

[woman] As he looked
around the globe,

Keys found
that the more animal fat,

red meat, and dairy products,

the more heart disease
within the population.

[Michael] Keys was practicing
a statistical kind of science

called epidemiology.

He was looking through data
about large numbers of people,

trying to find patterns.

[woman] Epidemiology
is very powerful in its way

because it identifies trends
and potential relationships.

But you always
have to be skeptical

of any of those kinds
of associations,

unless you've got other kinds
of data that show causality.

And it should be written
on every single
epidemiological study...

"Red flag, association does not
necessarily mean causation."

[Michael] But based on
the strong association
Keys saw in his data

between heart disease
and saturated fat,

he advised people
to eat less of it.

[rock music playing]

By the 1970s,

Keys' theory was
being discussed in the Senate.

There were some
one million people

who died in 1967
from heart disease...

[Michael] In 1976,
George McGovern was chairman

of the Senate's Select
Committee on Nutrition.

We're eating much
more animal fat.

[man] They hear over
and over again
that animal fat is the problem.

And they issue
a set of guidelines

called the dietary goals
of the United States.

The goals urged Americans
to reduce fat

to 30% of the calories
in their diets.

How?

By eating less meat
and less dairy.

"Decrease consumption
of meat," they said.

And never has
a nutrition report been
more controversial.

The meat industry
would have none of that.

They went right
to their friends in Congress.

Congress held hearings.

[Cathrine]
And McGovern had to rewrite
those guidelines.

[Michael]
So, "Eat less red meat,"
is rewritten as,

"Choose meats that will reduce
your saturated fat intake."

And in the move
from that first sentence

to that second sentence,
that translation process,

to my mind, is the beginning
of full-blown nutritionism.

Because think about it.

First of all, we're no longer
talking about a food

that everybody recognizes...
meat, red meat.

We're talking about a nutrient
that no one has ever seen,

really understands,
and is an abstraction...

saturated fat.

For the food industry,
the mandate to reduce fat

was an opportunity
to sell new products...

low in fat, perhaps,
but often high in sugar.

The food industry
could all of a sudden

use low-fat or no-fat
as a marketing strategy.

Don't you want something
that's healthy for you?

Why not buy a highly processed,

sugar-laden cookie
that is fat-free?

People thought,
"God, there's no fat in this.

I'm not just gonna have one
of those cookies,
I'm gonna have a whole box."

I think they're zesty.
I could eat a million.

I think I will.

The message to eat less fat
was translated into,

"It's okay to eat more sugar."

[Michael]
So the food industry
re-engineers the food,

and if you look at it,
fat as a proportion

of calories in the diet
goes down,

which sounds really good.

But, in fact, what happened is

fat stayed level and we ate
a lot more carbohydrate.

And that meant more calories.

So we were kidding ourselves,

and the industry was helping
to let us kid ourselves.

♪Ba-ba-do-ah ♪

♪ It looks like and cooks like
The high-priced ♪

[Michael] Prodded
by health experts,

the industry also encouraged us

to switch from
butter to margarine.

[woman]
America's favorite margarine.

[man] Blue Bonnet.

♪ Everything's better
With Blue Bonnet on it ♪

[Michael] Margarine is made
from vegetable oils.

They contain
polyunsaturated fats,

which were touted
as blessed nutrients

because some of them
can lower cholesterol.

But to make vegetable oil
hard enough to spread,

you have to hydrogenate it.

That means injecting
hydrogen gas into the oil

under controlled
temperature and pressure...

a process that changes some
of the polyunsaturates

into a kind of fat
called trans fat.

Margarine and other
vegetable oil products

with trans fat
were cheaper than butter

and stayed fresh longer.

They became popular
in baked goods,

deep frying, and all kinds
of processed foods.

For decades, we were told
they were healthy alternatives

to foods with saturated fats.

But in the 1990s,
scientists discovered

that trans fats were in fact
not very healthy at all.

Many people associated with
the American Heart Association

had been advising people
to consume margarine

that was loaded with trans fat,
although lower in saturated fat.

As it turns out, people who had
more trans fat in their diet

had higher rates
of heart disease and diabetes.

Those margarines were about
the worst things
that people could be eating.

[Michael] So, think of it...

what we told people
is to get off

a possibly unhealthy fat
called saturated fat

and replace it with a fat
that we subsequently learned

actually does
give you heart attacks.

As time went on,

many people began thinking
that all fats were bad.

[man] Fat was oversold
as public enemy number one.

Now, fat is
an essential ingredient.

You will die
without certain fatty acids

so you, you need some fat.

There are many people
in the United States

who think you should eat
a no-fat diet.

You'd be dead.

[Michael] In 2001,

scientists at the
Harvard School of Public Health

issued a scathing report.

"The low-fat campaign,"
they wrote,

"has been based
on little scientific evidence

and may have caused unintended
health consequences."

Essentially,
to read this article

is to see
the entire scientific edifice

around the low-fat campaign

crumble before your eyes.

The scientists said
the low-fat campaign

had oversimplified the science.

They reported
that replacing saturated fat

with unsaturated fat did lower
the risk of heart disease.

But they noted that while
a significant association

between saturated fat
and heart disease

was found in two studies,

it was not found
in seven others.

And they pointed out
that as people replaced fat

with carbohydrates and sugar,

the prevalence of obesity
and diabetes
grew dramatically.

It's tragic because,
in the process of doing this,

all supposedly with the idea
of improving the public health,

we may have made
the public health worse.

This was a tremendous
public health mistake.

And that mistake
was getting so obsessed
with a single nutrient.

The glamor is in the nutrients,
and there's no question

that when you do that,
you stumble down the path

and you hit something
and you say, "Oh, that's it.

That's it... it's fat.
It's fat. Cut out the fat."

And then about ten years later,
you say,

"Well, now, wait a minute.
It really isn't all fat."

And they're always coming out
with something new

telling you
what's the ideal diet.

So, of course,
people are confused.

[Michael]
Scientists now understand
that a healthy diet

has to do with a lot more than
one kind of food or nutrient.

