What to eat that we can digest well, that feeds our brains and our hearts, that doesn't pile on fat or mess up our internal organs or trigger or feed cancer growth, that leaves our arteries supple and our brains clear through old age . . .

There is a conundrum when it comes to writing about the sciences - journalists and other types of writers generally do a better job of being clear and approachable than scientists who struggle to keep their writing free of jargon and not assume we all know a bunch of related science - links must be spelled out. When the writers aren't scientists they have to be careful and thorough and sure they understand the topic they address. Often with the help of scientists.

The books I've been reading lately are a mix, some by physicians, others by researchers who are writers, not scientists. I'm adding another author to my list to see what he can contribute to my goal of eating healthily. Michael Pollan has several well-received books on the subject and I've added Food Rules: An Eater's Manual and In Defense of Food to my reading list. If this opens correctly it should be an excerpt from Food Rules (you'll probably have to scroll down to "Review" then click "Read More" to open the whole thing). It appears to have been scanned and no one corrected the run-on words at each sentence break, but you can make sense of it. In particular:

He talks about "two important things you need to know about the links between health and diet. All the contending parties in the nutrition wars agree on them. And, even more important for our purposes, these facts are sturdy enough that we can build a sensible diet upon them."

1. The Western Diet isn't very good for us, because lots of processed foods and the ingredients we use help generate the "so-called Western diseases: obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer."

2. Populations that eat a wide range of "traditional diets" don't tend to have chronic diseases. "What this suggests is that there is no single ideal human diet but that the human omnivore is exquisitely adapted to a wide range of different foods. . . Except, that is, for one: The relatively new (in evolutionary terms) Western diet. . . what an extraordinary achievement for a civilization: to have developed the one diet that reliably makes its people sick!"

He also notes that people who get off of the Western diet see dramatic health improvements.

Meanwhile, back on the homestead, I'm working around the house (it's another hot one, nothing much going on in the yard today). I have several items posted on my local buy nothing list (my expensive pound of decaff earl grey tea turned out to be mislabeled fully-caffeinated "vanilla" that I don't like and can't drink. I got a refund but they don't want it back, so someone else will get a $30 bag of loose tea.) Plus other stuff.