Whatever you're thinking, I bet it's not what I'm about to write about.
I'm here now to talk about food. That's right. Real, good (and real good), whole, unprocessed, natural food. And a self-imposed challenge I have taken on to re-vamp my diet and get back to what's best for my body, my taste-buds, and the earth.
Yesterday I was at the mall and browsing the eye-candy that is Anthropologie. If you've never had the pleasure of perusing this store, it has everything from furniture and bedding, to kitchen accessories, to books, to gifts, to clothing and more. It's kind of quirky and definitely vintage-inspired, and also extremely expensive (for most things), hence the reason it is eye-candy (most of the time). You should really check it out to see for yourself.
Anyway, while wandering, my eye spotted a brightly illustrated book that just happened to be called, "Food Rules, An Eaters Manual." Being both a self-proclaimed foodie and a dietitian, I picked it up and started flipping through the pages. Initially I thought this was going to be a witty or funny book, not meant to provide any real helpful information. But turns out it had a lot of great ideas, tips and thoughts stated in a very simple manner that would be easy for anyone to understand if wanting to improve their diet. Some statements were so scientifically based, I began to wonder who the author was and what credentials he or she had. When I flipped back to the cover, I see that it's written by none other than Michael Pollan.
This is the same best-selling author who wrote In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto and The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, among others. I must confess here that I have not yet read either of these books in entirety, although I have skimmed them and read select chapters (for a research project on organic food production). Essentially, the latter of the two books describes the four basic ways that human societies have obtained food over the years, and he looks at each process from seed to table. Along the way he suggests that current food systems are not sustainable, nor are they in touch with natural farming cycles. In the other, he discusses the food advice given by the science community, primarily in the late 1900s. Specifically, he indicates that the reductive analysis of food into nutrient components is a flawed paradigm and calls for people to go back to basics with eating. Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Both of these books described above are heavy on science, research, literature and some politics, thus my surprise to see this simple book with very practical advice authored by the same man. However, after doing some Google research of my own, I see that was exactly his intent. To take the concepts from these other books and pare them down to simple, straight-forward, and easy to apply advice for a more healthful and sustainable diet.
The book is written in a witty manner, with short yet catchy "chapter titles," followed by a brief elaboration on the idea, and it's divided into three parts: Part I - What Should I Eat? (Chapter 1: Eat food), Part II - What Kind of Food Should I Eat? (Chapter 22: Eat mostly plants, especially leaves), and Part III - How Should I Eat? (Chapter 45: Eat less). I should mention here that most "chapters" are 2 pages, and they are simply the elaboration on the title, which is the key point.
For example, Chapter 10 is titled, "Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not." The 1-2 page elaboration goes on to give the example that margarine is pretending to butter, but in a healthier form. However, margarine is just as bad as butter, if not worse. This is because almost all margarines contain trans-fats, which are worse than saturated fats, butter's worst offender. In this case, just eat the real food - butter - and watch amounts used and frequency of use.
Although I didn't stand there and read the whole book, I did take the time to flip through the whole book and read each chapter title, as well as the first sentence or two of the elaboration. I may even end up buying it because I could see it being used as a teaching tool. You know, have a client look at the chapter titles and pick one that sparks curiosity. Then discuss it. Anyway, some of my favorite "chapters" from the book:
- 2: Don't eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food
- 7: Avoid foods containing ingredients that a third grader cannot pronounce
- 13: Eat only foods that will eventually rot (see this post from back in 2009 when I commented on this exact thought at the very end of the post)
- 19: If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't
- 21: It's not food if it's called by the same name in every country [think Doritos, Cheetos, Coke and Big Mac vs. apple, carrot, coffee and bread (manzana, zanahoria, cafe, y pan in Spanish)].
- 23: Treat meat as a flavoring or special occasion food
- 27: Eat animals that have themselves eaten well (essentially, free-range or cage-free animals not pumped full of steroids and growth hormones)
- 36: Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk
- 37: "The whiter the bread, the sooner you'll be dead."
- 39: Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself
- 43: Have a glass of wine with dinner
- 51: Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it
- 54: Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper
- 56: Limit your snacks to unprocessed plant foods
- 57: Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does
- 63: Cook
- 64: Break the rules once in a while (My favorite. How else is it supposed to be sustainable?)
**For a full outline of the book chapters visit this site. All credit, of course, goes to Michael Pollan, a man who knows how to eat well.
As a dietitian, I honestly have to say that I know, agree with, and teach every single idea in the book. However, sadly, I don't always follow all of the concepts myself, at least not to the extent that I would like. I'm pretty diligent most of the time, but every now and then I feel lazy and don't want to cook, and when I eat out I don't always choose the healthiest option. Thus, my challenge to myself: get back to basics with my food.
Here are my "food rules" that I've chosen to focus on the most, some I already do well and others I could improve on:
1) Avoid foods that contain high fructose corn syrup, as well as any food that contains any form of sugar or sweetener as one of the first 3 ingredients
2) Avoid food products that contain more than 5 ingredients (excluding bread & cereal because I think that's pretty much impossible these days, but I will always choose whole grains and cereals with <10 g sugar)
3) Avoid foods containing ingredients that a third grader can't pronounce (which I think will naturally happen if I follow rule #2)
4) Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle (for me this will exclude cereal, pasta/rice, pasta sauce, salad dressings, peanut butter and jam, but I will still follow #2)
5) Get out of the supermarket whenever you can (especially during the summer's Farmer's Markets)
6) Treat meat as a flavoring or special occasion food
7) Eat only animals that have themselves eaten well (this will help me achieve #6 because free-range meats are expensive!)
8) Don't overlook the oily little fishes (my goal is to get back to 3x/wk with oily fishes - P.S. did you know that fishes is the correct plural when are referring to different species of fish? I didn't until tonight.)
9) Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself (I think this will be the biggest change for me; I have a serious sweet tooth!)
10) Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper (this will be a challenge to change from my typical breakfast of cereal, yogurt w/ fruit, or toast, but I'm going to try)
11) Limit your snacks to unprocessed plant foods
12) Treat treats as treats
13) Leave something on your plate
14) Cook (for me this means even more)
15) Break the rules once in a while
So there you have it. My self-imposed challenge. Feel free to join my in this journey. Visit the site with all the chapters/rules listed to pick your own or follow my list of 15. I plan to photograph my meals & snacks as often as possible, posting them daily or as frequently as I'm able as a means to hold myself accountable. I started today, so I'll see you soon with my first day's intake. Happy eating!
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