[man] A single nutrient
or a single food

are not the magic bullet.

That is the combination of foods

that is the most important
determinant of health.

[man]
We should not be talking
about nutritionism,

we should talk about nutrition.

We shouldn't talk about
components of food.

We should talk about food.

[Michael] But eating food
isn't always easy,

especially for the millions
of people who live in
low-income neighborhoods

where so much of what's
available is processed food.

[man] If you go shopping
across the street,

you'll be able to purchase
a wide variety of cigarettes,

chocolates, soda, malt liquor,
and potato chips.

Probably some canned vegetables,

rice, sugar, bread, cheese,
and processed meat.

People make decisions based
on what they can afford.

And sadly,
what they can afford
often is cheap food...

Things that will enable you
to stretch your dollar
as far as possible.

[man] Growing up,
what I typically
ate was fast food,

whether it's Mickey-D's
or a Burger King,

going to the corner store
buying a bag of chips
and a soda for less than $3.

That's what you're used to.

We're gonna move
all these towers
into this beautiful formation

and then
we're going to go farming.

[Michael]
But all over the country,

including here
in the South Bronx,

people are finding ingenious
ways to get real food.

Malik found a home.

One for you, But don't cut yet.

Let's walk our way through this.

Do we want to take
all the leaves off the plants?

-No.
-No.

So what we're gonna do...
we're gonna come over here.

We're gonna go
right down to the bottom.

Take the top shoots off...
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Boom.

[Michael]
Teacher Steve Ritz runs
a network of food projects,

which includes this
hydroponic vegetable garden.

There's a myth
that people are happy

with cheeseburgers
and French fries.
They're not.

You got a whole lot of crop
going on here, sweetie.

I know.

But many people don't know
there are other options.

And that's what
we're doing here...

teaching people about options.

-Tastes good and fresh.
-I know, right?

What we found is
that when you give people

in low-income areas
the opportunity to grow food,

they respond resiliently.

You'll be picking the produce
at the peak

of freshness
and nutritional value.

So you'll not only
be getting fresh food,

you'll be getting
healthier food.

[Michael] Ritz got his start
growing food back in 2005.

He had become tired of seeing
his students grow fat
and become diabetic.

With fresh vegetables
hard to find in the Bronx,

he and his kids got access
to a vacant lot

and started growing their own.

[Ritz] We were able
to transform this space

from something
that was a blighted area

into something
that was a productive area.

And that made
the kids feel good.

It made me feel great.
I couldn't believe it.

[Michael]
Ritz now has kids growing
vegetables all over the Bronx,

and they're feeding
hundreds of people a week.

One group he works with are
teenagers who've dropped out,

or been kicked out,
of the public schools.

All right, listen up,
advanced culinary guys.

That's you, you, and you.

If these kids don't know what
they're doing, give them a hand.

This is only their fourth day
in the kitchen.

All right?

[Michael] Ritz learned
that JVL Wildcat Academy,

a school that gives kids
second chances,

had a restaurant kitchen

and was training kids
to become professional cooks.

I'm gonna demonstrate
how to make pesto...

classic pesto, okay?

It's a basil-based sauce, uh,
with nuts and cheese, all right?

Why don't you guys
go get washed up,

claim your stations,
and let's go.

Bring that over here.
Put that over here with this.

I saw a great
commercial kitchen

that has kids
from troubled backgrounds

learning how to cook
and be engaged

in the food service industry.

And next to that kitchen,
I saw a huge, open space.

And I said to myself,
"Hmm, wouldn't it be great

to grow the food
that they need for that kitchen

right next door to it...
zero miles to plate,
if you will?"

[Michael] So the basil
they grow in the garden

goes right into the pesto
they make in the kitchen.

Let's grab some chives.

[Michael] The head
of the kitchen is Bill Peacock.

Let's head on down here.
Let's go over to here.

Five arugula.

[Michael] After years cooking
in restaurants,

he came here to teach in 2003.

-And two Butterheads?
-Yep.

All right.

These students,
they're going out to fast food

and they're eating
convenience foods.

They're not gonna be eating
fresh fruit or fresh vegetables

because it's not there.

But now we've got
the hydroponic garden.

They're seeing the life cycle,

and seeing these things
actually growing.

They're moving them
from stage to stage.

Makes a big difference.

[man] Being able to grow
our own product

right next to where we cook
just seemed mind blowing...

the fact that we can do that

and show, you know,
where we live

that we can do this
is something I can't describe.

It's an amazing thing.

Okay, why are we making it...
making sure it's so dry?

So the salad won't fall off.

-Not the salad, the salad what?
-The salad dressing.

There you go...
the salad dressing.

All right, listen up.

We are coming towards
time to eat.

Now everybody is gonna cook
their own plate of pasta.

Have fun.

All right, there you go.
Where's your plate?

The salad
was a big winner today,

which was surprising

because these kids
have never eaten
anything like this...

never knew that a green
can have a peppery flavor,

never knew that a green could
have a soft, subtle flavor.

All right, let's see
what we got here, Gustavo.

Very nice.

All right, grab your salad,

get yourself an iced tea,
and enjoy your meal.

The fact that all those kids
shoved that lettuce
in their mouth today

was only because
they grew that lettuce.

So it's an ownership.

You look like you're eating it.

[man] If you expose people
to locally grown, healthy food,

they tend to like it.

They really do.

It's not something
that's exclusive.

It's not something
for the highfalutin

or for the fringe, you know...
fringe outliers.

And when you can grow
your own food,

people are really inspired
by that.

[Michael]
But the big food companies,
of course,

still provide most
of the food people eat.

And they say they're making
processed food healthier.

How?

By doing what
they've always done...

tweaking the nutrients.

This is really seeing can
dietary protein alone

impact lean mass
cause it's always been...

[Michael]
More than 20,000 people
are gathering in Chicago

for America's biggest
food expo...

the annual meeting
of the Institute
of Food Technologists,

the IFT.

[man] The IFT brings together
all manner of companies

from the small to the medium

to the huge, multi-billion
dollar corporations.

