Eat Food

As described in the previous post, I recently read Michael Pollan's book Food Rules, which is a description of 64 basic rules for how we can adjust our eating habits to make sure we're eating well. The short book is divided into three major sections, the first of which is Eat Food, meaning eat real food, not processed food products. One of his major points throughout the book is that our diet has not always been disastrous as a nation, but in the last 30 years or so, it has really fallen apart. To this end, he makes a point of examining old wives' tales and sayings from the past that have been proven to have actual scientific merit and truly are beneficial to our diets. Hence, some of the rules reflect previous eras. Here are some of my favorites from the first section of the book:
[Note: These are all general rules, with clear exceptions.]

2-Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
     A la "Go-Gurt." or "Tofutti."

6-Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients.
     By following this rule, you avoid a lot of preservatives like high-fructose corn syrup, added salt and artificial flavoring, and "nutrients" that are artificially pumped into food. (Again, be reasonable. One of my favorite Christmas cookies has three ingredients: butter, flour, and brown sugar.)

8-Avoid products that make health claims. 
     I particularly like this one, because Pollan points out that things that make health claims have 1) packages, and hence are farther away from real food 2) come from companies that have money to package and advertise, 3) come from companies that have money to engineer their foods to meet FDA guidelines, (like fat-free mayonnaise).

10-Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they're not.
     Like dairy-free cream cheese. This is an oxymoron. Or again, like fat-free mayonnaise or olive oil mayonnaise. There is no such thing. Real mayonnaise is made with eggs, oil and vinegar. Period. These are the ingredients in olive oil mayonnaise:

Water, Olive Oil, Soybean Oil, Vinegar, Modified Food Starch, Sugar, Maltodextrin, Eggs, Contains less than 2% of Salt, Mustard Flour, Dried Onions, Dried Garlic, Natural Flavor, Enzyme Modified Egg Yolk, Beta Carotene* (Color), Lactic Acid*, Potassium Sorbate* and Calcium Disodium Edta As Preservatives, Phosphoric Acid

13-Eat foods that will eventually rot. 

     Anything that will not rot in the coming days or weeks, is unlikely to be real food, based on the amount of sweeteners, shelf stabilizers and preservatives it apparently contains (i.e., Twinkies.) 

16-Buy your snacks at the farmer's market. 

    In this case, you're much more likely to be eating real food, without preservatives, etc. Not only that, there's a much better chance the food is healthy in the first place, like dried fruit, etc. Given my pregnant state, I plan on heading down to the farmer's market soon, since I'll need something to get me through the mornings at school. 

20-It's not food if it arrived through the window of your car. 

     I think this speaks for itself. :-)

Now, just as a point of reference, Pollan makes it very clear throughout the book that he isn't advocating NEVER eating french fries, Cheetos, etc., but just making the rules part of your general habits. (And occasionally breaking the rules. Not daily.)