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This book is based on In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.
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Description edit
A pocket compendium of food wisdom-from the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food Michael Pollan, our nation's most trusted resource for food-related issues, offers this indispensible guide for anyone concerned about health and food. Simple, sensible, and easy to use,... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
- - Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
- - A Guide for anyone who wonders "What should I eat?"
- - What and how you should eat, because you don't know.
- - Buy it. Eat it. Repeat.
Quotes edit
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“The whiter the bread, the sooner you'll be dead.”
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“Let others sample your food.”
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“Try to be aware of why you're eating, and ask yourself if you're really hungry - before you eat and then again along the way. (One old wives' test: If you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you're not hungry.) Food is a costly antidepressant.”
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“Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.”
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“Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.”
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“Do all your eating at a table. No, a desk is not a table. If we eat while we’re working, or while watching TV or driving, we eat mindlessly—and as a result eat a lot more than we would if we were eating at a table, paying attention to what we’re doing.”
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“…there is an older and healthier tradition that holds it is more genteel *not* to finish every last morsel of food: "Leave something for Mr. Manners," some children once were told, or, "Better to go to waste than to waist."”
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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“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].”
Highlighted by 321 Kindle customers -
(One old wives’ test: If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you’re not hungry.)
Highlighted by 288 Kindle customers -
Some people follow a so-called S policy: “no snacks, no seconds, no sweets—except on days that begin with the letter S.”
Highlighted by 270 Kindle customers -
Avoid foods that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ingredients.
Highlighted by 264 Kindle customers -
Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients.
Highlighted by 250 Kindle customers -
If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.
Highlighted by 247 Kindle customers -
the answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated question of what we should eat wasn’t so complicated after all, and in fact could be boiled down to just seven words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Highlighted by 138 Kindle customers
First Sentence edit
The rules in this section will help you to distinguish real foods – the plants, animals, and fungi people have been eating for generations – from the highly processed products of modern food science that, increasingly, have come to dominate the American food marketplace and diet.
Table of Contents edit
Part I: WHAT SHOULD I EAT? (Eat food.)
Chapter 1. Eat food.
Chapter 2. Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
Chapter 3. Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry.
Chapter 4. Avoid food products that contain high-fructose corn syrup.
Chapter 5. Avoid foods that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ingredients.
Chapter 6. Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients.
Chapter 7. Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce.
Chapter 8. Avoid food products that make health claims.
Chapter 9. Avoid food products with the wordoid "lite" or the terms "low-fat "or "nonfat" in their names.
Chapter 10. Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not.
Chapter 11. Avoid foods you see advertised on television.
Chapter 12. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.
Chapter 13. Eat only foods that will eventually rot.
Chapter 14. Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature.
Chapter 15. Get out of the supermarket whenever you can.
Chapter 16. Buy your snacks at the farmers' market.
Chapter 17. Eat only foods that have been cooked by humans.
Chapter 18. Don't ingest foods made in places where everyone is required to wear a surgical cap.
Chapter 19. If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't.
Chapter 20. It's not food if it arrived through the window of your car.
Chapter 21. It's not food if it's called by the same name in every language. (Think Big Mac, Cheetos, or Pringles.)
PART II - WHAT KIND OF FOOD SHOULD I EAT? (Mostly plants.)
Chapter 22. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
Chapter 23. Treat meat as a flavoring or special occasion food.
Chapter 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>."
Chapter 25. Eat your colors.
Chapter 26. Drink the spinach water.
Chapter 27. Eat animals that have themselves eaten well.
Chapter 28. If you have the space, buy a freezer.
Chapter 29. Eat like an omnivore.
Chapter 30. Eat well-grown food from healthy soil.
Chapter 31. Eat wild foods when you can.
Chapter 32. Don't overlook the oily little fishes.
Chapter 33. Eat some foods that have been predigested by bacteria or fungi.
Chapter 34. Sweeten and salt your food yourself.
Chapter 35. Eat sweet foods as you find them in nature.
Chapter 36. Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.
Chapter 37. "The whiter the bread, the sooner you'll be dead."
Chapter 38. Favor the kinds of oils and grains that have traditionally been stone-ground.
Chapter 39. Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.
Chapter 40. Be the kind of person who takes supplements - then skip the supplements.
Chapter 41. Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks.
Chapter 42. Regard nontraditional foods with skepticism.
Chapter 43. Have a glass of wine with dinner.
PART III - HOW SHOULD I EAT? (Not too much.)
Chapter 44. Pay more, eat less.
Chapter 45. …Eat less.
Chapter 46. Stop eating before you're full.
Chapter 47. Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored.
Chapter 48. Consult your gut.
Chapter 49. Eat slowly.
Chapter 50. "The banquet is in the first bite."
Chapter 51. Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it.
Chapter 52. Buy smaller plates and glasses.
Chapter 53. Serve a proper portion and don't go back for seconds.
Chapter 54. "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper."
Chapter 55. Eat meals.
Chapter 56. Limit your snacks to unprocessed plant foods.
Chapter 57. Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.
Chapter 58. Do all your eating at a table.
Chapter 59. Try not to eat alone.
Chapter 60. Treat treats as treats.
Chapter 61. Leave something on your plate.
Chapter 62. Plant a vegetable garden if you have the space, a window box if you don't.
Chapter 63. Cook.
Chapter 64. Break the rules once in a while.
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Eating Well. (community list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Michael Pollan (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Penguin Press
Country: United States
Publication Date: December 29, 2009
ISBN: 978-0143116387
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Penguin Press
Country: United States
Publication Date: December 29, 2009
ISBN: 978-0143116387
Page Count: 112
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: RA784 .P6429 2009
- Dewey: 613.2
Subjects edit
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Links to Supplemental Material edit
- Michael Polan: Learn more about this book at Michael Polan's website.
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