Book Report

I just finished this great book called In Defense Of Food An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan. I suggest everyone read it. There are a lot of important and interesting things in this book about food. It really made me   think, is it food that I am putting into my body, or merely just a food product? One interseting study they talked about in this book was a study done in 1982 involving a group of 10 overweight, diabetic aborigines living in settlements of Australia. They participated in an experiment to see if temporarily reversing the westernization they had undergone might also reverse their health problems. Since leaving the bush 2 years earlier all 10 of them developed type 2 diabetes and were showing early signs of heart disease. The Aborigines returned to their traditional homeland, an isolated region. They had no access to store food or beverages; they had to rely on foods they hunted and gathered. After 7 weeks in the bush, all had lost weight, their blood pressure dropped and all of the metabolic abnormalities of type 2 diabetes were either greatly improved or completely normalized.

     I think that it is very important to eat healthy. I notice such a huge difference in not only my moods and energy level, but also Eoin, when we eat processed foods. I also think that there is enough scintific evidence to prove the fact that our diet can lead to so many health problems, physical and mental. Other than just plainly eating whole foods, there are some other simple rules to go by:
 1. Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
2. Avoid food products containing ingredients that are A) unfamiliar, B)unpronouncebale, C) more than 5 in number, or that include D) high fructose corn syrup.
3. Avoid food products that make health claims.
4. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle
5. Get out of the supermarket whenever possible (shop at farmers markets, do CSA)
6. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves (choose organic)
7. You are what you eat eats too (pertaining to what the cow, chicken, pig eats. Choose grass fed or pastured)
8. Eat well-grown food from healthy soils
9. Eat wild foods when you can
10. Eat more like the french. Or the Italians. Or the Japenese. Or the Indians. Or the Greeks.
11. Regard non-traditional foods with skepticism (soy products instead of tofu)
12. Don't look for the magic bullet in the traditional diet (the foods in traditional diets all work together to form a powerful symbiosis)
13. Have a glass of wine with dinner
14. Pay more for your food, eat less (quality over quanitity)
15. Eat meals (stop snacking)
16. Do all your eating at a table
17. Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does
18. Try not to eat alone
19. Consult your gut (when you are full, stop eating)
20. Eat slowly
21. Cook, and if you can, plant a garden

I would like to add my own rule:
If it says sugar-free, diet, or low fat on it. Don't eat it! I may not be a scientist or a nutritionist but I truly believe that the chemicals they use to make diet products will cause cancer.

Let's all make good choices about what we are putting into our body and our children's body.