Food Rules

My hero, Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food", has just come out with a new book "Food Rules - An Eater's Manual". It's a mini-manual of 64 eating rules that he gathered from not only doctors and scientists but also chefs and his own readers. I know you might be thinking, "please no more rules!", but from what I have already heard about it, these are straightforward, intuitive, and rather amusing rules that will certainly stick in your memory, such as "Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of your milk". My absolute favorite so far is "The whiter the bread, the sooner you will be dead."

I haven't gotten my own copy yet, but I'm sure when I do I will certainly have more favorites to share with you. Until then, I'll leave you with Michael Pollan's definition of the recurring message of his fabulous book, "In Defense of Food" which is simply this: "eat food." Sounds obvious right? What he means is eat real food rather than edible food-like substances; what the majority of the Standard American Diet (SAD) is made up of. At the end of the book he gives some additional clues on how he further defines "eat food."

Take a look at them below. I'd love your comments on what makes sense to you and if you have your own "eating rules":

• Don't Eat Anything Your Great Grandmother Wouldn't Recognize as Food. Think yogurt versus "Go-Gurt" (which still makes me cringe by the way).
• Avoid Food Products Containing Ingredients that are a) Unfamiliar, b) Unpronounceable, c) More than five in number or that include d) High fructose corn syrup. Take a look at what's in your refrigerator. What passes the test?
• Avoid Food Products that Make Health Claims. Sounds counter intuitive, but does a carrot really need to convince you that its good for you? Of course not! According to Pollan, margarine was one of the first industrial foods to claim it was healthier than the traditional food it replaced and what did it turn out to do? Give people heart attacks!
• Shop the Peripheries of the Supermarket and Stay Out of the Middle. You are much more likely to get real food by shopping this way as the peripheries tend to contain the fruits, vegetables, meats, and some quality dairy and the middle aisles contain overly processed food-like substances. However, this is not entirely fool-proof.
• Get out of the Supermarket Whenever Possible. This means get as much as possible from the Farmer's Market or join a CSA. By doing this you are guaranteed to eat in season and will be supporting your local community. I know, I know, for those of you who live in the Northeast there isn't much available but there are certainly some winter farmer's markets and just get yourself pumped for the abundance of them once Spring and Summer hits!