OC looks at OC life

Michael Pollan and his blasted Food Rules

February 11, 2010

Is it just me, or is the whole world talking about the don’t-eat-anything-that-rots Food Guru God, Michael Pollan and his new book Food Rules? Did you catch him last week on Oprah, or ever other news outlet in America? And are you taking it to heart or do you get a headache just thinking about all you’re doing wrong?

I say “blasted” food rules, ‘cause the guy and his easy-breezy rules are causing me stress. Take this morning, I just grabbed for my whole grain Trader Joe’s oatmeal, thinking I was doing my body good, but then flashed to his “eat only foods that rot” rule. Packaged oatmeal? I think that ranks up there with MRE’s. Ugh, I ate it anyway, but kind of kicked myself with every bite.

I know he’s right. I shouldn’t eat foods my grandmother wouldn’t recognize. And fat-free has made us all fat. But I have no more room for guilt in my life, and want to run for a Reese cup and Hershey bar when I think of all I’ve got to change.

His philosophy is summed up in those 7 simple words now heard around the world: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”

How can 7 little words cause me such deep-set wrinkles? (Which btw, I’d so get botoxed if I didn’t think it’d rot my body and give me the Hurricane 5 Facelift look.)

A few of the other rules he lives by:

#11:Avoid food products advertised on television.

Avoid food products that contain high fructose corn syrup.

#37 The whiter the bread, the sooner you’ll be dead.

#17:Eat food cooked by humans, not corporations.

#19:If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.

Pay more, eat less.

#36:Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.

#58:Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.

So are you on board with Pollan? Did you see Food Inc? Do you think America will possibly change its fast food, processed, oversized ways?