Read It.

I finally finished Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food / An Eater's Manifesto and am ready to read it again. Pollan is the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma /A Natural History of Four Meals. And coming to us very soon is his latest work Food Rules / An Eater's Manuel.

The books have been extremely enlightening and are loaded with common sense. It's shocking to me how badly we as US Americans have been screwed up by something as simple as eating, or more accurately, improper eating and over eating. Processed "food" seems to be a root cause of those of us consuming a Western diet. We are the greatest developed nation on the planet and we are also the sickest. I have begun steering away from processed food products, but it can be difficult. There are several rules to follow, but really they make perfect sense.

Examples are:

"Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.

"Avoid food products containing ingredients that are:
- unfamiliar
- unpronounceable
- more than five in number
- include HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP "

"Avoid food products that make health claims."

"Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle."

"Get out of the supermarket whenever possible." (use farmers markets, CSAs, etc)

There is certainly more to the book than just those few rules. Before you get scared off and say "I can't afford to eat food" or "I don't have time" or "my kids won't eat food" consider how much damage we are doing. We are the only species that does not know what to eat and need the government and corporations to tell us what and how to eat. And don't get me started on the medical industry.

Anyway, it's a good book, an easy read and a must.

Join me as I try my damnedest to get away from processed food products.

In the words of Michael Pollan, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."