Food Rules: An Eater's Manual

This was a short novel but I enjoyed all the little bits of information that was inside. The book’s sole purpose is to give you some guidelines for eating.The links between diet and health according to this novel is that individuals who eat a Western diet (lots of processed food, food with added sugar and fat, and lots of refined grains) will suffer from Western diseases such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes, cancer and cardio diseases. That totally makes sense to me but I didn’t know it was known as a Western diet. The second link is that if you eat a traditional diet (a lot of different varieties here) you will not suffer from these diseases. Which basically means, no one diet is perfect but as humans we have adapted to different diets to make them work for us. The Western diet, as it stands now, is the diet which makes everyone ill. Inside this novel, there are 64 rules to live by to eat a healthy diet. These rules are explained further with a brief explanation, if needed.Some of these rules I had heard about before but about half of them were new to me. There are three parts to the novel: What to eat? What kinds of food should I eat? And How should I eat? Each of these parts have different rules to follow. I liked that these rules are, for the most part, something I could memorize on my own and therefore, I could recall when need be. There is the rule about not eating food that you cannot say, rule about eating a variety of colors, and a rule about eating at a table, these are a few of the rules I already knew.Here are a few of the rules that I really enjoyed:Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry. So, cellulose, thiamine mononitrate is not something I would have on hand, therefore this product should not be in my house.Avoid food products that contain more than 5 ingredients. Wow, that would eliminate a lot of the processed foods I have on hand.Avoid food products that contain ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce. Again cellulose, thiamine mononitrate are out and I need to start thinking simple.Cook food that has only been cooked by humans. Again, lots of preservatives, added sugar, and other interesting items are added which we don’t need.Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself. This one is a killer. I have literally cut down on the number of French fries I eat as I think this rule says it all. I’m not physically making French fries out of potatoes every time I want them, it’s too time consuming and too much work. The novel says there is nothing wrong with sweets, soda and other sweet snacks as long as you prepare them yourself. If I had to prepare potato chips, snack crackers, or cookies as much as I consume them, my consumption would really go down.Spend as much time enjoying your meal as it took to prepare it. Amen!I think this book has a lot to offer, things you might know and things that you should know. I like the short and sweet aspect of the novel, it’s not a wordy or a complex read, the author gives his readers just the facts in an easy way to think about them and how to apply them to their own lives. I’m ready to jump on board and I know it will take some time, strength and willpower to incorporate these rules but I know the benefits will be worth it.

Michael Pollan's "Food Rules" offers an excellent reference to begin learning about the relationship between food and health. Not just a beginner's guide, this book also serves as a nice (and brief) compendium of Pollan's writing across a number of his other publications.There is a great deal of practical wisdom and advice in this short and easy-to-digest book. Pollan offers 64 "rules" for eating. He breaks these rules into three major themes: (1) What should I eat?, (2) What kind of food should I eat?, and (3) How should I eat?. Written in a balanced and easy-to-understand style, this is a great place to start learning about the complex relationship between food and health.The topic of food in general is a touchy one. As the author Jonathan Safran Foer said in a CNN interview*:"Even the most political people, the most thoughtful and engaged, tend not to "go there." And for good reason. Going there can be extremely uncomfortable. Food is not just what we put in our mouths to fill up; it is culture and identity. Reason plays some role in our decisions about food, but it's rarely driving the car."Pollan points out two important facts in the book's Introduction that "are not in dispute" related to the links between diet and health:"(1) Populations that eat a so-called Western diet -- generally defined as a diet consisting of lots of processed foods and meat, lots of added fat and sugar, lots of refined grains, lots of everything except vegetables, fruits and whole grains -- invariably suffer from high rates of the so-called Western diseases: obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Virtually all of the obesity and type 2 diabetes, 80 percent of the cardiovascular disease, and more than a third of all cancers can be linked to this diet.(2) Populations eating a remarkably wide range of traditional diets generally don't suffer from these chronic diseases."Pollan notes that these two facts are agreed upon by all the contending parties in the nutrition wars. Moreover, he notes that these facts are "sturdy enough that we can build a sensible diet upon them." This, I think, is a good context with which to explore the relationship between food and health.I strongly recommend this book to all readers. It is a useful addition to two of Pollan's other books, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, and to two books related to other aspects of food and health, Fast Food Nation and Sugar Shock!: How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life-- and How YouCan Get Back on Track.* [...]

I enjoyed this book. It was much smaller than I expected, and I read it in an hour. I recommend it because it is information that we need to keep in mind for our daily eating habits and can refer back to often when feeling like our eating is starting to get out of control. It is an easy, fun, read!

Librino prezioso, semplice nell'esposizione ma curato. Inglese facilmente comprensibile. Utile proprio perché una premessa che spinge ad altri approfindimenti.

Generalmente muchos libros de nutrición tienden a ser muy radicales. Lo bueno de este libro es que es consecuente, y realista. Proporciona recomendaciones generales fáciles de llevar a cabo, con buena filosofía.

Si ya te interesa la nutrición y el comer bien, las cosas que dice son de perogrullo y te las sabes de sobra, pero si estás iniciándote en el tema, es un buen libro, con consejos muy fáciles de recordar que te harán llevar una dieta más sana.

I feel the book condenses a lot of confusing advice into short, clear, 'do this' kind of sentences that stuck to my mind.I now feel I don't have to bother as much about the exact nutritional content of some food - as much as noticing how close to the source that food is. Definitely recommend this book to anyone looking at some simple, irrefutable, and quick rules to eat healthily minus the jargon.