It's a supermarket
of ingredients

for the food producers.

[Michael]
And those producers
are making foods that last.

If you want something fresh,

you could go
to the bottom of the garden.

If you want something
that is going to
live in your pantry

for three months, nine months,

or more than that,
then you'll have
to have something

that's well-preserved
and built n such a way
that it is stable.

[Michael]
People from companies
like Kraft and General Mills

come here to see
what food scientists
are developing for tomorrow...

like hot dogs made
with rice bran...

the vitamin-rich part
of the rice seed

that's usually thrown away.

Or gluten-free pizza
whose crust has no wheat,

and is made instead
from a byproduct
of cheesemaking

called whey.

[woman]
The gluten-free industry
has gone crazy.

And it's amazing how many are
interested in the gluten-free.

And they can't believe
that it doesn't taste funny.

It tastes like
the real pizza crust
that would have wheat in it.

[Michael]
And one of the world's biggest
food companies, Cargill,

is here showing prototypes

for healthier, processed
food products for kids.

[man] The theme
of our exhibit this year
is around childhood nutrition.

We understand,
or, recognize that obesity

is a concern
in the United States

and that more and more people
are looking

for more healthful alternatives
to the food choices.

[Michael] Cargill buys
a huge share
of the world's farm products,

from which it makes hundreds
of food ingredients.

The company is showing
how some of these ingredients

could be used to take advantage

of the growing interest
in healthier eating.

[man] The first exhibit
we're gonna look at
is a peanut butter spread

that has
added chicory root fiber.

You get three grams of fiber
per serving.

Next, we have a chewy
chocolate chip granola bar.

This contains whole grain corn

so you can get some
added fiber there, as well.

This is our
reduced-sugar chocolate milk,

and it's had 25 percent
of the sugar replaced

with Cargill Stevia
leaf extract,

which is a natural sweetener
that reduces
the overall sugar content.

One thing we've learned
over and over again

is if food does not taste good,
consumers simply won't buy it.

And that's the challenge
that the food scientists
take on

is to find
that perfect sweet spot

of health, convenience,
and taste.

[Michael] There's no question
that processed food
is convenient and often tasty.

But when it comes to health,
the claims manufacturers use

to sell their products
are frequently confusing,

if not deceptive.

A trip to the supermarket
has become kind of a journey

through a treacherous landscape.

I mean, what are we
to make of a product
like Splenda with fiber?

[laughter]

They're selling the lack
of one nutrient, sugar,

and the gratuitous presence
of another, fiber.

So it allows you
to have this amazing thing

never before tasted
in the history of mankind,

which is high-fiber coffee.

[laughter]

These guys are really the champs

of aggressive health claims...
Pom Wonderful.

They were advertising
these products

as helping everything
from, uh, your heart

to your prostate,
to... and I kid you not...

erectile dysfunction.

This drink right here.

And they got
in a little hot water for that
because they tested it.

They performed these experiments
on, uh, rabbits.

And some animal rights people
got very upset.

Okay, but the thing
that struck me is,
do rabbits have this problem?

[laughter]

Anyway,
they went too far, though,

when they put a health claim on,
or a slogan that was...

I'm not kidding...

"Cheat death with this product."

And the FTC said,
"You can't do that."

You can't promise, uh,
immortality with your products.

You think about people trying
to make good choices
in the supermarket

and finding themselves
not losing weight,

not improving their health,
and you wonder why?

Well, look at yogurt.

Yogurt is a healthy choice,
we're told.

We give it to our kids
in huge amounts.

This is Yoplait.

This is one of the first of
the very successful
yogurt brands.

And this is, uh, YoCrunch,

and this one comes with M&Ms.

Talk about a confused message,
but here's the thing.

Yoplait, Coca-cola...

obviously, this is
the better choice, right?

But if you look
at how much sugar is in this,

there is exactly
the same amount
of sugar in these two things.

This is the latest
sugar delivery system.

And so we feel good about
not giving our kids soda,

but we give them this instead.

So that's what I mean when I say

it's really gotten
treacherous out there.

So how do you know
what's really healthy
and what's not?

How can you tell
the difference between food

and edible
food-like substances?

I've come up with some
common-sense guidelines

I call food rules.

Like eat only foods
that will eventually rot.

Eat only foods that
have been cooked by humans.

And avoid foods you see
advertised on television.

So, if we're
going to eat real food,

the next obvious question is,
"What kind of real food?"

And that part
of my overall food guidance is,

in some ways,
the most controversial...

mostly plants.

Why do I say mostly plants?

It didn't please vegetarians,

who thought
I should go all the way.

I know. I'm tempted.

[Michael]
And it certainly didn't
please meat-eaters,

who thought I was dissing meat.

These are animals
that were carved this week.

[Michael]
But I used that word
after a lot of consideration,

because it's a somewhat
equivocal message.

There are people
who demonize meat,

but there's no reason
to do that.

Meat is healthy food.

Humans have eaten meat

for a very long time
with great pleasure.

I think our problem is
we eat too much of it.

So, and that's why
I say mostly plants.

Every additional daily serving
of vegetables and fruit

reduces your
risk of stroke by five percent

and your risk of heart disease
by four percent.

We only eat about
between two and three portions

of vegetables and fruit
in this country.

If we up that by just one more,
that would save 30,000 lives

and five billion dollars
in health-care costs.

[man] Great, how's it look?

[indistinct chatter]

[woman] Remember our rules
for letting them out?

-Don't bother them.
-Don't bother them.
That's right.

But we are gonna police them
away from our vegetables, right?

[Michael] At a day camp
in Sunnyvale, California,

Stanford scientist
Christopher Gardner
is exploring what it takes

to get children
to eat more vegetables.

[Christopher]
One of my research interests

is just how many vegetables
could I get a kid to eat.

What are the barriers?

What are the things
that get in the way?

Is it a peer pressure thing?

Is it really a taste thing?
Is it familiarity?

[woman] So, today,
we have garlic-basil hummus

and we also have
lemon cucumbers,

green beans, and corn.

