Food Matters (2008)

Food writer Michael Pollan — the one who says ''Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants'' — would have you gathering your own salad greens and butchering your own hogs: not entirely practical. For practical, turn to TV and cookbook star Mark Bittman, who here presents his own style of ''sane, self-conscious eating.'' Bittman argues that it's over-the-top meat consumption that has made Americans fat (and devastated the environment, since animal farming strains the energy grid). He lost 35 pounds by eating more vegetables, less meat, and almost no processed food, and the recipes he offers in Food Matters make it look not only doable but easy. B+