Six Rules for Eating Wisely

[Guest guest]

Agreed, great points! I love "never eat alone." I haven't read OD yet, but it's on my list, too. :-)Cyndi

 

 

In a message dated 2/25/2007 7:21:30 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, ghostdancer writes:

Interesting article in the Co-op newspaper:Six Rules for Eating WiselySunday, Jun. 11, 2006 By MICHAEL POLLAN Once upon a time Americans had a culture of food to guide us throughthe increasingly treacherous landscape of food choices: fat vs. carbs,organic vs. conventional, vegetarian vs. carnivorous. Culture in thiscase is just a fancy way of saying "your mom." She taught us what toeat, when to eat it, how much of it to eat, even the order in which toeat it. But Mom's influence over the dinner menu has proved no matchfor the $36 billion in food-marketing dollars ($10 billion directed tokids alone) designed to get us to eat more, eat all manner of dubiousneofoods, and create entire new eating occasions, such as in the car.Some food culture.I've spent the past five years exploring this daunting food landscape,following the industrial food chain from the Happy Meal back to thenot-so-happy feedlots in Kansas and cornfields in Iowa where it beginsand tracing the organic food chain back to the farms. My aim wassimply to figure out what--as a nutritional, ethical, political andenvironmental matter--I should eat. Along the way, I've collected afew rules of thumb that may be useful in navigating what I call theOmnivore's Dilemma.1. Don't eat anything your great-great-great grandmother wouldn'trecognize as food. Imagine how baffled your ancestors would be ina modern supermarket: the epoxy-like tubes of Go-Gurt, thepreternaturally fresh Twinkies, the vaguely pharmaceutical VitaminWater. Those aren't foods, quite; they're food products. Historysuggests you might want to wait a few decades or so before adding suchnovelties to your diet, the substitution of margarine for butter beingthe classic case in point. My mother used to predict "they" wouldeventually discover that butter was better for you. She was right: thetrans-fatty margarine is killing us. Eat food, not food products.2. Avoid foods containing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It'snot just in cereals and soft drinks but also in ketchup and bologna,baked goods, soups and salad dressings. Though HFCS was not part ofthe human diet until 1975, each of us now consumes more than 40 lbs. ayear, some 200 calories a day. Is HFCS any worse for you than sugar?Probably not, but by avoiding it you'll avoid thousands of emptycalories and perhaps even more important, cut out highly processedfoods--the ones that contain the most sugar, fat and salt. Besides,what chef uses high-fructose corn syrup? Not one. It's found only inthe pantry of the food scientist, and that's not who you want cookingyour meals.3. Spend more, eat less. Americans are as addicted to cheap foodas we are to cheap oil. We spend only 9.7% of our income on food, asmaller share than any other nation. Is it a coincidence we spend alarger percentage than any other on health care (16%)? All this "cheapfood" is making us fat and sick. It's also bad for the health of theenvironment. The higher the quality of the food you eat, the morenutritious it is and the less of it you'll need to feel satisfied.4. Pay no heed to nutritional science or the health claims onpackages. It was science that told us margarine made from transfats is better for us than butter made from cow's milk. The more Ilearn about the science of nutrition, the less certain I am that we'velearned anything important about food that our ancestors didn't know.Consider that the healthiest foods in the supermarket--the freshproduce--are the ones that don't make FDA-approved health claims,which typically festoon the packages of the most highly processedfoods. When Whole Grain Lucky Charms show up in the cereal aisle, it'stime to stop paying attention to health claims.5. Shop at the farmers' market. You'll begin to eat foods inseason, when they are at the peak of their nutritional value andflavor, and you'll cook, because you won't find anything processed ormicrowavable. You'll also be supporting farmers in your community,helping defend the countryside from sprawl, saving oil by eating foodproduced nearby and teaching your children that a carrot is a root,not a machine-lathed orange bullet that comes in a plastic bag. A lotmore is going on at the farmers' market than the exchange of money forfood.6. How you eat is as important as what you eat. Americans arefixated on nutrients, good and bad, while the French and Italiansfocus on the whole eating experience. The lesson of the "Frenchparadox" is you can eat all kinds of supposedly toxic substances(triple crème cheese, foie gras) as long as you follow your culture's(i.e., mother's) rules: eat moderate portions, don't go for seconds orsnacks between meals, never eat alone. But perhaps most important, eatwith pleasure, because eating with anxiety leads to poor digestion andbingeing. There is no French paradox, really, only an Americanparadox: a notably unhealthy people obsessed with the idea of eatinghealthily. So, relax. Eat Food. And savor it.========================I think "Don't eat anything your great-great-great grandmotherwouldn't recognize as food" is the best rule I've heard! It surewould eliminate a lot of the bad stuff I eat!Has anyone read his "Omnivore's Dilemma"? It's on my list, but Ihaven't gotten to it yet -- I have to read "Last Child Out of theWoods" first.Kate

[Guest guest]

No. I always eat with my dogs

 

Barbara

 

 

 

 

Agreed, great points! I love "never eat alone." I haven't read OD yet, but it's on my list, too. :-)Cyndi

 

 

[Guest guest]

And I eat with my cats! LOL! They are always happy, at every meal, lol. ;-)Cyndi

 

In a message dated 2/25/2007 9:41:41 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, barbara3 writes:

 

No. I always eat with my dogs

 

Barbara

 

 

 

 

Agreed, great points! I love "never eat alone." I haven't read OD yet, but it's on my list, too. :-)Cyndi

 

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[Guest guest]

Excellent articel on times http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200782-1,00.html

Summary:

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

2. Avoid foods containing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

3. Spend more, eat less. Have quality and not quantity.

4. Pay no heed to nutritional science or the health claims on packages.

5. Shop at the farmers' market. You'll begin to eat foods in season, when they are at the peak of their nutritional value and flavor.

6. How you eat is as important as what you eat. Eat without stress in relaxed atmosphere.

 

Regards,

Lokesh