Food Rules
January 31st, 2010
I just finished reading “Food Rules”, a book by Michael Pollan about how to eat healthily. He provides 64 simple rules that lead to a healthier diet, and through such a diet, to a healthier life. Most of these rules are common sense if you think about it, and taken all together they don’t really present a new perspective on food. They do, however, remind you of the common sense most of us leave behind as we shop for food. I suspect that that’s the main reason this book was published: it reminds you of something you already know, and reminds you to remind it when you go about shopping for food.
The basic idea behind this advice can be summarized like this:
What should I eat? – Food.
What kind of food should I eat? – Mostly plants.
How should I eat? – Not too much.
I’d like to share some rules with you, the ones that I find stick to the mind.
#1: Eat food. Don’t eat processed stuff that is designed to look like food and contains stuff you won’t find in any kitchen around the world.
#7: Avoid food products containing ingredients a third-grader cannot pronounce. That includes stuff like ammonium hydrogen carbonate.
#13: Eat only foods that will eventually rot. If a bug or fungi can eat it, it’s probably safe for you, too.
#20: It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car.
#43: Have a glass of wine with your dinner.
#45: Eat less.
#49: Eat slowly. It takes a while for signals from you stomach (that you have ingested enough nutrition) to reach your brain. About 20 minutes, in fact. Eating slowly makes sure you eat what you need, not what your immediate desire tells you.
#61: Leave something on your plate.
#63: Cook.
The last rule I found interesting, was #6: Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients. The more ingredients in packaged food, the likelier it is that the food is processed. Don’t confuse ingredients in ready-made stuff with ingredients for a recipe. It’s fine if you need more than five things to bake a cake.
I hope to remember these rules when I next buy ingredients at the supermarket. Another point that’s made in the book is that you should get out of the supermarket whenever you can—but that’s not always practical.
My name is Marco Hokke. My blog is about the things that interest me and things I might forget if I would not blog them.
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