Six Rules for Eating Wisely

[Guest guest]

Interesting article in the Co-op newspaper:

 

Six Rules for Eating Wisely

Sunday, Jun. 11, 2006 By MICHAEL POLLAN

 

Once upon a time Americans had a culture of food to guide us through

the increasingly treacherous landscape of food choices: fat vs. carbs,

organic vs. conventional, vegetarian vs. carnivorous. Culture in this

case is just a fancy way of saying " your mom. " She taught us what to

eat, when to eat it, how much of it to eat, even the order in which to

eat it. But Mom's influence over the dinner menu has proved no match

for the $36 billion in food-marketing dollars ($10 billion directed to

kids alone) designed to get us to eat more, eat all manner of dubious

neofoods, 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 the

not-so-happy feedlots in Kansas and cornfields in Iowa where it begins

and tracing the organic food chain back to the farms. My aim was

simply to figure out what--as a nutritional, ethical, political and

environmental matter--I should eat. Along the way, I've collected a

few rules of thumb that may be useful in navigating what I call the

Omnivore's Dilemma.

 

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

recognize as food. Imagine how baffled your ancestors would be in

a modern supermarket: the epoxy-like tubes of Go-Gurt, the

preternaturally fresh Twinkies, the vaguely pharmaceutical Vitamin

Water. Those aren't foods, quite; they're food products. History

suggests you might want to wait a few decades or so before adding such

novelties to your diet, the substitution of margarine for butter being

the classic case in point. My mother used to predict " they " would

eventually discover that butter was better for you. She was right: the

trans-fatty margarine is killing us. Eat food, not food products.

 

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

not just in cereals and soft drinks but also in ketchup and bologna,

baked goods, soups and salad dressings. Though HFCS was not part of

the human diet until 1975, each of us now consumes more than 40 lbs. a

year, some 200 calories a day. Is HFCS any worse for you than sugar?

Probably not, but by avoiding it you'll avoid thousands of empty

calories and perhaps even more important, cut out highly processed

foods--the ones that contain the most sugar, fat and salt. Besides,

what chef uses high-fructose corn syrup? Not one. It's found only in

the pantry of the food scientist, and that's not who you want cooking

your meals.

 

3. Spend more, eat less. Americans are as addicted to cheap food

as we are to cheap oil. We spend only 9.7% of our income on food, a

smaller share than any other nation. Is it a coincidence we spend a

larger percentage than any other on health care (16%)? All this " cheap

food " is making us fat and sick. It's also bad for the health of the

environment. The higher the quality of the food you eat, the more

nutritious it is and the less of it you'll need to feel satisfied.

 

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

packages. It was science that told us margarine made from trans

fats is better for us than butter made from cow's milk. The more I

learn about the science of nutrition, the less certain I am that we've

learned anything important about food that our ancestors didn't know.

Consider that the healthiest foods in the supermarket--the fresh

produce--are the ones that don't make FDA-approved health claims,

which typically festoon the packages of the most highly processed

foods. When Whole Grain Lucky Charms show up in the cereal aisle, it's

time to stop paying attention to health claims.

 

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, and you'll cook, because you won't find anything processed or

microwavable. You'll also be supporting farmers in your community,

helping defend the countryside from sprawl, saving oil by eating food

produced nearby and teaching your children that a carrot is a root,

not a machine-lathed orange bullet that comes in a plastic bag. A lot

more is going on at the farmers' market than the exchange of money for

food.

 

6. How you eat is as important as what you eat. Americans are

fixated on nutrients, good and bad, while the French and Italians

focus on the whole eating experience. The lesson of the " French

paradox " 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 or

snacks between meals, never eat alone. But perhaps most important, eat

with pleasure, because eating with anxiety leads to poor digestion and

bingeing. There is no French paradox, really, only an American

paradox: a notably unhealthy people obsessed with the idea of eating

healthily. So, relax. Eat Food. And savor it.

 

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I think " Don't eat anything your great-great-great grandmother

wouldn't recognize as food " is the best rule I've heard! It sure

would eliminate a lot of the bad stuff I eat!

 

Has anyone read his " Omnivore's Dilemma " ? It's on my list, but I

haven't gotten to it yet -- I have to read " Last Child Out of the

Woods " first.

 

Kate