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    How to Eat

    By Mark Schauss | March 30, 2009

    Michael Pollan, author of the must read books, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and The Botany of Desire, was interviewed by Daniel DeNoon over at WebMD recently. He made a fantastic list of 7 rules for eating which I think everyone should follow. If you do, it is sure to improve your health dramatically.

    The 7 rules are:

    1. Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. “When you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can’t pronounce, ask yourself, “What are those things doing there?” 
    2. Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can’t pronounce.
    3. Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.
    4.  Don’t eat anything that won’t eventually rot. “There are exceptions — honey — but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren’t food.” Pollan says.
    5. It is not just what you eat but how you eat. “Always leave the table a little hungry,” Pollan says. “Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full. In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full. Islamic culture has a similar rule, and in German culture they say, ‘Tie off the sack before it’s full.'”
    6. Families traditionally ate together, around a table and not a TV, at regular meal times. It’s a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love. “Remember when eating between meals felt wrong?” Pollan asks.
    7. Don’t buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car.

    Following these rules just makes sense.

    Topics: Food, Health | 1 Comment »

    One Response to “How to Eat”

    1. Topics about Culture » How to Eat Says:
      March 30th, 2009 at 12:27 pm

      […] Marc Canter placed an observative post today on How to EatHere’s a quick excerptMichael Pollan, author of the must read books, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and The Botany of Desire, was interviewed by Daniel DeNoon over at WebMD recently. He made a fantastic list of 7 rules for eating which I think everyone should follow. If you do, it is sure to improve your health dramatically…. […]

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