First Bite

First Bite By Bee Wilson Eating can be a tender topic. It’s required for survival; we eat every day. Yet, despite our lifetime of eating, some of us are still vexed with disordered eating: eating too much, too little, or not eating right/well. Food choices may appear inflexible and above scrutiny. In the conversation of nature versus nurture of food tastes, many believe that tastes are inborn since it's hard to imagine eating foods we find repulsive. In her book, First Bite, Bee Wilson tackles the assumption that food choices are unmalleable. Preference for foods can change. Bee believes that by telling the story of how we learned to eat, we can begin to heal what’s gone so badly wrong with how we eat now. In each of eight chapters, Bee explores historical, biological, psychological, ecological, and social features of food and tastes. Since most food habits are formed in childhood, the topic of childhood is discussed extensively--yes, parents have a huge role in the formation of consumption habits. Taste buds develop at 7 weeks gestation--so even amniotic fluids leave a trailing memory of preference. Parental styles, memory, food availability and quality, and social environment all influence later food choices. Barring extenuating circumstances, anyone can learn to enjoy healthy foods. Not learning to do so is to risk problems later; overweight children are 5 times more likely to develop obesity as adults than their healthy counterparts (Biro & Wien, 2010). This is especially concerning since obesity is linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, and hypertension (Song, Lee, Park, & Lee, 2014). Healthcare costs of obesity are as high as $210 billion annually (Biener, Cawley, & Meyerhoefer, 2017). II. Bee takes no shortcuts as she explorers the avenues of taste development. Reaching as far back as the 1800’s, Bee hacks away at some rougher points in human history when raw fruits and stimulating foods like mushrooms were professed to make children bilious and sour. Back then, real foods were considered unsuitable for children whose diet consisted of rice pudding--a food extolled for its digestibility. She traces our history up to now, a time when large industries target children's preference for highly processed sweets with colorful cartoon packaging (Wilson, 2015). The book is brimming with all sorts of fascinating facts and ideas. Some notable takeaways include: ‘Special food for babies’ is a Western concept; other parts in the world feed babies based on availability. Babies are more open to explore new flavors between 4 - 7 months, a time when a child could be tasting different vegetables every day. Children who are exposed to a wide variety of tastes in infancy are more inclined to try new foods later. This is significant because more explorational eaters have a greater chance of choosing foods that are healthier. Exploring tastes is eclipsed by the perception of tastes, which is different for different people. Some people have innate ‘supertasting’ abilities--resulting in rejection of some foods, meanwhile some others may have difficulty tasting foods at all. Our memory of food lends itself to the breadth of our exposures and the feelings associated with that exposure. Feelings of stress, pressure, and anxiety are imprinted very strongly in our memories with food. Children who are forced to eat are more likely to associate negative memories to that food. This may lead to repulsion later. Cultural pressures sometimes impose irrational distinctions on diets for boys and girls which may manifest as disordered eating later. Of four parenting styles, authoritative (high demand, high response) seems to produce more healthy eating habits than others. Meanwhile indulgent feeders (low demand, high response) which assume that children may ‘grow out of childhood tastes later’ tend to produce more unhealthy eaters. III. Bee's project reinforces that we may learn to enjoy healthy foods. This lesson is especially important in the context of society shifting from models of scarcity to one of abundance. Western societies are no longer threatened by starvation and scarcity but overconsumption and malnourishment. Everywhere, there is reference to delicious foods—exacerbating an already national epidemic (“Obesity Facts,” 2017). The problem now is: in the face of having too many choices, how does one make ‘just enough’ of the ‘right’ ones? The fact that vegetables are good for health has not changed (USDHHS, 1980). Why is there still confusion about what to eat? Whole sections of bookstores are dedicated to how to eat what and why; entire television networks based on food and preparation. The problem isn't that we don't know what the right foods are, but that we don't feel like we have a choice about what foods we enjoy (Wilson, 2015). The cumulative results of seemingly endless food choices critically effect factors like health, fitness, and disease; and may conflict with overarching health goals like weight loss (Banfield, Liu, Davis, Chang, & Frazier-Wood, 2016). Bee successfully challenges the premise of unchanging "likes" and "dislikes"; liberating us from misconception of the enjoyability of new foods. Food tastes were once learned and can be relearned (Wilson, 2015). IV. The author writes as a mother of three; a woman who herself was on the verge of disordered eating; and as the sister of one who battled anorexia. She doesn’t moralize about what to eat or why; her argument is grounded in science and reason. To overcome disordered eating habits, it helps to understand its origins, and not attempt to shame it away (Sim, 2017). Her stories provide rare glimpses into lives of families dealing with eating disorders (Wilson, 2015). Bee is neither a scientist nor nutritionist, but a