Food Rules — three lessons from Michael Pollan
Seven words that make an entire diet book redundant.
Michael Pollan wrote Food Rules as an antidote to the confusion the food industry creates. Every few years there's a new enemy — fat, carbs, gluten, sugar — and a new miracle cure. Pollan cuts through that with lines that a child can remember.
Lesson 1: Eat food. Not "edibles" but real food. If your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize it as food, it's not food. A Pringles chip has 37 ingredients. A potato has one. Pollan mentions the distinction between food and food-like substances — and once you see it, you can't ignore it.
Lesson 2: Not too much. The French eat cheese, bread, wine and butter — and are healthier than Americans who have been low-fat for twenty years. The difference? Portion size. And: the French eat at the table, not in the car. The difference between a meal and a filling is not the ingredient but the context.
Lesson 3: Mostly plants. Not exclusively. Mostly. Pollan is not a vegetarian and does not preach one. But the data is clear: the more fruit and vegetables on your plate, the better you feel, the longer you live, the cheaper your healthcare costs.
Three lessons, seven words. Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Everything you need to know about nutrition fits on a post-it. The rest is marketing.