You can try the raw veggies
by themselves.

You can dip them
into the hummus.

Here's another
really big one over here.

What they learn is
that it's really delicious food.

But it's just taking
that first jump

into feeling comfortable
enough to try it.

So, in terms of teamwork...

[Michael]
To make that jump easier,
in the cooking assignment

that culminates the week,
the kids have been told

to use three different
vegetables to make... pizza.

Uh, does pickles
count as a vegetable?

Yeah.

[Christopher]
One of the main points
of the camp

is to get the kids
connected with food,

because you see this light bulb
go off over their heads

and this sparkle in their eye
when they see,

"Oh, that food...
it grows just like this!"

[woman] So, yesterday,
we came up with a list.

So we have squash, peppers,
kale, green beans, cucumber.

Eggs is not considered
a vegetable

but it can be an additional
topping to your pizza.

[indistinct chatter]

It's pretty much dough,

and then I have pesto,
tomato paste, or sauce.

I have cheese, a mixture--

we cooked onions, peppers,

and garlic together
so I have that on my pizza.

Tomatoes, and then I have
an inner ring of pickles,

which I'm really excited about
because I've never had
pickles on a pizza.

[woman] What do you think?
Does that look done?

[man]
I'm kind of stunned actually
how many different vegetables

they're willing to try
by the end of the week,

and how many they're willing
to say they like

just within a few days.

-You want your peppers, right?
-Yes, I want peppers.

[Michael] When people eat
a plant-based diet,
their whole lives,

the benefits are impressive.

Here in Loma Linda, California,

many people belong to the same
religious denomination

that the Kellogg
brothers did...
the Seventh-Day Adventists.

-Green onions?
-Sure.

[Michael] Founded back
in the 19th century,

the church has always
emphasized healthy living.

Green chards...
lots of green chards.

[Michael] Today, Adventists
have the longest
life expectancy

of any group
in the United States.

I can't believe
you're gonna be
a 101 in August.

[Michael] The residents
at this retirement home

are almost all Adventists.

[woman]
We feel that our bodies
are the temple of God.

And we owe it to ourselves
and to our community

to keep up our health.

We have at least
two or three people
who are a 100 years old here.

And they seem
to get along very well.

I'm 92 years old.

The average age is 93.

I walk four miles a day.

I used to walk outside,

but now I walk
in the villa here.

I realized that if I go
from end to the other

and back six times, it's a mile.

So I go back and forth 24 times
in the morning.

[Michael]
Almost all Adventists abstain
from smoking and alcohol.

And about 50 percent of them
are vegetarians.

I have been a vegetarian
all my life.

[man] And you, Richard?

I could say the same thing,

and I haven't missed anything.

It's pretty well-established
that especially the red meats

are not really
that good for you.

[Michael] And that's true
if you eat too much of them.

Studies show that
the more red meat you eat,

the greater your risk
of getting heart disease,

diabetes, and certain cancers.

Some of the meat studies
were done

at the Harvard School
of Public Health in Boston.

[man] From what we've seen
in our research,

eating mostly plants
is a good idea.

We've done a series of analyses
over the last few years

comparing red meat with poultry
with fish, with nuts,

with legumes in relation to risk
of cardiovascular disease
and diabetes.

And very consistently
replacing red meat

with other protein sources
turns out to be related

to lower risk of mortality
from these diseases.

[Michael]
In Cleveland, researchers
have made a new finding

that they think might explain
some of the risks of red meat.

Stanley Hazen
is a cardiologist.

We were looking
for characteristic
markers or features

in the blood
that predicted near-term risk

for heart attack,
stroke, and death.

[Michael]
Hazen and his colleagues
found something

that seemed to do just that...
a compound called TMAO.

When we first found
that this compound

was associated
with heart disease risk,

we didn't know
very much about it.

So we tried to essentially
reverse engineer...

where did it come from?

[Michael]
The answer pointed to red meat,

which contains
a substance called carnitine.

Bacteria in our intestines
feed on carnitine,

and help turn it into TMAO

Hazen found that the more TMAO
there is in our bloodstream,

the more likely we are
to develop heart disease.

What we have found is that TMAO
is enhancing heart disease risk

by changing
cholesterol metabolism.

[Michael]
In mice, higher levels of TMAO

made the sticky deposits
of cholesterol called plaque

more likely to form
in their arteries.

[Stanley] I like to think of
TMAO as a rheostat
on a light switch.

If you have a high TMAO,
you're gonna have more plaque.

If you have a low TMAO level,
you end up having less plaque.

Based on our findings,

I have not stopped
eating red meat,

but I have decreased the amount
and also the frequency.

So, now, instead of having it
multiple times a week,

I try to have it, at most,
one time a week.

[Michael]
We still don't understand

precisely why
meat causes problems.

It could be the carnitine
or the kind of iron in it

or the saturated fat.

Or the problem may simply be

that meat crowds plants
out of our diet.

But we do know this...

eating less meat
and mostly plants
is good for you.

-Good.
-Okay.

[Michael] Nutrition scientist
Joan Sabate teaches
at Loma Linda university.

He and his wife Carmen,

who both grew up in
Adventist homes in Barcelona,

follow a vegetarian diet.

[Joan] For supper,
I eat a good salad,
or a good soup,

and vegetables

with carbohydrate foods
such as pasta,
or potatoes, or bread.

And then fruit for dessert.

That seems like a good meal.

But don't stick with just
cauliflower and potatoes.

The plant kingdom is very rich

in textures, in flavors,
in colors.

So a rich variety
of plant foods is the best.

[Michael]
Sabate has done studies
comparing the longevity

of both kinds of Adventists...

meat-eaters and vegetarians.

He's found that
vegetarian Adventists

live three to four years longer
than non-vegetarian ones

and six to nine years longer
than the rest of us.

You're awfully easy to please,
honey, I must say.

[Michael]
Ellsworth Wareham is one
of those vegetarian Adventists.

He's 99.

He was a heart surgeon
for more than five decades,

and retired at the age of 95.

[Ellsworth]
During the last 20 years,
I assisted in cardiac surgery.

