Food Rules
Chew on these bite-sized basic
Don’t eat anything your great-grandma wouldn’t recognise
Imagine
your great-gran at the supermarket. She picks up a pack of yogurt tubes
– and hasn’t a clue what this cylinder of gel could be. There are now
thousands of food products our ancestors wouldn’t recognise. The reasons
to avoid them include the chemical additives they contain, and the
plastics in which they are packaged.
Avoid foods containing ingredients you wouldn’t keep in the pantry
Ethoxylated
diglycerides? Cellulose? Xanthan gum? If you wouldn’t cook with them,
why let others use these ingredients to cook for you? Whether or not any
of these additives pose a proven hazard to your health, many haven’t
been eaten by humans for very long, so they are best avoided.
Eat only foods that will eventually rot
What
does it mean for food to “go bad”? It usually means the fungi,
bacteria, insects and rodents who we compete for nutrients with have
gotten to it before we did. Food processing began as a way to extend the
shelf life of food by protecting it from these competitors. This is
often done by making food less appealing, or by removing nutrients, such
as ones that can turn rancid, like omega-3 fatty acids.
Treat meat as food for a special occasion
“Flexitarians”
– people who eat meat a couple of times a week – are just as healthy as
vegetarians. But there’s evidence that the more meat in your diet, the
greater your risk of heart disease and cancer. It could be the saturated
fat, it’s a specific type of protein, or the fact that meat is pushing
plants off the plate. Try swapping portion sizes: instead of a 225g
steak and 115g portion of vegetables, serve 115g of beef and 225g of
vegies.
Eat sweet foods as you find them in nature
In
nature, sugars almost always come packaged with fibre, which slows
their absorption and gives you a sense of satiety before you’ve ingested
too many kilojoules. That’s why you’re always better off eating the
fruit rather than drinking its juice.
Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself
There’s
nothing wrong with eating sweets, fried foods and pastries every now
and then, but food manufacturers have made eating these formerly
expensive and hard-to-make treats so cheap and easy, we’re eating them
every day. If you made all the french fries you ate, you’d eat them less
often. Same goes for chips, cakes, pies and ice cream. Enjoy these
treats as often as you’re willing to prepare them.This is an edited extract
From Food Rules by Michael Pollan, published by Penguin Australia at $16.95. Copyright © Michael Pollan 2010. penguin.com.au.
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