Monthly Archives: October 2014

“We’re very confused about food, … which is weird. I mean, what other species needs experts to tell them how to eat?”, says food expert/journalist  Michael Pollan in an NPR program interview. The more he studied about food, the shorter his book, Food Rules, became. Not advocating for one ideal diet, Mr. Pollan wants us to steer away from processed food and towards plant based foods. That simple.   “Populations eating a remarkable wide range of traditional diets generally won’t suffer from (chronic Western) diseases ” and, “People who get off the Western diet see dramatic improvements in their health.”

Eat food, he advocates. Real food that is. Here’s some of my favorite rules; theres’s 64 altogether  in the book:

Part I:  What should I eat? (Eat food.) Like me, your definition of food might change by the end of this chapter.

• 5. Avoid foods that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ingredients.

• 6. Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients.
• 7. Avoid food products containing ingredients that  third-grader cannot pronounce.
• 12. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.
• 13. Eat only foods that will eventually rot.

• 19. If it came from a plant, eat it; it was made in a plant, don’t.

Part II: What kind of food should I eat? (Mostly plants.)

• 22. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
• 24. Eating what stands on one leg (mushrooms and plant foods) is better than eating what stands on two legs (fowl), which is better than eating what stands on four legs (cows, pigs, and other mammals).
• 27. Eat animals that have themselves eaten well.
• 29. Eat like an omnivore.
• 35. Eat sweet foods as you find them in nature.

Part III How should I eat? (Not too much.)

• 44. Pay more, eat less.
• 45. Eat less.
• 47. Eat when you’re hungry, not when you’re bored.
• 53. Serve a proper portion and don’t go back for seconds.
• 55. Eat meals.
• 56. Limit your snacks to unprocessed plant food.
• 57. Don’t get your fuel the same place your car does.
• 60. Treat treats as treats.
• 63. Cook

This short 140 page book is packed with wisdom you won’t soon forget. It was one of the books and documentaries that changed my eating forever.

Links:

Michael Pollan- Ted Talk

Michael Pollan- NPR interview about his new book, Cooked

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/21/177501735/fire-water-air-earth-michael-pollan-gets-elemental-in-cooked

Michael Pollan- NPR, Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me program

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128417647

Learn more about that old Twinkie here-

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/11/21/news/hancock/38-year-old-twinkie-worlds-oldest-still-a-sweet-treat-at-blue-hill-school/