The Oprah Winfrey Show

Yesterday, I watched an episode of the “Oprah Winfrey Show” that aired on August 11, and it was about food and healthy eating habits. Oprah’s guests were food writer Michael Pollan, actress Alicia Silverstone who has recently written a book called “The Kind Diet,” and the owner and head chef of the Chipotle restaurant chain. Normally, I’m not an “Oprah” watcher, but my wife has a Season Pass on TiVo for the show, and we watch them sometimes when nothing else is on. The one thing I do like about Oprah Winfrey is her dedication to using her clout to help people lead better lives, instead of running show after show about cheating spouses getting caught or wild baby-daddy arguments.

Michael Pollan’s name is synonymous with healthy food and responsible eating habits. I recently saw a friend reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” and admitted during that conversation that Pollan’s books are ones I wish I had read. He is one of the main voices in the documentary, “Food, Inc.,” which “examines the costs of putting value and convenience over nutrition and environmental impact.” Oprah explained during the course of the show that she made an arrangement with Amazon.com to sell the movie for only $9.99 (for a limited time), to encourage more people to watch it.

Alicia Silverstone, who is probably best known for her role in the movie “Clueless” or for being the girl in the Aerosmith videos of the 1990s, was also on the show, but to talk about her book, not her acting. In the “The Kind Diet,” Silverstone shares ways to eat vegan, for two reasons: first, to feel better and second, to eliminate the cruel treatment of animals raised for food. Her message is to be “kind,” both to ourselves and to animals. Silverstone, who smiled through most of the interview, explained that her switch to being a vegan did everything from give her more energy to clear up her acne.

Steve Ells, owner of Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants, has brought healthy ingredients and actual cooking to fast food. He explained that, in his restaurants, employees chop and measure ingredients and use pots and pans, instead of warming over or frying processed items that were trucked in. There's a clip of Steve Ells on “Oprah" on YouTube.

I even learned a few things just watching the latter of half of this one talk-show episode. I had not realized that the average American eats 200 pounds of meat a year, for instance. That’s an average! I had also never thought about eating habits as being “kind” to yourself, not putting your body through the agony of having to digest and process some things. It was also good to hear that some culinary experts are finding ways to make healthy fast food possible, to have good food without the usual time involved.

I think it was Michael Pollan who said on the show that the average American eats fast food four times a week, which shocked me! I can’t imagine eating like that on a regular basis. I can’t imagine wanting fast food that often. I typically eat fast food when I’m on the road, especially in airports where nothing looks all that good, but only about twice a month normally. I can’t imagine eating fast food more than 200 times in year.