I wasn't the principal surgeon,
but I worked full-time.

I try to live
a healthy lifestyle.

And that involves, of course,
trying to have
proper nutrition.

Do I keep a list of things
that I'm going to eat?

No.

This has little
hot peppers in it.

You eat a plant-based diet.

I want to just say
how simple it is.

It is simple
to have good eating habits.

[Michael] At the University
of Pittsburgh,

researchers are exploring
just how eating mostly plants
may promote health.

We're particularly interested...

Colon cancer specialist
Stephen O'Keefe

spent many years working
in Africa,

where he saw very little
colon cancer
among his patients.

But when he moved
to the United States,

he was struck by the fact
that African-Americans

have one of the highest
colon cancer rates
in the world,

even though many
are genetically
similar to Africans.

Studies have demonstrated
that the factor most associated

with differences in colon cancer
between Africans
and African-Americans is diet.

[Michael]
Most Africans tend
to eat more vegetables, fruits,

beans, and whole grains

and less processed food
than we do in the West.

And those plant-based foods
contain substances

our bodies can't digest,
which we call fiber.

We understood for a long time
that fiber was important,

and we thought
it was important to help people

overcome constipation
and improve what's called

transit time of food
through your body.

But O'Keefe's studies reveal
that fiber does something else.

It feeds bacteria in the colon
that to help keep it healthy

by producing a compound
called butyrate.

Our cells don't produce it,
but bacterial cells do.

If you eat enough fiber,

you maintain
a bacterial population

that convert the fiber
into butyrate,

which maintains
the health of the colon

and prevents cancer.

[Michael] Fiber is food
for these microbes,

and if you don't
feed it to them,

they're not gonna be well
and you're not gonna be well.

And the less fiber you eat,
O'Keefe has found,

the more bacteria you have
that make harmful compounds

that can lead to cancer.

Since the Western diet

that many African-Americans eat
is low in fiber,

and most Africans
get plenty of fiber,

O'Keefe wondered
what would happen if Africans

and African-Americans
switched diets?

O'Keefe's team fed fiber-rich
diets to African-Americans

and fiber-poor diets
to people in South Africa.

[O'Keefe] Then we basically
measured substances

that are good or bad
for the colon

before and then two weeks
after their dietary switch.

[Michael]
After just two weeks,

the amount
of harmful compounds increased

in the colons of the Africans,

while the amount
of beneficial compounds

like butyrate increased
in the African-Americans.

This is the butyrate.

It's very dramatic.
It's very easy to see.

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

The exciting thing is
that by changing your diet,

you or I can influence
our risk of colon cancer

in just two weeks.

So the larger lesson is

that we're not just
eating for ourselves.

We're eating for the trillions
of microbes that inhabit us,

like the ones that help protect
breastfed babies.

The community
of microbes inside us

has become known
as the microbiome.

But scientists are
just beginning to understand

how big a role those microbes
play in our dietary health.

[man] Our ability to transform
the complex chemicals
in the foods that we eat

into products that we can
grab a hold of and use,

very much depends
upon our microbial partners.

And, in a sense,
we never dine alone.

And that's why we proceeded
to try to understand

this intersection
between the foods that we eat,

the microbes that we harbor,
and our health.

[Michael] Jeffrey Gordon
and his colleagues

have found that these microbes
can actually influence

both obesity and malnutrition.

In Malawi, his team studied
unusual pairs of twins.

Even though
they'd been fed similar diets,

in dozens of cases,
one twin was malnourished
and the other one wasn't.

It turned out that their
intestinal bacteria,

for reasons still unknown,
were starkly different.

[man] This suggested that
there may be
a causal relationship

between the microbes
and malnutrition,

but it didn't prove it.

[Michael]
To test this hypothesis,
the scientists transplanted

the children's intestinal
bacteria into mice

that had been bred
to have none of their own.

The mice that got
the sick twin's bacteria

developed symptoms
of malnutrition.

Those that got
the healthy twin's bacteria
did not.

Gordon did a similar study
of twins in the United States,

this time looking at obesity.

In cases where one twin
was obese and the other wasn't,

it again turned out
that they had

different kinds of
gut bacteria, which suggests

that certain microbes
may contribute to obesity.

[Gordon] If we think about
our microbes as a garden,

how can we grow this garden?

How can we cultivate it
to ensure our health?

[Michael]
In places like Bangladesh,

Gordon is investigating whether
traditional diets may do that

by encouraging the growth
of a wide variety
of intestinal microbes.

[Gordon]
One fascinating finding
that we have made is

Westernization is associated
with a reduction

in the diversity or richness
of microbial life in the gut.

And diets
that increase richness

are probably going
to be beneficial.

[Michael] Researcher Jeff Leach

thinks the Hadza in Tanzania
can also tell us

a lot about how to cultivate
our microbiome.

[speaking in foreign language]

One of the holy grails
in microbiome research

is trying to figure out what is
an optimal
or balanced microbiome.

[Michael]
The Hadza's gut microbes
feed mainly on wild foods,

like the kind our ancestors ate
for tens of thousands of years.

We think that the Hadza
contain, in their stomach,

a microbial Noah's Ark
to what ails the world.

[speaking in foreign language]

[Michael] To learn more
about these microbes,

Leach is collecting
stool samples

from some 500 Hadza...
men, women and children.

[Jeff] We provide
the individuals in the village

little tubes and a swab.

-[Jeff] Samples for Bahti?
-[man] Bahti.

[Michael] The samples
are shipped to the labs
of Leach's U.S. colleagues,

who can precisely identify
the microbes they contain.

[Jeff] At the end of the day,
what we hope to find

is are there certain diets
that drive certain groups
of bacteria?

And what does that tell us
about the health of the person?

[Michael] Studies suggest that
the Hadza have
different kinds of microbes

than people
in Western countries.

And this may partly stem
from the high levels
of fiber they get

from all the plants they eat.

[Jeff] I think the Hadza
are gonna teach us that

plants should be
the primary source
of calories in the diet

and that those plants
should also contain
lots of dietary fiber.

