Food Rules to Live By

Michael Pollan has become one our most important writers about human nutrition. His book, The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006), spelled out why the almost 8 billion humans on this planet had better balance what we eat, for our own health and the health of the planet.

He published a small book in 2009 (Penguin Books) called Food Rules: An Eater's Manual. His rules are around 7 words in 3 brief statements: Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants. How simple and wise is that!

These three statements make up the three parts of this small book, with lots of practical "rules". Here are some of the best:

Don't eat anything your great-grandmother would not recognize as food
Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry
Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not (like imitation butter)
Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle
Treat meat as a flavoring or special occasion food
Eat animals that have themselves eaten well
Don't overlook the oily little fishes
The whiter the bread, the sooner you'll be dead
Be the kind of person who takes supplements - then skip the supplements
Eat more like the French, or the Japanese, or the Italians, or the Greeks
Have a glass of wine with dinner
Stop eating before you are full
Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored
Eat slowly
Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it
Buy smaller plates and glasses
Serve a proper portion and don't go back for seconds
Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper

and the last one:
Break the rules once in awhile

So, enjoy a healthy diet and eat right!