In Defense of Real Food

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I’m back in the desert and to be honest, I haven’t cooked since I flew in. It’s been so hot I do not even want to move. But anyway, at least I had the weekend to unpack (one of my least favorite activities), watch Dan perform at an improv show (give it up for my man!), attend a Cinco de Mayo party where our friends served a fantabulous Italian feast fit for a hundred guests and we were serenaded by Mexican music (his dad is a Mariachi!), enjoy dinner cooked by Dan, and watch Iron Man (very good movie).

Now that things are beginning to go back to ‘normal’, I’ll refer back to my promise to talk more about Michael Pollan’s book, “In Defense of Food“, which have me going organic and local. I couldn’t recommend it enough to everyone who eats. Yes, that’s you…and you. It re-focused my eating to what is important: Real Food. By ‘real food’, I mean…food that actually looks like the sources of the food. Unrefined. Unprocessed. Doesn’t have incomprehensible ingredients. Y’know — like food our great grandparents recognized as food. We’ve been so focused on counting calories, carbs, fats, getting into diets, swaying along with the latest scientific studies about different nutrients, that all these have been taken out of the context of food, diet, and culture and that’s how our health troubles started to get out of hand. In fact, Pollan highly criticized the Western Diet and blamed it for all sorts of problems we have now — from obesity to heart attack. So what do we do? The author gives these three basic rules: ” Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Sounds simple, eh?

Michael Pollan provides ‘practical ways to separate, and defend, real food from the cascade of foodlike products, that now surround and confound us, especially on the supermarket’:

1) Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognized as food.

It sounds like a really conservative way to eat, as if being told to wear leggings under your skirt, but if you think about it it makes a lot of sense. Considering that my great grandparents died of old age and not from any diseases, at more than 80 years old (or almost 90 — help, mom!), and they ate food from their own garden and farm, I think this is something I want to follow.

2) Don’t eat anything incapable of rotting.

Twinkies anyone?

3) Avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number, or that include d) high fructose corn syrup.

Although they’re not necessarily bad for us, they are reliable markers for foods that have been highly processed to the point that they may not be what they say they are. They’ve crossed the line between food and food products.

4) Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle. [Go click on the link for a 'supermarket map']

5) Get out of the supermarket.

Go to the farmer’s market or subscribe to community-supported agriculture (CSA). Better yet, grown your own garden.

6) You are what you eat eats too.

This is why we should all be concerned about where our food comes from. I mean, this is basic and pretty much common sense, but we don’t usually think of it. The diet of the animals we eat affects the quality of the food we eat. Grass diets mean much healthier fats in the meat, milk, and eggs, and higher levels of vitamins and antioxidants.

7) Eat like an omnivore.

Diversify your diet. Discover new vegetables. Carrots and potatoes aren’t the only vegetables. According to people who have subscribed to a local community-supported agriculture (CSA), they’ve discovered food they would never buy on their own. I love that!

8) Eat well-grown food from healthy soils.

9) Eat wild foods when you can. [except endangered ones]

10) Be the kind of person who takes supplements.

Y’know, the kind who are more health-conscious and better educated. LEARN about your food. Don’t just mindlessly stuff yourself with it. It’s your body, so take care of it!

11) Have a glass of wine with dinner.

And you know this is my favorite. Haha. According to the book, most experts recommend no more than two drinks a day for men, and one for women. And a little every day is better than drinking a lot on the weekends. Moral of the story: have a happy hour every day. Do as I do. Oh, and drinking with food is always better than drinking without it.

12) Pay more, eat less.

Pay for better-quality food. One of the ’side effects’ is that you’ll eat less, too. Eat until you’re 80% full. Avoid seconds.

13) Eat meals.

Eat at the table. Don’t get your fuel form the same place your car does. Try not to eat alone. Eat slowly. Cook your food.

I implore you to read the book and make good decisions about your food and eating. If you already have, let me know what you think of the book!