I recently read Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan – 64 simple rules for eating healthily and happily based on seven words, “Eat food, mostly plants, not too much”.

The author, Michael was confused as most people are about what exactly healthy food is, and what links our diet and our health.  He describes himself as a “curious journalist” (he is not a nutritionist or food scientist) and researched material for the book based on food culture, people he met or posted on his blog through the New York Times, as well as .  Michael Pollan has also written In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating: An Eater’s Manifesto and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: The Search for a Perfect Meal in a Fast-Food World

The book won’t take long to read, each rule is explained with interesting and humorous facts about food and the way we eat, and it all makes perfect sense.  Some of the rules you may not agree with but you can always defer to his Rule no. 64 “Break the rules once in a while”!  If you’ve read the book, what are your favourite rules and why?

Here are my favourite rules:

Rule no. 2: Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognise as food.
Rule no. 5: Avoid foods that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ingredients.
Rule no. 9: Avoid food products with the wordoid “lite” or the terms “low-fat” or “non-fat” in their names.
Rule no. 14: Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature.
Rule no. 17: Eat only foods that have been cooked by humans.
Rule no. 20: It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car.
Rule no. 21: It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language. (Think Big Mac, Cheetos, or Pringles).
Rule no . 22: Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
Rule no. 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).
Rule no. 27: Eat animals that have themselves eaten well.
Rule no. 30: Eat well-grown food from healthy soil.
Rule no. 31: Eat wild foods when you can.
Rule no. 32: Don’t overlook the oily little fishes.
Rule no. 35: Eat sweet foods as you find them in nature.
Rule no. 36: Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the colour of your milk.
Rule no. 37: The whiter your bread, the sooner you’ll be dead.
Rule no. 38: Favour the kinds of oils and grains that have traditionally been stone-ground.
Rule no. 41: Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks.
Rule no. 44: Pay more, eat less.
Rule no. 46: Stop eating before you’re full.
Rule no. 47: Eat when you are hungry, not when you’re bored.
Rule no. 37: Eat slowly.
Rule no. 50: The banquet is in the first bite.
Rule no. 51: Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it.
Rule no. 52: Buy smaller plates and glasses.
Rule no. 53: Serve a proper portion and don’t go back for seconds.
Rule no. 57: Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does.
Rule no. 58: Do all your eating at the table.
Rule no. 60: Treat treats as treats.
Rule no. 63: Cook.
Rule no. 64: Break the rules once in a while.