About three weeks ago, I saw Michael Pollan on Oprah’s “Go Vegan” show. (For the record, I don’t watch Oprah – it was the subject matter of this episode that caught my attention and brought cause for me to watch her that day.)
In any event, Pollan seemed like a good guy. So, I decided to check out his book “Food Rules – An Eater’s Manual.” And, to be candid, after I did, I thought it would have made a better magazine article than a book – as it was very laconic.
I do understand that this book is supposed to be a boiled down version of Pollan’s other books. And, that’s great if you’ve read those. However, if you’re like me, and this is the first one of his books that you’ve picked up, you may have expected more.
Moving on…the book plays off Pollan’s now well-known mantra of “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” (And, that makes perfect sense, by the way.) Related, there are 64 rules listed in the book that fall under one of those three segments in his signature saying. Among those, here on the ones that resonated with me the most:
- Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state of growing in nature.
- If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.
- It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car.
- Treat meat as a flavoring or special occasion food.
- Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.
- Stop eating before you’re full.
- Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored.
- Eat slowly.
- Buy smaller plates and glasses.
- Do all your eating at a table.
- Break the rules once in a while.
Those all make sense, don’t they? Ditto many of the other rules in Pollan’s book. Again, I just wish he had more stuff around them in “Food Rules – An Eater’s Manual” since I did not read his previous books.
I still think Pollan seems like a good guy. He’s trying to get out some very important and useful messages here – which is great – albeit in Cliff Notes fashion. And, someday, I hope to check out his previous books now that I know those have more information in them.
