You are what you eat

While browsing the Internet I came across this story about how to eat healthy. This is of particular interest to me for a number of reasons. First, I was brought up eating home cooking every single day. I can count the number of times we got fast food as kids on my 10 fingers. It wasn't so much that we were against it for any particular reason, it's just that my mom and my dad both know how to shop, cook and put together a meal that is filling and delicious. This made me an unmistakable food snob to this day. I'm not a very demanding person but when it comes to food I do demand quality!

Second, and possibly related, I have worked quite a bit in the health food industry. I was pushing tofu before most people had ever heard of it and organics before there were any major grocery stores selling it. I have been eating this stuff for years. Having said that I do admit to being a proud omnivore. While I just love vegetarian food and tofu and all kinds of other stuff that sounds gross but is healthy - I also will wolf down a double cheeseburger, fried chicken, cheesy lasagna and any sweets that Little Debbie or Mr. Entenmann will make. (including my new favorite dessert of all time) I have always thought that it was important to have as wide of a diet as possible.

Anyway - Michael Pollan, an acclaimed author, has put down some basic tips about eating that seem to jive with what I know and think. Here they are:

* Eat food. Don't eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
* Avoid even those food products that come bearing health claims.
* Especially avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable c) more than five in number — or that contain high-fructose corn syrup.
* Get out of the supermarket whenever possible, and try and buy local.
* Pay more, eat less. (italics mine)
* Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
* Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks. People who eat according to the rules of a traditional food culture are generally healthier than we are.
* Cook. And, if you can, plant a garden.
* Eat like an omnivore.