so simple, yet so hard for people (me included) to grasp

jmarie9

I really enjoyed Michael Pollan's book Food Rules

Seven Words:

"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

and

Seven Simple Rules:

1. Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. "When you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can't pronounce, ask yourself, "What are those things doing there?" Pollan says.

2. Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce.

3. Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.

4. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot. "There are exceptions -- honey -- but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren't food," Pollan says.

5. It is not just what you eat but how you eat. "Always leave the table a little hungry," Pollan says. "Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full. In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full. Islamic culture has a similar rule, and in German culture they say, 'Tie off the sack before it's full.'"

6. Families traditionally ate together, around a table and not a TV, at regular meal times. It's a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love. "Remember when eating between meals felt wrong?" Pollan asks.

7. Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car.

LongMom

Love it! Thanks for sharing

sniffles

My sister has one basic rule for food that always makes me laugh.

Her rule is this:

Don't eat it if it doesn't remember where it came from.

cullensbrunette

This is great!! Thanks! I think I might want to read that book. Where did you get it?

jmarie9

This is great!! Thanks! I think I might want to read that book. Where did you get it?

you can get it anywhere. i just read it at the book store, it's really small, each page has a few sentences on different topics. you can get the e book on barnes and noble for 5 bucks.

healthbug

I loved that book too! I'm always fussing at my boyfriend about buying foods with ingredient lists that sound like chemical charts. The man has a point; it's just really time consuming to make most of your food at home.

Sunsh1ne

I loved that book! One of my favorites was "Any food that comes in through your car window is not real food."

lt_mrcook

YEAH! More converts to the cause...:):):)

LittleSpy

Does calling it dihydrogen monoxide make it not water? Yeah, of course not. So, you can't always just write something off as inherently unhealthy because it's called by a chemical sounding name.
For the most part, though, I suppose it's a decent enough rule of thumb when trying to choose healthy food.

When you start to fall for the whole "natural things are good for you" (and of course many of them are -- that's beyond the point here) marketing scam, try to keep in mind that **everything** is made of chemicals. And also that it's not *healthy* solely because it's *natural.*

lt_mrcook

I don't remember his exact wording, but I love "If it's made by a plant, eat it. If it's made in a plant, avoid it."

We have our 8yr old daughter try to read everything we buy in the store now. She loves our new "game" and is a joy to take shopping. even our 4yr old has started to recognize Hgih Fructose Corn Syrup on labels now too...:)

Happy clean eating to everyone!

jmarie9

I don't remember his exact wording, but I love "If it's made by a plant, eat it. If it's made in a plant, avoid it."

We have our 8yr old daughter try to read everything we buy in the store now. She loves our new "game" and is a joy to take shopping. even our 4yr old has started to recognize Hgih Fructose Corn Syrup on labels now too...:)

Happy clean eating to everyone!

what a great game! and what a lucky kid to have parents like you!

jmarie9

Does calling it dihydrogen monoxide make it not water? Yeah, of course not. So, you can't always just write something off as inherently unhealthy because it's called by a chemical sounding name.
For the most part, though, I suppose it's a decent enough rule of thumb when trying to choose healthy food.

When you start to fall for the whole "natural things are good for you" (and of course many of them are -- that's beyond the point here) marketing scam, try to keep in mind that **everything** is made of chemicals.

lol, you're one of the people that likes to play the devils advocate huh : )

AmandaB4588

Haven't read the book but I saw him on Oprah. I have been eating a mostly non-processed diet ever since.

lt_mrcook

well you keep filling your body with chemicals then Jib. If you want to believe it's a scam, then so be it.

I've lost 30+ lbs since cutting HFCS and other Chemicals out of my diet.

My 8yr old no longer needs suplimental enzyems for her food since we've focused on natural food.

Calling it by a chemically sounding name, and it actually being some wierd chemical are totally different things. Don't throw that red herring out here to try and confuse people. Does calling it Dextrose or Maltodrextrin, or Citric Acid make it not corn? I didn't think so.

lt_mrcook

And just like people define "Food" as that crap they serve at McDonalds, lumping naturally occuring chemical compounds in with "Chemicals" that are manufactured by humans is a very simplistic argument.

Why won't the FDA allow processed goods containing HFCS (it's made from corn...just like the flashy TV add says) be called all natural any more? Why has the obesity rate, diabeties rate, etc all sky rocketed since the wide spread use of artifical sweeteners and chemical additives in our food supply?

The marketing scam is what they push on TV (like dealers pushing drugs) as food, but it sure as hell isn't eating more naturally that's the scam.

sniffles

Much of the vegetables we buy in a grocery store aren't much healthier then the junk we eat in a bag of chips as they're pumped full of growth hormones and pesticides and etc. Yes, it's slightly better for you to buy vegetables but the things they do to mass produce vegetables seriously creeps me out.

I'd suggest buying at a farmer's market. Buy local!!! Stuff you can get from your neighbors is more likely to be untouched by the mass production machines and as a result far healthier for you.

I know a fellow who can't eat store bought eggs at all. They make him sick, however he can eat farm fresh eggs with no problem... just another example of they do crap to so called 'natural' foods to get them faster, larger and transportable.

Whoops, I do go on! All that said my point is merely if you are TRULY concerned about healthier living, grow whatever you can on your own and buy the rest from local sources!

HealthyChanges2010

bumped

jmarie9

! All that said my point is merely if you are TRULY concerned about healthier living, grow whatever you can on your own and buy the rest from local sources!

in a perfect world and with a lot of money! lol... i do as best as i can

sniffles

Absolutely.

questionablemethods

His book The Omnivore's Dilemma really changed how I view the food I eat.

I like the rule about leaving the table before feeling full. I remember when I used to eat until I was painfully full a lot. Now I HATE that feeling! Ugh! So lethargic. But I still have some relatives who just refuse to believe a meal is over unless they are painfully full. It baffles me.

CrazyAdventures

I think the man is a genius!

lvfunandfit

I agree! He is! I value his food rules! (although I had baked ruffles today and there are way more than 5 ingredients and not on my "eat clean" food plan)

ka_42

I can't wait to read his books and learn more from this man, as I've heard such great things. Thank you for sharing this tid-bit. I have one of his books on it's way to my house (thanks, amazon.com)

acakeforawife

I actually LOVE Michael Pollan, and I am really with him in the 'spirit' of most of this, but some of his glibness and oversimplification annoys me! Especially the one about avoiding the middle of the grocery store! Lots of good stuff is in there -- beans and lentils, canned fish, nuts, whole grains like oatmeal and quinoa, etc, and the perimeter has lots of bad stuff, like Cheez Whiz!

Not to mention that my grandmother totally refused to acknowledge sushi as a food!!

But like I said, I'm totally with him in spirit! We (in general) need to stop letting the food industry brainwash us about what's good/good for us. They are out to make money, like any other corporations.

roylawrence87

There is no like button here... Eh oh well.

Great stuff! I eat an almost vegan diet. The only exception is my protein shakes. I tend to stay away from processed foods.

jmarie9

There is no like button here... Eh oh well.

this totally made me laugh out loud at work! hahahahaha

2 windows are constantly up on my computer desktop. facebook and mfp

Sunsh1ne

I'd suggest buying at a farmer's market. Buy local!!!

Amen! You can find a farmer's market or CSA near you by going to localharvest.org or to ams.usda.gov/FARMERSMARKETS Last summer, I got all of my family's produce from local farms, and it was the best I've ever felt. Going back to the processed, shipped crap at the school cafeteria this fall made me sick for a week or two. Farmer's market opens again this weekend, and I'm going home just to take advantage of it!