|
Michael
Pollan has several books on
healthy eating but he is known mostly for “Food
Rules: An Eater’s Manual,” “In Defense of Food: An
Eater’s Manifesto,” and “The Omnivore’s Dilemma." I do
not like to think of these as
diet books per se because they do not preach
that if you eat this and that, your
fat will melt away, you will
lose weight, and fit in those
skinny jeans or be
ready
for the beach by wearing that
teeny weeny swimsuit. Enormous research shows that
diets do not work. If you want to be within a
healthy weight range for your height and age, remain
largely disease-free, and
live a long, healthy life, you will need to embrace
a
lifestyle that includes carefully selecting what you pop
in your mouth and
how
much exercise you give to your body.
If you are as committed as I am to living up to 100
years and do so in
great health, I strongly encourage you to read all
three books, but if you do not have the time, then here
are some of his mantras that I like,
how I lost weight using these principles even before
they came out in his book, and I believe are easy to
adopt.
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
In this principle, notice that there are three separate
practices:
- While 'eat food,' may
sound so obvious, what he means is that you should
eat food, rather than junk. Have you watched
those ads on television where companies suggest that
you pop a pill rather than
eat
your veggies for fibers or drink some juice from
a bottle rather than
eat a salad? The only way to
eat fiber is by actually munching something that
was in the soil, preferably not too long ago.
- And we
get fat because we eat way too much. Like the
Japanese and the
French,
he says, “Stop eating before you’re full.”
More of that
cake
does not taste any better; it just adds more
calories.
- And when he says 'mostly plants,'
he is not suggesting that you
become a vegetarian. Like me, I think he
suggests a
flexitarian approach, so that while eating at
home, I eat almost a
vegetarian diet but none of my friends know that
I eat that way because when I
go out or
visit friends, I eat whatever works, but still
manage to consume mostly vegetables. While you may
choose to become a raw dieter or vegan, but as long
as you
consume mostly vegetables, you will be
healthier, have fewer illnesses, and live longer.
Never get your fuel from the same
place your car does
This is his catchy and fun way of saying that you should
not buy
snacks at a
gas
station. Actually, he is opposed to eating anything
that comes from a box or package. While convenient,
these foods, despite outrageous claims, have no
nutritional value and do enormous damage to the body.
If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a
plant, don’t.
This mantra again highlights his emphasis on
eating plant based foods, preferably fresh,
organic,
and without any processing whatsoever, and avoiding
anything that has been in a factory, where all the
preservatives, flavoring agents, excess salt, chemicals,
etc. are added to give the false impression of taste and
extend shelf life at the lowest price possible.
Cook
So if you do not want to eat out of a box and follow his
principles, you will need to
cook every single meal. That means some calories
burned while
cooking, and of course, you will know what you are
eating. Plus, most likely your dish will have far fewer
calories.
No snacks, no seconds, no sweets — except on days
that begin with the letter S
If this sounds like being sent to a
prison
and you absolutely hate it, trust me, within three
weeks, this form of
diet
will become a habit and you will start to believe
that is how you always ate. Of course, there are moments
when you will feel like
eating your favorite foods and that is why he
suggests that from time to time you can indulge. |
