What We Should Eat?

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”


Recently, I read an article about Michael Pollan's views on what we should eat. He has written many food books such as Food Rules and In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. The article was written by Tara Parker-Pope and titled Michael Pollan Offers 64 Ways to Eat Food.

I was surprised at logical Michael Pollan’s approach: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." He brings up several valid points – our ancestors managed to know what to eat without all the scientific knowledge we have today. How did they manage to eat in a healthy way? As a society, we have access to mountains of nutritional information, yet the United States is the most overweight country in the world. One particular problem is that “special occasion” foods (i.e. French fries) have become every day foods. Not only are they every day foods, but also they are fairly inexpensive and easy to obtain. If you want to have these "special occasion" foods, make them yourself. The food experience is different when you invest the time and energy to prepare it.

I learned that the problem with food is not due to a lack of nutritional information. The problem comes from the psychological and emotional connections that people have with food. People play psychological games with the food experience. Sometimes food is used an award (i.e. if you behave yourself, you will get a cookie). People mistake an intense food experience with large quantities of food. Europeans have intense food experience with small portions of food. Somewhere along the way, Americans have lost their ability to appreciate a pleasurable food experience with a small quantity of food.