Food Rules

I read the book Food Rules this week and was really inspired. It's nothing complicated and you don't need a degree in nutrition to understand it. I highly recommend reading it. Michael Pollan basically gives you 64 "rules" or guidelines to keep in the back of your head as you are grocery shopping, cooking, out to eat, etc. He sums the book up in 7 words - "Eat Food, Mostly Plants, Not Too Much." Each of the 3 sections of the book go into detail on what food is (and isn't), covers things like portion control and gives you background on different cultures and how they have survived for centuries on basically the same diet (the Italians, Greeks, Japanese, etc.) It was interesting to read about how the Western Diet, what Americans eat, is so vastly different from anywhere else in the entire world, and how as a result, we have the highest rates of things like heart disease and cancer. I also appreciate that he addresses eating junk food if you make it yourself (because then you'll eat it less often) and occasionally breaking the rules. Anyway, it is a quick read and gives some really great and simple guidelines for how to do what we all need to do to survive - eat.

Now the challenge begins - schools starts on Monday and life gets kicked into high gear. My battle plan is to keep these rules in mind as I grocery shop tomorrow, and not let any "edible food-like substances" into the house, so that when I come home at the end of a long day and want to just flop on the couch, I'm only able to eat fruits, veggies or whole grains. One statement in the book says that if you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, you're not hungry. Fortunately, I love apples (this was under the rule "Eat when you're hungry, not when you're bored"). I'm anticipating that I will have more energy and stamina, which will certainly come in handy when I'm working with kids who have behavioral disorders.