Keep It Simple, Silly
Are you familiar with Michael Pollan’s work? If not, stop what you’re doing and go get yourself copies of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food right now. These two books have been a driving force in the recent change in conversation about real food.
They were also a big part of what encouraged me to re-focus my life on helping myself and others find ways to eat and live more healthfully. So when Food Rules, his follow-up to In Defense, came out a couple of years ago, I picked it up as soon as I could.
This short book is a collection of somewhere around a hundred brief guidelines for healthy eating. As I read it, I found myself nodding at each one, thinking, “Yup, that sounds good.”
But what happened after I turned the page? The previous rule fell out of my head, and I was on to the next one, nodding in agreement once again.
After making my way through all those rules, I was completely overwhelmed. It’s just too complicated! As an awareness or educational exercise, the book is absolutely terrific. But as a “how to” guide? I think it fails miserably.
Contrast that with his wonderfully simple, spot-on advice from In Defense of Food: ”Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”
If you were to choose that one line as your healthy eating mantra, how effective do you think it would be? Certainly far more so than trying to remember (let alone follow) a hundred other rules, right?
My point is this: We need to keep it real, and we need to keep it simple. With so much on our plates these days (pun intended, sorry), it’s mission-critical to find ways to whittle things down to the really important stuff. The simple stuff we can remember and take action upon, day in and day out, so it becomes a consistent way of life.
Personally, I eventually settled on three of my own rules, which became the foundation of my blog. They’re not perfect — but I try hard not to let perfect be the enemy of good.
- When you eat grains, eat only 100% whole grains.
- Don’t eat high fructose corn syrup (here’s why).
- Don’t eat hydrogenated oils, trans fats, or anything that’s been deep-fried.
(I also add a corollary, to make this work in real life: Once a week, go ahead and cheat. Eat anything you want… Because I love french fries as much as you do.)
So those are my rules for keeping it really simple. Do you have your own set of rules? If so, share in the comments!
Image via Jeffrey Boyer
Be well!
Andrew
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Apr 19, 2012 @ 09:13:00
Instead of food “rules” I have more of a flowchart that emphasizes the most important aspects of the foods in my diet. It helps to keep my buying habits in line with my personal beliefs about health, nutrition, sustainability, and the importance of each of us in our community and economy. Starting with the most important, my food choices are first: whole foods (or made only with whole foods), then local, then organic. Everything else I care about, such as seasonality and food safety take care of themselves when I follow these tenets, in that order. Why is organic last? Because many of the small local producers I buy from can’t afford organic certification even though many of them go beyond organic, and the large food factories are attempting to move in on the organic label, chasing the higher profits.
Apr 24, 2012 @ 16:08:00
I love the idea of a “flowchart” or hierarchy instead of super-strict “rules.”
At the farmers market, I no longer ask the farmers if it’s “Organic,” I instead ask “Is it pesticide-free?” It’s always interesting to hear the responses (and they’re usually quite positive).
Apr 19, 2012 @ 09:20:00
Good rules. Simple and real. I don’t really buy into the reasoning behind number two, but I agree that it won’t hurt your body to do that. I think any time you focus too much on one ingredient, you lose the big picture. That said, I still agree with your premise that avoiding processed food is a good way to go.
I feel a little bit part of a first-world conceited club that I can say that though … the whole world needs to eat. The question is can we feed the whole world cheaply enough with higher-quality foods?
Apr 24, 2012 @ 16:10:00
I think we can absolutely feed the whole world cheaply enough with higher-quality foods! It’s the highly-processed foods which are artificially cheap (due in large part to crop subsidies) that are killing us.
Apr 19, 2012 @ 16:42:00
Food rules are most important for decreasing the requirement for rigid self control. Without a rule, you must force yourself to resist temptation on a case by case basis. Having a well defined rule takes the decision out of the hands of your capricious short-term self. Having too many rules dilutes the importance of each one.
Apr 24, 2012 @ 16:10:00
Absolutely! The trick is in finding the right balance (and in bending the rules every-so-often…).
Apr 19, 2012 @ 22:18:00
I am happy to hear someone else structure their food buying on similar principles.
I’ve been hedging into discussions with my family about my recent
commitment to whole, local foods, but I am encountering less receptivity
than I expected! Since I, like Laura, ha’ve gone to whole-local-organic, I don’t
typically have to deal with ingredient labels, but when I do, I tend to
follow the “kitchen test” principle from October Unprocessed. Thanks for all the hard work you are doing, Andrew!
Apr 24, 2012 @ 16:12:00
Hi Erika! I find people are more receptive when you talk about the positive… like how good you feel after eating more whole, unprocessed foods. Leading by example can definitely help!
Apr 20, 2012 @ 09:54:00
I no longer buy fruit & veg from a regular grocery store, who knows how far they’ve been trucked in and what they are coated with to make them look pretty?
If I can’t get it locally, I probably shouldn’t be eating it. Not really a rule, more of a guideline. The closer to the ground I can get my food, the more nutrients will still be in it.
Apr 24, 2012 @ 16:15:00
Yes, yes, and yes. Here’s a perfect example of what you’re talking about: There’s a food dye that’s approved ONLY for us as a coloring agent in orange peels! It’s called Citrus Red No. 2 (http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/food-dyes-rainbow-of-risks.pdf ).
Apr 25, 2012 @ 13:31:00
Absolutely love this
Andrew!!
Apr 25, 2012 @ 16:36:00
Thanks, Angelique!
Apr 26, 2012 @ 10:25:00
Agree 200 %. Why ever to to the grocery store anyway when there are so many farmers market around. Aside from sustainability, the taste is incomparable. Once you have tasted a chicken, eggs, fruits a vegetables from a nearby farm, there is no going back!
Now back to the rules on your blackboard, I so wish that Americans would be taught to sit straight and use their utensils instead of slouching, a hand under the table (so rude) only bringing it up to push the food onto the fork using fingers. (I have seen well respected adults in fancy restaurants do that, disgusting). This is what knives are for to cut and to push the food to the fork. It is beyond me why American parents don’t teach this simple rule to their kids. If you are right handed you hold your knife with your right hand and your fork with your left hand. You cut you push you eat and do it again with the next bite. Simple no? I have also seen well respected adults cut all their meat at once in bite size pieces (as if they were going to feed a small child) and then assume the slouching position hand under the table. Really?
Sorry I got carried away, but seriously what is going on here.
Apr 26, 2012 @ 17:08:00
Can I throw in a gripe about people who wear flip-flops on airplanes? That’s become a personal pet-peeve of mine. I long for the days when people dressed up to fly! (then again, those were also the days of smoking on the planes, so maybe we are indeed better off now…).
May 05, 2012 @ 06:52:00
My food rules – whole grains and unprocessed foods. So important for health. I recently read Disease Proof Your Child by Dr. Joel Furman and he suggests that 90% of our diet come from plant based foods and the remainder come from other sources. I like the idea of more unprocessed foods in our diets and have been adding more (even more…I eat a lot of them…) to my diet. I’ve also been thinking about how to do other dishes with more whole foods in them. It just makes smart health sense.
May 09, 2012 @ 15:34:00
Yes, yes, and yes!
I’ve heard good things about Dr. Furman, though I haven’t actually read any of this books yet. Will have to add that to my to-do list! :)
Thanks, Amy!
May 17, 2012 @ 04:18:00
Food Rule should be in everyone’s library! I love keeping it simple too