Food Bullying: How to Avoid Buying BS

by Michele Payn

"A much-needed critique of our national obsession of guilt over food choices...exposes the multi-trillion-dollar marketing and misrepresentation of food."--Dr. David Samadi, urologic oncologist and world-renowned robotic surgeon

IPPY Award Gold Medal Winner

More than 40,000 products can be found in a grocery store--and there's a lot of money to be made by those who use misleading marketing to push us into emotion-driven decisions or make us feel like every purchase is a moral or social statement.
Food Bullying upends the way you think about food and gives you permission to make eating choices based on your own social, ethical, environmental, and health standards--rather than brand, friend, or Facebook claims.

Michele Payn, one of North America's leading voices in connecting farm and food, takes a startling look at the misrepresentation of food and sheds light on bogus nutrition and environmental claims to help you recognize and stand up to the bullies. Food Bullying guides you through understanding food label claims and offers insight on "the hidden world of farming". Armed with science and a lifetime on the farm, Michele provides a six-step action plan for you to overcome food bullying, simplify safe food choices, and even save time in the grocery store.

"Engages and enables readers to overcome their fear to make shopping, food preparation and eating enjoyable endeavors rather than a battleground."--Leslie Bonci, MPH, RDN, CSSD, LDN, Kansas City Chiefs Sports Dietitian

Genres: Health, Science

200 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 6, 2019

About the author

Michele Payn speaks from the intersection of farm and food to bring clarity and common sense to the grocery store. A farm girl since birth and a foodie since living in Italy, she is one of North America’s leading farm and food advocates. Payn is passionate about getting back to the truth in food raised the right way, by the right people, for the right reasons. She is an in-demand media resource whose work has appeared in USA Today, Food Insight, Food & Nutrition Magazine, Grist, and others as well as on NPR and CNN.

As a Certified Speaking Professional, she has addressed hundreds of groups, such as Dietetic Associations, Universities, Genome Prairie, Michigan Vegetable Growers, Farm Credit Council, Apple Processors Association and Farm Bureaus, helping thousands of people around the world translate farm to food.

She holds B.S. degrees in animal science and agricultural communications from Michigan State University, where her impact has been featured in a Spartan Saga. She’s owned cattle and baked bread since she was nine years-old—and believes her life’s calling is to connect those two worlds. She and her daughter reside on a small farm in Indiana.

Payn is the author of Amazon best seller Food Truths from Farm to Table: 25 Ways to Shop & Eat Without Guilt and No More Food Fights! Growing a Productive Farm & Food Conversation. She invites you to connect with @mpaynspeaker across social media to remove confusion and guilt from your food.

Reviews

[Jennie Hodgen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought provoking book! How many times have we experienced this? Some great insights to think about as I purchase food and listen to/read food marketing. Also good gut check because while I hope I’m not bullying I am probably falling into food choices judgement. Some great suggestions to pay attention to and have conversations around to reduce the food bullying in our lives.

[Alison Chaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the read this book as part of an agricultural ethics class (yes, I did get to choose the book). As someone in the industry, I was surprised by all of the new ideas and facts I learned. Payn really challenges your way of thinking, not only about the food you purchase, but about the food others purchase. I will definitely be recommending to others who want to learn more about food, food marketing, labels, and all the Bull Speak that goes along with it!

[Lydia Mattson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unsure exactly how to rate. Love the concept, and more debunking is always needed. However, I struggled with wanting more citations, not always loving the layout of the book, and the book definitely needing another once-over by an outside editor as I found some easy typos and grammatical clunkery.

[Hannah Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye Opening

My family doesn't eat organic. We don't mind GMOs in our food. I don't shop at swanky high-end grocery stores. A farmer's market is a treat rather than the rule. I'm a busy, working, homeschooling mom. Sometimes we eat fish sticks or frozen lasagna. But we value our time around the kitchen table, and that is what matters most to us. Thank you, Michele, for giving me permission to do what I need to do in order to feed my family and enjoy meals together. I've been bullied at MOPS groups, in online mom communities, and on the playground with my kids. Thanks for valuing what Infiniti feed my family!

[Elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do we really need to sort through hundreds of adjectives on our food labels at the grocery? It's exhausting. Food Bullying, by Michele Payn, cut's through the "crap" and helped me make sense of all the nonsense that food marketers are using to try and get you to buy their product. How astonishing that people will pay more for a bag of carrots with a GMO-free label when there are no GMO carrots currently in our food system. The same with gluten-free water. Who buys into this stuff?

Ms. Payn takes the guesswork out of your next grocery trip.