I think one of the most
interesting things
that Jeff Leach is up to is

looking for that baseline

of what the human
microbiome looked like

before the rise of agriculture

and then before the rise
of processed food.

[speaking in foreign language]

We don't know
how these changes in our diet

may have affected
the microbes inside us.

[speaking in foreign language]

The microbes may provide
a very important missing link

between food and health.

We need to take them
into consideration

when we're deciding what to eat.

So there are many good reasons
to eat mostly plants.

There's plenty of evidence
to suggest

that eating a variety
of vegetables and fruits

can probably reduce rates
of stroke,

heart disease,
and some cancers.

They're nutritious
and have lots of fiber.

They're good
for the microbes in your gut.

And if you're eating
mostly plants,

you can be sure you're not
eating too much meat.

So, treat meat as a flavoring
or special occasion food.

If it came from a plant,
eat it.

If it was made
in a plant, don't.

Eat your colors.

That is, eat as many different
kinds of plants as possible.

And now the last
and most challenging

of my seven words...

not too much.

In a country where two-thirds
of us are overweight,

this may seem obvious.

But it can be tough
not to eat too much.

One big reason is that

we're constantly being
tempted by food.

[woman] People are eating
more food more often

and in greater portions.

Food is everywhere.

You used to be asked
to leave food outside

if you came
into a clothing store.

Now they give you snacks.

[Michael] The wonderful
human institution of the meal,

this time where people stop
what they're doing,

sit down at the table,

eat socially, is in trouble.

We eat at our desks.

We eat while we're driving.

We eat while we're walking
down the street.

There were social taboos
on all these activities

once upon a time
and they're all gone.

[indistinct chatter]

[woman]
We can see, if we look at data
on the number of calories

that people are eating,

people are eating
much more now

than they did
25 or 30 years ago.

And those kinds of trends
are going to take a lot more

than removing a gram or two
of sugar or salt

from a food product
to make any difference.

[Michael] And that's why
we need to talk,

not just about nutrients
or even just about food,

but about how much we eat.

[woman]
Thanks for coming
for lunch today.

Like I promised,
there's a free lunch.

Okay, so let's go on,
and let's get started.

One thing that I've learned,

having done hundreds
and hundreds of studies

related to eating behavior,
is that, to a person,

we believe we are master
and commander
of all of our food decisions.

But we're not.

We make over 200 decisions
about food a day.

And the majority
of these decisions

are basically
unconscious to us.

So, um, grab a plate up there.
The pasta is right on the stove.

Serve yourself up.

[Michael] Brian Wansink
is an expert
on eating behavior.

He's discovered we're often
not aware of why
we eat as much as we do.

Sometimes,
it's because of something

we don't give
the slightest thought to,

like the size of our plate.

We'll bring people in,
and we'll give them
a large plate

to serve themselves,

but what they don't realize is
that the pasta is cold.

[Michael]
Wansink concocts an excuse

so that everyone has to
get a different plate,
which is slightly smaller.

These things weren't
the right temperature.

So I'd like you to come back

and just grab another plate
out of the cupboard, there.

One of the things
we find is that

they'll serve themselves
a second time...

they won't believe they served

an amount any different
than they did the first time.

Did you guys notice
anything any different

between the first time
you served yourself

and the second time
you served yourself?

The plate feels a lot smaller.
It looks smaller.

Oh!

So here's one thing we found...
the size of a plate

tremendously biases us,
in terms of how much we serve.

[Michael]
The smaller the plate,
the less food people take.

You serve four ounces
on a nine-inch plate, you go,

"Holy cow, I'll never be able
to eat that."

So let's take a look
at what happened to you guys.

So the big plate...
207 calories.

The smaller plate,
it dropped down
to a 162 calories.

Whoa.

That's about 40 calories.

If this happened
three times a day

over the course of a year,
by using a smaller plate,

you'd end up weighing
nine pounds less

than you would
if you had a bigger plate.

Just really, really
small things make
this really huge difference.

When it comes down to it,
the changes we can make
most immediately

are the changes we can make
when we go home tonight.

They're the changes we can make
in our kitchen
or in our own house,

like simply using
smaller plates.

Use smaller plates and glasses.

Serve the vegetables first.

[Michael]
Wansink has also found
that the order

in which we encounter foods
influences not just

how much we eat,
but what we eat.

He's now working with schools
around the country,

to re-design lunch lines

so that kids
will choose healthier food.

This is about the most
difficult place in the world
to get people to eat better.

It's a middle school
and a high school cafeteria.

Here's how we do it.

We re-organize the line...
put the healthiest food first.

We find people
are 11 percent more likely

to take the first thing
they see than the third thing.

So let's load it up
with the healthy vegetables.

After that, we've got
the low fat hamburgers,

whole grain buns here,
bean quesadillas.

It's only then do they hit
the really indulgent stuff.

But, you know,
hey, it's too late.

Their plates are already full
with the good stuff.

You know that it's working
by the fact that,

we used to only do
25 pounds of carrots a week

for all three buildings,
and now we go anywhere

from 70 to 75 pounds
of carrots a week.

And they don't even realize it,
a lot of them, that,

"Wow, we're eating better."
It's just happening.

The other thing we do,
we take the fruit

and we put it right next
to the cash register.

What we find is that
fruit sales go up 103 percent

simply by putting the fruit
in a nice basket

and putting it next
to the cash register.

And the exact same thing
that works

for selling Twinkies
in a convenience store

works for getting people
to eat healthier

in high schools
and junior highs.

[Michael]
And it's not just kids
who are influenced

by where
and when they see food.

The order of items
at a breakfast buffet

had a similar effect on adults.

We found that the first
three things they saw

comprised 66%
of everything they took.

So, in one case,
they saw cheesy eggs first,

they saw bacon,
they saw fried potatoes.

Two-thirds of their plate...

cheesy eggs, bacon,
fried potatoes.

If instead they saw fruit
first, and low-fat granola,
low-fat yogurt,

they'd end up taking
two-thirds of their plate
from those items.

