# Food Rules  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Michael Pollan]] - Full Title:: Food Rules - Category: #books ## Highlights > What an extraordinary achievement for a civilization: to have developed the one diet that reliably makes its people sick! (While it is true that we generally live longer than people used to, or than people in some traditional cultures do, most of our added years owe to gains in infant mortality and child health, not diet.) ([Location 136](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=136)) - Note: pollan on the typical western diet > There is actually a third, very hopeful fact that flows from these two: People who get off the Western diet see dramatic improvements in their health. We have good research to suggest that the effects of the Western diet can be rolled back, and relatively quickly.1 ([Location 139](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=139)) > In one analysis, a typical American population that departed even modestly from the Western diet (and lifestyle) could reduce its chances of getting coronary heart disease by 80 percent, its chances of type 2 diabetes by 90 percent, and its chances of colon cancer by 70 percent.2 ([Location 141](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=141)) > Well, there’s a lot of money in the Western diet. The more you process any food, the more profitable it becomes. ([Location 146](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=146)) > The healthcare industry makes more money treating chronic diseases (which account for three quarters of the $2 trillion plus we spend each year on health care in this country) than preventing them. ([Location 147](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=147)) > But for the Nutritional Industrial Complex this uncertainty is not necessarily a problem, because confusion too is good business: The nutrition experts become indispensable; the food manufacturers can reengineer their products (and health claims) to reflect the latest findings, and those of us in the media who follow these issues have a constant stream of new food and health stories to report. Everyone wins. Except, that is, for us eaters. ([Location 149](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=149)) > Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. ([Location 157](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=157)) > These days this is easier said than done, especially when seventeen thousand new products show up in the supermarket each year, all vying for your food dollar. But most of these items don’t deserve to be called food—I call them edible foodlike substances. ([Location 222](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=222)) > Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. ([Location 228](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=228)) > Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry. ([Location 241](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=241)) > Avoid food products that contain high-fructose corn syrup. ([Location 248](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=248)) > Avoid foods that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ([Location 255](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=255)) > Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients. ([Location 264](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=264)) > Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce. ([Location 271](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=271)) > Avoid food products that make health claims. ([Location 274](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=274)) > Avoid food products with the wordoid “lite” or the terms “low-fat” or “nonfat” in their names. ([Location 284](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=284)) > Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not. ([Location 293](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=293)) > Avoid foods you see advertised on television. ([Location 298](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=298)) > Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle. ([Location 309](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=309)) > Eat only foods that will eventually rot. ([Location 315](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=315)) > Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature. ([Location 323](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=323)) > Buy your snacks at the farmers’ market. You’ll ([Location 334](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=334)) > Eat only foods that have been cooked by humans. ([Location 338](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=338)) > Don’t ingest foods made in places where everyone is required to wear a surgical cap. ([Location 345](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=345)) > If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t. ([Location 348](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=348)) > It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car. ([Location 351](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=351)) > It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language. (Think Big Mac, Cheetos, or Pringles.) ([Location 353](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=353)) > Eat mostly plants, especially leaves. ([Location 365](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=365)) > Treat meat as a flavoring or special occasion food. ([Location 374](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=374)) > Thomas Jefferson was probably onto something when he recommended a mostly plant-based diet that uses meat chiefly as a “flavor principle.” ([Location 382](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=382)) > “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].” ([Location 384](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=384)) - Note: chinese proverb > Eat your colors. ([Location 389](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=389)) > Drink the spinach water. ([Location 395](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=395)) > Eat animals that have themselves eaten well. ([Location 399](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=399)) > If you have the space, buy a freezer. ([Location 409](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=409)) > Eat like an omnivore. ([Location 416](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=416)) > Eat well-grown food from healthy soil. ([Location 422](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=422)) > Eat wild foods when you can. ([Location 432](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=432)) > Don’t overlook the oily little fishes. ([Location 441](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=441)) > According to a Dutch proverb, “A land with lots of herring can get along with few doctors.” ([Location 446](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=446)) > Eat some foods that have been predigested by bacteria or fungi. ([Location 448](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=448)) > Sweeten and salt your food yourself. ([Location 455](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=455)) > Eat sweet foods as you find them in nature. ([Location 460](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=460)) > Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk. ([Location 467](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=467)) # Food