Not too much.

And...I'm back.

Early this month, I gave you the details on Pollan's first "rule" on how to be healthy - eat food. Simple, right?

Rule #2: Not too much. (Again, we are human. We are normal. We slip up from time-to-time and have those moments when we grasp our stomachs and say "Why? Why did I eat so much? Never again." Bullshit. It happens and I'd be foolish to say that it'll never happen again.)

So what does Mr. Pollan have to say about "not too much"?

+Pay more. Eat less. The better the food, the less you need to eat in order to feel satisfied. Choose quality over quantity, food experience over mere calories.

+Eat meals. Shared meals are about much more than fueling bodies; they are uniquely human institutions where our species developed language and this thing we call culture.

+Do all your eating at a table.

+Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.

+Try not to eat alone. The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community, from mere animal biology to an act of culture.

+Consult your gut. (Ask yourself if you are really hungry or if you just think you are hungry. Could you be thirsty or just need to get up and stretch for a moment?)

+Eat slowly. To eat slowly, is to eat with a fuller knowledge of all that is involved in bringing food out of the earth and to the table. To eat slowly, also means to eat deliberately.

+Cook and, if you can, plant a garden.

At some point, I'll give you the details on #3 - Mostly plants.

Mottainai.

Info credit: This guy.

Photo credits: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 

Eat food.

An obvious statement.
Something we do several times a day.
Something we look forward to doing.
It may be alone in front of a computer.
It may be with others gathered around a table.

Are you eating right now?
Do you know what you are eating?
Not just the name...do you truly know what you are eating?

I just wrapped up reading In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan.
It is a quick read. Much quicker than The Omnivore's Dilemma.
You will learn new things.
You will be reminded of things.
It will make you upset.
It will make you think.

He lays out three answers to the question of what humans should eat to be healthy: (Before we get too far, I just want to add - everything in moderation. Sometimes an Oreo Blizzard or a bag of Fritos is a must.)

1. Eat food
2. Not too much
3. Mostly plants

What does he mean when he says "eat food"?

+Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize. (Yogurt from a tube? Probably not. Sponge-like cake with white fluffy filling? Umm...nope. BK stuffed steakhouse? Come on! I don't even recognize that.)
+Avoid food products containing ingredients that:
    a. are unfamiliar
    b. are unpronounceable
    c. are more than five in number
    d. include high-fructose corn syrup
+Avoid food products that make health claims. (What? This water filled with vitamins won't make me swim faster. What a joke!)
+Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle. (Bonus: The aisles tend to be wider on the outside or is it that there are fewer people...)
+Get out of the supermarket whenever possible (Farmers' markets and CSAs!)

That's it.
Start small.
Pick one and stick with it for awhile. Add on.

I'll fill you in on "not too much" a different day.

Info credit: This guy.
Photo credits: 1. 2. 3. 4. (These are all delicious.)

Mottainai.