It's incredible
the impact the order
of food has

on whether we take it or not.

All these little
environmental cues

are very important
in our appetite.

We think of appetite
as this biological absolute...

"This is how hungry I am."

But, in fact, it, like so many
other things, is constructed.

It's socially constructed,
environmentally constructed

and influenced by all
these little, little things.

So I see great potential
to harness
that kind of thinking

and those kind of insights
to redesign the buffet line,

to redesign the plate,

to redesign
the food environment
in which we live.

[boy] Thank you.
Have a good day.

It's very interesting
how we'll put up

with social engineering
from corporations endlessly.

When they come up
with the Big Gulp

they are
social engineering, right?

They're getting us to drink
more than we would otherwise.

When they manipulate
the salt, fat, and sugar.

All that is social engineering,
too, and we don't resent it.

Yet, as soon as it's being done
on our behalf...

an elected official
doing it on our behalf...

this is too much.
This is social engineering.

This is socialist.
We can't. We can't go there.

So it seems to me
we have a double standard.

[woman] The government
is already involved
in food choice up to its ears.

Government policy has
determined the kind of
food system that we have.

It determines
what food products
get supported

and which ones don't.

So what those of us
who are advocating

for a healthier food system
are after

is not getting the government
involved in food policy.

It already is.

We just want it tweaked
so that the government role

in food policy is to produce

a food system
that promotes health...

healthier people
and a healthier environment.

This is the amount of sugar
that you or your child eat

when you drink one can of soda
a day for a year.

I'm gonna put this
down in front.

[cheers and applause]

[Michael]
In 2012, Richmond, California
councilman Jeffrey Ritterman

proposed that the city collect
a penny-per-ounce tax

on sugary beverages.

He hoped the tax
would discourage people

from consuming so much sugar.

[woman] Please be respectful
while we're discussing this.
Thank you.

[Michael] Ritterman is also
a cardiologist.

Unequivocally,
medically, right now

it is proven
that one can of soda a day

increases your risk
of type-2 diabetes.

It causes heart attacks,

and it causes obesity
and it makes some cancers grow.

[Michael]
The tax proponents raised
close to $70,000.

But in this city
of about 100,000 people,

the soda industry spent nearly
2.5 million dollars
to defeat the tax.

I was calling on behalf
of the community coalition
against beverage taxes.

[woman] They established
an ostensible
grass roots organization

to fight the soda tax.

They went
into minority neighborhoods

and put up big posters saying

your rights are being
taken away from you.

When we get to the point
of being a dictator to people,

I think it's wrong.

[man] Measure N is losing.

We can now confirm that it
has gone down to defeat.

[Michael] In the end,
Richmond voters
rejected the tax

by a margin
of nearly two to one.

Across the country,

New York City mayor
Michael Bloomberg

came up with
a different strategy

to cut down
on people's intake of sugar.

He proposed a regulation
to limit the serving size

of sugar-sweetened beverages
to 16 ounces.

There's an epidemic
in this country

of people being overweight,
bordering on obesity.

The percentage
of the population
that's obese is skyrocketing.

We've got to do
something about it.

[man] So this is the proposal.

The maximum size that
a food service establishment

could sell of a sugary drink
is 16 ounces.

If you go into a fast-food
restaurant in New York City,

you can find an awful lot
of things like this.

This is a 64-ounce container.

That's a half a gallon,
by the way.

It contains about 800 calories

or more than 50 packets
of sugar.

To give you an idea
of what we're talking about,

this is how much sugar
is in there.

[woman] We know from
research that people eat
what's in front of them.

If you give somebody
a 16-ounce soda,

that person
will drink 16 ounces.

If you give that
same person 32 ounces,

that same person
will drink 32 ounces

and have twice as many calories.

[Michael]
The beverage industry filed
suit to stop Bloomberg's rule

and launched a slick campaign
to turn the public against it.

[man] New Yorkers
don't want the mayor

to tell them
what size beverage to buy.

I'm an adult and I can make
my own decisions
about what I drink.

[man] Hey, New York,
it's time to take a stand.

Join us.

[Michael] In March 2013,

a judge ruled
in favor of the industry

and threw out Bloomberg's rule

calling the limit
"arbitrary and capricious."

Being the first to do something
is never easy.

When we began this process,
we knew we would face lawsuits.

Anytime you adopt
a groundbreaking policy,

special interests will sue.

That's America.

[dramatic '70s music playing]

[man] Come to
where the flavor is...

Come to Marlboro country.

[Michael] Personal freedom
also used to be
one of the tobacco industry's

favorite arguments
against government regulation.

But the evidence of harm
became so overwhelming

that the government
finally had to act.

[man]
For many years, there was
very firmly established science

that smoking cigarettes
was killing people.

But it took a long time
for government to react.

Once it did, though,
it did things

that were considered
inconceivable at one time.

Standing up
to the tobacco companies?

♪ Breathe easy, smoke clean ♪

[Michael] In 1970, 37 percent

of American adults
smoked cigarettes.

[record scratches]

The U.S. Government
banned cigarette advertising
on television that year,

and cigarette taxes
began to rise.

Since then, the percentage
of adults who smoke

has been cut in half.

So I don't think
it can be very far off

where we ask government
to do with food

what it's done with tobacco.

And in 2014,
people in Berkeley, California

did just that...
passing the first soda tax
in the nation's history.

We got the measure passed.
Whoo!

[applause]

This time,
tax proponents successfully
countered industry spending,

thanks partly
to former mayor Bloomberg.

[Bloomberg] If we're going
to start reversing

the epidemic
of childhood obesity,
it starts November fourth.

[Michael]
He spent a reported $650,000
in support of the measure.

[Michael]
I think it's a big deal

because we are
gonna test this idea

that by adjusting
the price of soda,

you can reduce
the consumption of it.

It's already working in Mexico,

where a national soda tax
took effect in 2014.

Since then,
Mexicans have been drinking

significantly less soda,

suggesting that the amount
we eat or drink

is more than just
a matter of willpower.

Now we'll see whether a tax
can have a similar impact

when we try it
in just in one city.

