Food Rules

I just consumed this short little booklet today by my favorite food writer- Michael Pollan. It is a brief but practical approach to eating. Many of his 63 rules will be popping up on my side bar under Nutrition Corner including:

Rule #20- It's not food if it arrived through the window of your car

#20 is closely related to Rule #21- Its not a food if it's called by the same name in every language: Big Mac, Cheetos, or Pringles)

Rule #24-Eating what stands on one leg (mushrooms and plant foods) is better than eating what stands on two legs (fowl), which is better than eating what stands on four legs (cows, pigs, and other mammals)
I believe this less-leg principle almost applies to fish as well, ranking them some where between the one leg and the two leg food.

Rule #37- "The whiter the bread, the sooner you'll be dead." As far as the body is concerned, white flour is not much different from sugar. Unless supplemented, it offers none of the good things- fiber, B vitamins, and healthy fats- in whole grains. White flour is little more than a shot of glucose. Large spikes of glucose are inflammatory and wreak havoc on our insulin metabolism. People who eat lots of whole grains tend to be healthier and to live longer.

It will take you longer to drive to the library, check this book out,and come back than it will for you to read it but the advice found therein will be well worth the trip. Keep your eyes peeled for more rules to come, but leave the peel on your potatoes and apples.