Rules  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Michael Pollan]] - Full Title:: Food Rules - Category: #books ## Highlights > What an extraordinary achievement for a civilization: to have developed the one diet that reliably makes its people sick! (While it is true that we generally live longer than people used to, or than people in some traditional cultures do, most of our added years owe to gains in infant mortality and child health, not diet.) ([Location 136](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=136)) - Note: pollan on the typical western diet > There is actually a third, very hopeful fact that flows from these two: People who get off the Western diet see dramatic improvements in their health. We have good research to suggest that the effects of the Western diet can be rolled back, and relatively quickly.1 ([Location 139](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=139)) > In one analysis, a typical American population that departed even modestly from the Western diet (and lifestyle) could reduce its chances of getting coronary heart disease by 80 percent, its chances of type 2 diabetes by 90 percent, and its chances of colon cancer by 70 percent.2 ([Location 141](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=141)) > Well, there’s a lot of money in the Western diet. The more you process any food, the more profitable it becomes. ([Location 146](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=146)) > The healthcare industry makes more money treating chronic diseases (which account for three quarters of the $2 trillion plus we spend each year on health care in this country) than preventing them. ([Location 147](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=147)) > But for the Nutritional Industrial Complex this uncertainty is not necessarily a problem, because confusion too is good business: The nutrition experts become indispensable; the food manufacturers can reengineer their products (and health claims) to reflect the latest findings, and those of us in the media who follow these issues have a constant stream of new food and health stories to report. Everyone wins. Except, that is, for us eaters. ([Location 149](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=149)) > Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. ([Location 157](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=157)) > These days this is easier said than done, especially when seventeen thousand new products show up in the supermarket each year, all vying for your food dollar. But most of these items don’t deserve to be called food—I call them edible foodlike substances. ([Location 222](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=222)) > Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. ([Location 228](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=228)) > Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry. ([Location 241](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=241)) > Avoid food products that contain high-fructose corn syrup. ([Location 248](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=248)) > Avoid foods that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ([Location 255](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=255)) > Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients. ([Location 264](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=264)) > Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce. ([Location 271](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=271)) > Avoid food products that make health claims. ([Location 274](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=274)) > Avoid food products with the wordoid “lite” or the terms “low-fat” or “nonfat” in their names. ([Location 284](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=284)) > Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not. ([Location 293](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=293)) > Avoid foods you see advertised on television. ([Location 298](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=298)) > Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle. ([Location 309](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=309)) > Eat only foods that will eventually rot. ([Location 315](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=315)) > Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature. ([Location 323](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=323)) > Buy your snacks at the farmers’ market. You’ll ([Location 334](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=334)) > Eat only foods that have been cooked by humans. ([Location 338](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=338)) > Don’t ingest foods made in places where everyone is required to wear a surgical cap. ([Location 345](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=345)) > If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t. ([Location 348](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=348)) > It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car. ([Location 351](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=351)) > It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language. (Think Big Mac, Cheetos, or Pringles.) ([Location 353](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=353)) > Eat mostly plants, especially leaves. ([Location 365](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=365)) > Treat meat as a flavoring or special occasion food. ([Location 374](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=374)) > Thomas Jefferson was probably onto something when he recommended a mostly plant-based diet that uses meat chiefly as a “flavor principle.” ([Location 382](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=382)) > “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].” ([Location 384](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=384)) - Note: chinese proverb > Eat your colors. ([Location 389](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=389)) > Drink the spinach water. ([Location 395](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=395)) > Eat animals that have themselves eaten well. ([Location 399](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=399)) > If you have the space, buy a freezer. ([Location 409](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=409)) > Eat like an omnivore. ([Location 416](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=416)) > Eat well-grown food from healthy soil. ([Location 422](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=422)) > Eat wild foods when you can. ([Location 432](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=432)) > Don’t overlook the oily little fishes. ([Location 441](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=441)) > According to a Dutch proverb, “A land with lots of herring can get along with few doctors.” ([Location 446](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=446)) > Eat some foods that have been predigested by bacteria or fungi. ([Location 448](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=448)) > Sweeten and salt your food yourself. ([Location 455](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=455)) > Eat sweet foods as you find them in nature. ([Location 460](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=460)) > Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk. ([Location 467](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002YJK5L4&location=467))