Dreamlining - An Enlightening Exercise

Note: There will be no pumpkin bios in this post. I promise.

"What would you do if there were no way you could fail? If you were 10 times smarter than the rest of the world?"
- Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek

A combination of dreaming and goal-setting, Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, suggests dreamlining to shed light on what we want to accomplish in life - more specifically, what we want to accomplish in the next 6-12 months. "Dreamlining will be fun, and it will be hard. The harder it is, the more you need it", he writes. It's dreaming big with a timeline.

I took the bait and gave it a shot. Following his lead with the opening question in mind, I completed the following statements listing up to five items each:

• In 6 months I dream of having ...
• In 6 months I dream of being ...
• In 6 months I dream of doing ...

Then I repeated the exercise using 12 months instead of 6.

The first of six dreamlining steps listed in the book, I found this seemingly simple exercise enlightening. For some reason I had trouble finding items I wanted to have, but no trouble listing all the things I wanted to do. And some things came up I didn't even know I wanted!

Although I like the idea of holistic dreamlining, this tool is very practical and could probably be narrowed down in scope and used in any specific facet of life: day job, creative dreams, marriage, family, health, etc. I might experiment and see what happens.

Why don't you give it a shot too?

Book Find: In Defense of Food

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
- Michael Pollan

I wish I could take credit for this brilliant opening statement, but alas, I must credit it to Michael Pollan, author of my latest read: In Defense of Food – An Eater’s Manifesto.

A little more technical and scientific than Pollan's previous book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma (see my thoughts on that one here), I found In Defense of Food a bit of a daunting read – at least in the beginning. The book is divided into three parts, each one interpreted and summarized by yours truly below:

PART I: THE AGE OF NUTRITIONISM
Part I introduces us to the term nutritionism – an ideology that, in a nutshell, reduces food to its nutritional and chemical components – and how in the past few decades, food has disappeared from our supermarkets and kitchen tables to be replaced by a myriad of macro and micronutrients: we don’t eat steak, we eat protein and iron (and no doubt many other things!); we don't eat carrots, we eat beta-carotenes; we don’t eat margarine, we eat ... whatever.

Pollan suggests that reducing food to its invisible nutrients has made us, the consumers, dependent on experts to tell us what’s good and what’s bad. Authority on what consists of a healthy diet has shifted from Moms and elders everywhere to a group of scientists, politicians and food industry moguls, each one with their own agenda, most of them conflicting.

Where does this leave us as consumers? Anxious, confused and according to the author, “fatter, sicker and more poorly nourished” than before.

PART II: THE WESTERN DIET AND THE DISEASES OF CIVILIZATION
Part II explores the link between typical eating patterns and lifestyles of the Western world and typically Western diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Citing studies of isolated populations around the world not yet exposed to modern foods in comparison to adopters of the Western diet, the author leads us to the conclusion that a) soon after adopting a Western diet Western diseases will follow, and b) the industrialization of food has sacrificed much in quality in what we eat to produce longer shelf lives and higher yields.

Pollan walks us through five major changes resulting from this industrialization and some of their effects, ranging from the decline of nutrients in crops (according to a USDA study of 43 crops tracked since the 1950s, vitamin C comes in at -20%, iron at -15% and calcium at -16%) to the undermining of traditional food cultures.

Although somewhat depressing, Part II offers one ray of hope: ill effects of the Western diet can be reversed without going back to the primitive lifestyle of our ancestors, we just need to follow a few rules. Segue to Part III...

PART III: GETTING OVER NUTRITIONISM
This was by far my favourite part of the book. Here, Pollan comes full circle and through 24 practical tips, demystifies his brilliant opening statement, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Expanding on down-to-earth advice such as Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food (his description of great-grandma's apprehension faced with a tube of Go-Gurt Portable Yogurt cracked me up - "Is it a food or a toothpaste?"), Regard nontraditional foods with skepticism, and Eat meals, the author offers us a relatively easy out to typical Western eating patterns and their negative effects.

Part III left me feeling hopeful and desperately craving a plentiful, boisterous meal shared with friends and family.

Once again I was pleased with Pollan’s writing style and delivery. Although I found this a more difficult read than The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I recommend it if only for the practical advice offered in Part III. That part alone just might convince me to make In Defense of Food a permanent part of my personal library.

Book Find: The Omnivore's Dilemma

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan is one of the most thought-provoking books I've read in the past year. Considering my bookshelf is stocked with non-fiction tomes designed to make me think, that says a lot.

What impressed me was the author’s handling of a seemingly simple subject: food and where it comes from. Combine that with a no-nonsense, witty, yet sensitive delivery and I was hooked.

Divided into three parts, the book explores three different food chains:

Industrial – Focused on the production of corn and its place in the industrial food chain, topics covered in Part I range from the origin and reproduction of corn (the latter in a section brilliantly called “Corn Sex”), to its role in industrial feedlots, to its eventual transformation into the processed food we find at supermarkets and fast food outlets. Be forewarned: Pollan's description of industrial feedlots is not for the faint at heart.

Pastoral – Focused on grass, Part II is for the most part set at Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm where the author spends a week discovering a complex but serene symbiosis between Grass, Cow, Chicken and Pig. He explores the ecological, ethical and economical aspects of industrial vs. small-scale farming, referring back to the idealistic origins of organic gardening and its transformation to the industrial-scale organic operations of today. Be forewarned: any illusions you have about industrial-scale organic milk and free-range eggs may be shattered.

Personal – Part III refers to the hunter-gatherer food chain. Here Pollan's goal is to prepare a meal consisting almost exclusively of food he hunted, gathered, or grew himself. This is where he delves into the omnivore’s dilemma and its potential side effects, the ethics of eating meat, and the challenges that come with hunting it. He ends his personal quest for food with a fascinating foray into the world of mushrooms. Be forewarned: you might feel a sudden urge to gather chanterelles.

The author engaged me with this book. I thought, I questioned, I cringed. If you want to know more about the food that you eat, I recommend you read it. Get it from the library, but be forewarned: you might end up wanting to buy it.