food writer. She expertly synthesizes whole bodies of research into easily accessible content while highlighting particularly monumental studies and their failures (Gross, 2016). Her readers are treated to a feast of well researched ideas on history, food, and psychology without sounding didactic or condescending. This is not a self-help or diet book. Bee uses the platform of her success in Consider the Fork to tell another needs-to-be-told story of how society has come to eat a diet in which trends indicate 80% of us will be overweight by 2030 (Sifferlin, 2016). First Bite is a story about how we got where we are, and how we can use lessons from our collective past to guide us to a healthier future. Bee speaks frankly about our semi-universal preference for sugar, fat, and carbs--acknowledges that we are not alone. Liking those things is not inherently unhealthy--it’s when those likes are the only likes that we develop and therefore indulge that we risk becoming disordered and unhealthy. She advocates sampling morsels of plant-based foods to expand our dictionary of likes--defining ones that align with our health goals (Wilson, 2015). Several criticisms of her work concern my reading experience rather than content: The title does not suit the book. I’m not sure what title would be more apropos, but the book does not fulfill the expectation of the title, “First Bite”. The book could benefit from a few more rounds of editing. 300 pages could be less than 200 with moderate editing; some chapters could be paragraphs instead. She has too much repetitive material, and some of her sentences aren’t clear. Finally, the book is cited in MLA when it should be Chicago to make for easier referencing. These shortcomings are trivial, but when addressed make for a more enjoyable reading experience. This book is most valuable to: anyone who has ever dieted and failed, new parents and/or parents of children with picky eating disorders. Most people do not have time to pour through the scientific data and formulate the connections and conclusions as Bee has done in this book. Without having done the research myself, Bee seems to provide a marvelously sound foundation to sharpen one's interests in the study of eating and health. This book is a wonderful resource for people curious about how to raise a child to embrace healthy eating habits. It provides understanding about what it does/doesn’t mean when a child claims to dislike whole categories of foods--like vegetables, and what to do about it. Parents may underestimate how critical their role in helping children to form good habits. By holistically analyzing sensory inputs of how eating is learned and tastes acquired, Bee helps us draw the connection between parenting and habit-formation. For policy makers, this book evidences just how critically the food environment factors into children’s food choices (Berge et al., 2017). Obesity is expensive, and it is a rising epidemic, but it is not one that we cannot help. Memories of past exposures to food trigger eating habits that carry into adulthood and the rest of our lives. In her final chapter, “Change”, Bee illustrates how change may occur on an individual scale and a national scale (Wilson, 2015). Ultimately, First Bite’s takeaway sentiment is hopeful. As adults we can UNLEARN ways that are not conducive towards the ends we want to achieve, we can CHOOSE to BETTER habits. In the wise words of Michael Pollan, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Resources Banfield, E. C., Liu, Y., Davis, J. S., Chang, S., & Frazier-Wood, A. C. (2016). Poor Adherence to US Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Population. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 116(1), 21–27. Berge, J. M., Trofholz, A., Tate, A. D., Beebe, M., Fertig, A., Miner, M. H., … Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2017). Examining unanswered questions about the home environment and childhood obesity disparities using an incremental, mixed-methods, longitudinal study design: The Family Matters study. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 62, 61–76. Biener, A., Cawley, J., & Meyerhoefer, C. (2017). The Impact of Obesity on Medical Care Costs and Labor Market Outcomes in the US. Clinical Chemistry. https://doi.org/10.1373/clinchem.2017.272450 Biro, F. M., & Wien, M. (2010). Childhood obesity and adult morbidities. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 91(5), 1499S–1505S. Gross, T. (2016, February 4). In Baby’s “First Bite,” A Chance To Shape A Child’s Taste. Retrieved November 19, 2017, from https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/02/04/465305656/in-babys-first-bite-a-chance-to-shape-a-childs-taste Obesity Facts. (2017). Retrieved November 19, 2017, from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm Sifferlin, A. (2016, June 7). 40% of U.S. women and 35% of men are now obese. Retrieved November 19, 2017, from http://time.com/4359637/obesity-americans-women-men/ Sim, F. (2017, October 24). Obesity: personal responsibility or environmental curse? Retrieved November 19, 2017, from http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2017/10/24/fiona-sim-obesity-personal-responsibility-or-environmental-curse/ Song, J., Lee, W. T., Park, K. A., & Lee, J. E. (2014). Association between Risk Factors for Vascular Dementia and Adiponectin. BioMed Research International, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/261672 USDHHS. (1980). Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Retrieved November 19, 2017, from https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/1980thin.pdf?_ga=2.143401148.822990045.1511063159-1013492445.1511063159 Wilson, B. (2015). First Bite: How We Learn to Eat. Basic Books. Vivian Cheng NUTR F17 Book Review