6 Takeaways From Food Rules by Michael Pollan
“Human beings ate well and kept themselves healthy for millennia before nutritional science came along to tell us how to do it; it is entirely possible to eat healthily without knowing what an anti-oxidant is.”
-Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan is best known for books like The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and How to Change Your Mind. These challenged the status quo and had plenty of rave reviews. One of his lesser-known books, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, is one of my go-to’s for anyone who needs some guard rails on changing their diet.
This 2018 book is short and sweet. It contains 64 rules divided into three parts for each sentence of Michael Pollan’s most famous phrase: “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.” The book is truly a manual with each rule laid out on a page or two and a rationale underlying the rule. I have plenty of pages bookmarked but I’ll highlight two of my favorite rules for each part with some commentary.
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Part I: “What should I eat? (Eat food.)”
“Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”
This is the only rule that will change from generation to generation. The food industry has changed more in the last few decades than in the last few centuries. Ten companies control almost every food and beverage brand and with none of them does “healthy” come to mind (Nestle, Pepsico, Kellogg’s….).
These are lucrative businesses with high-paid food scientists creating hyper-palatable food-like products with great marketing. We call these products “food” but your great-grandmother probably wouldn’t (Go-Gurt?). As Michael Pollan writes, “Today foods are processed in ways specifically designed to get us to buy and eat more by pushing our evolutionary buttons–our inborn preferences for sweetness and fat and salt.”
“Avoid food products that make health claims.”
These claims that foods make tend to be empty and vague (and the FDA rules surrounding them even vaguer). They contain buzzwords and eye-catching phrases meant to separate it from the products right next to it on the shelf. In a 2020 study on 1,723 products sold in a marketplace, 10% had at least one health claim, 33% of them were credible, and 40% of the foods with health claims were considered “less healthy products.”
The reason you’re not seeing an apple containing claims like “50% lower fat” or “high in vitamin C!” or Lebron James on the package is that there’s usually no packaging for the healthiest foods, they’re not engineered (GMO apples excluded), and the apple farmer simply doesn’t have the budget to make a marketing campaign.
Stick with the naturally colorful supermarket perimeter foods that don’t stock perfectly on a shelf.
Part II: “What kind of food should I eat? (Mostly plants.)”
“Eat animals that have themselves eaten well.”
Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec was given a salad and in response, he quipped, “There's been a mistake. You've accidentally given me the food that my food eats.” I wish that animals actually ate something as nutritious as that but instead, 96% of the “grains” fed to livestock are inedible to humans. We know that’s not always the case though, thanks to the truck containing Skittles that crashed on the highway years ago. With a little investigation, we learned that they were going to feed animals on a farm because they were cheaper than corn.
There’s plenty of research on the health of animals based on the food they evolved to eat compared to the cheap “food” they are stuffed with. Opt for grass-fed (and finished) meat, pasture-raised chickens and eggs, and humanely raised animals when purchasing food.
“The whiter the bread, the sooner you’ll be dead.”
Man, I miss golden toasted bread covered with butter and dipped in an egg. But I grew up and learned about bread’s unfortunate impacts on health. Bread not only lacks any notable amount of nutrients but it contains antinutrients that block the absorption of minerals like magnesium and zinc. Bread is a simple carb-containing gluten that leads to glucose spikes and then inflammation.
Pollan highlights the fact that “As far as the body is concerned, white flour is not much different from sugar.” This is a point Tim Ferris agrees with as part of his Slow-Carb diet.
This is where Pollan and I disagree. He’s all for substituting whole grains with white bread whereas I believe that most bread should be avoided or at least significantly limited because it consists of a high glycemic load void of nutrient density which is a highway to inflammation. The occasional pizza or burger will not give you diabetes or cancer but if you have the option opt for sprouted bread like sourdough which involves a longer fermentation process (which breaks down the antinutrients) or healthier alternatives to bread altogether like lettuce wraps, cauliflower pizza bread, and grain-free products.
Part III: “How should I eat? (Not too much.)”
“Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored.”
When you’re not sure if you’re hungry or just bored, a good litmus test is to ask yourself if you could eat (and enjoy) chicken breast or an apple. Assuming you like these foods you’re probably not hungry if you can’t eat them. When we’re bored or distracted we tend to reach for sugary or salty food loaded with simple carbs. This triggers a dopamine release and starts or continues the glycemic roller coaster.
Some simple strategies to stop mindless snacking are to create some friction by moving food further away. A study found that moving a snack from about 8 inches away to a slightly further 2 feet away significantly reduced snacking. You can also dampen hunger signals by going for a walk (or even banging out some squats), drinking water (especially if it’s carboned), and chewing gum.
“The banquet is in the first bite.”
Thanks to hedonic adaptation, our brains recognize the first experience with pleasure (e.g. your favorite food) and then each subsequent encounter (or bite) is slightly less enjoyable. The first bite or sip of everything is always the best. If nothing else, savor those first few chews because as Michael Pollan puts it, “For as you go on, you’ll be getting more calories, but not necessarily more pleasure.”
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