When my husband first showed me ‘Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual‘ by Michael Pollan, we were both struck by how small it was, but I was hooked from the first glance. ‘Food Rules‘ is a quick and very enjoyable read filled with witty, quirky sayings that are fun to read yet are full of wisdom.
Michael Pollan's 'Food Rules: An Eater's Manual'
Michael Pollan really does take all of the confusing messages about food, that come at us from all directions, and simplifies it. While the title says Food Rules, they are really suggestions on how to eat real food and actually enjoy it. He points out that our Western diet is comprised mainly of processed foods, lots of salt and sugar and refined grains, which leads to many western diseases. Scientists are constantly looking for the “evil” nutrient that we can eliminate to be healthy. Americans are bombarded with research that shows this or that nutrient as the BAD one to the extent that we have no idea what is good anymore, what is even real food anymore, much less how to eat it, when to eat it or how much to eat. This a a great book that can teach us all how to relax and enjoy food again. So sit back, enjoy this book, then enjoy your food!! By the way, my favorite is rule #20; “It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car”.
From the book:
“Make no mistake: our health care crisis is in large part a crisis of the American diet — roughly three quarters of the two-trillion plus we spend on health care in this country goes to treat chronic diseases, most of which can be prevented by a change in lifestyle, especially diet. And a healthy diet is a whole lot simpler than the food industry and many nutritional scientists — what I call the Nutritional Industrial Complex — would have us believe. After spending several years trying to answer the supposedly incredibly complicated question of how we should eat in order to be maximally healthy, I discovered the answer was shockingly simple: eat real food, not too much of it, and more plants than meat. Or, put another way, get off the modern western diet, with its abundance of processed food, refined grains and sugars, and its sore lack of vegetables, whole grains and fruit.”
A few more rules:
- #11 Avoid foods you see advertised on television.
- #19 If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.
- #36 Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.
- #47 Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored.
[Videos: via Democracy Now interviewing Michael Pollan about his book Food Rules]
[Watch more of this interview: here]
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Also, here’s a great list of other book reviews of Food Rules from around the Web: at MichaelPollan.com