And if we discover
that that works,

and, in turn,
we find rates of obesity

and type-2 diabetes
moderating or declining,

we will have discovered
a very powerful tool.

It may or may not work,
but I'm delighted

that finally we're gonna
get to try this.

Make water
your beverage of choice.

Stop eating before you're full.

And eat more like
the French do.

Eat more like the French do?

Aren't they known
for their love of rich food?

Well, one of the remarkable
things about the French

is that they actually enjoy
better health

than people in many other
Western countries.

It's a mystery known
as the French paradox.

They eat very fatty foods
very often.

They have lavish,
lush desserts.

They drink lots of wine.

And it drives us crazy,

but they're not
as fat as we are,

and they have
less heart disease

and slightly better longevity.

How could this possibly be?
They're breaking
all our rules of eating.

[speaking in French]

[woman] Claude Fischler
is a French sociologist

who studies how people eat.

[speaking in French]

The French are very rigid
when it comes to issues
associated with eating.

They eat at exactly
the same time in all regions.

Any given weekday at 12:30,

you can be sure
that 50 percent of the French,
they are busy eating.

Across the English Channel
or in the U.S.,

it's, more like
15 percent, 16 percent,
17 percent of people

that are eating
at the same time.

[Michael] Fischler
thinks this rigidity,
or reliance on tradition,

actually makes life easier
for the French.

It's not such a maddening
individual obsession

about controlling yourself.

Because there's a lot that
is controlled by the culture.

[Michael]
The big difference between
the French and the Americans

is that they serve less food.
That's the big one.

They serve smaller portions.
That's part of their tradition.

Another thing
is they think of food

more as something you enjoy.

[speaking in French]

[man] The French view
of health issues is...

[speaking in French]

If it tastes good,
it's good for you.

[in French]

[Michael] The French,
when they say they eat,

mean they have a meal together.

They wouldn't call eating
a snack, eating.

The way they use their word
eating is in an event.

They have a world in which food
is a celebration with others.

[Michael] Tonight's dinner
is at the home
of Fischler's friend,

Herve de Lannurien.

[speaking in French]

In keeping with tradition,
the meal follows a script...

appetizers...

[Indistinct conversations]

a first course...

a main course...

a cheese course...

and salad.

Later, they had dessert.

In France, they eat slowly,

which is very interesting
and significant.

One of the most striking things
about the American way
of eating

is we are some of the fastest
eaters on the planet.

[man] It's about
135 minutes a day
in France spent eating,

compared to something like 74,
I think, uh, for the U.S.

So they're used to eating
smaller portions,

but they're used
to taking longer to eat them.

So the pleasure of eating comes
from the good food
in your mouth.

[indistinct chatter]

So the French paradox
may have nothing to do

with the miracle of nutrient
in the red wine,

which some people thought,

but it may have everything
to do with habit.

As powerful
and wonderful as science is,

culture also
can teach us how to eat.

And, so far, until science
makes the breakthroughs
it needs to make,

culture is
the best guide we have.

Try spend as much time
enjoying the meal

as it took to prepare it.

Don't eat anything
your great-grandmother
wouldn't recognize as food.

Last rule, break the rules
once in a while.

Cultivating a relaxed,
non-punitive attitude

toward food is essential.

Being anxious about your eating
cannot be good for your health.

What matters
is not the special occasion

but the everyday,
default practice.

So I stand with Oscar Wilde,
actually, who said it best.

He said,
"All things in moderation...

including moderation."

Thank you very much.

[cheers and applause]

Tomatoes, assorted.

-Do you want a strawberry to go?
-Thank you.

There are many aspects
of our lives

where we feel like
we have very little power.

But when it comes to food,
we do have power.

The rise of farmer's markets,

the rise of
organic agriculture,

the rise
of the food movement...

none of this was the result
of government action.

All of this
was the result of consumers

voting with their forks,

signaling to farmers
and the food industry

they wanted
something different.

And this has created
a multi-billion dollar

alternative food economy.

So we may be
at a turning point.

[man]
We are feeding people today
in so many different ways.

[Michael] More and more people
are making the connection
between food and health.

[man]
We have some young people
who have been working

to combat
type-2 diabetes directly

to actually end type-2 diabetes

in young people
in the state of California.

And we need your help.

We need you
actually eating good food.

We need you actually sharing
that message.

[woman]
When we talk about wanting
to eat healthy,

we also have to think
about the system

that is making us
eat the wrong things.

[boy]
I believe we can change
the whole community.

Growing and knowing
where your food comes from
makes a difference.

I would love to see
in the next five, ten years,

the South Bronx having more
healthy alternatives...

actually where the healthy
isn't an alternative.

The fast food
is the alternative
and this is the standard.

[sizzling]

[Michael]
Back in Massachusetts,

the last year has also
marked a turning point
for Anthony Scavotto.

He's cut way down on
junk food... especially sugar.

I think more about it

because I kind of know
what it does to my body now.

I feel pretty good
about the changes I've made.

I like fruits and vegetables.

I love cauliflower.
I love, like, apples.

I like lemons. Is that weird?

I love lemons.

[Michael] Though Anthony
has gained a few pounds,

he's also grown
two inches taller,

so he's carrying
less excess weight.

[man] Go!

[Anthony's mother]
Anthony is doing great.

His energy level is up.

[Anthony] I love sports.

My goal's
to stay the same weight...

There you go.

[Anthony] ...to be healthy.

-Blue goal.
-I couldn't be prouder of him.

Nice job.

[Michael] You know,
after talking to scores

of nutrition scientist,
nutrition educators,

when I finally realized
what they're
really telling me is,

"Eat food."

It was just like
a light had gone off.

It's like, "Could it
really be that simple?"

And the more I thought about it,
it was like,

"It is that simple."

Eat food, not too much,

mostly plants

is what our species
has done for hundreds
of thousands of years.

So, that advice, I think,

is about as universal
as any advice you could offer.

It's very rare in our lives
where the answer

to a complicated question
is so simple,

but when it comes
to eating, it is.