(Real) Food Rules!Just another KCLAnderson (Karen) ~ site

(Sorry I’ve been neglecting this blog!! I promise to get back to it more regularly! In the meantime I want to say that I weighed the fruits and vegetables I was eating for a few days and easily went over a pound every time…I think I’m good!)

Rule # 23: Treat meat as a flavoring or special occasion food.

A few years ago I went with my husband and some his colleagues to a steak house. One of the guys debated ordering a 50-oz steak. The rest of them egged him on, saying they’d pay for his meal if he ate the whole steak AND the side of garlic mashed potatoes. And he did. It was painful, and sort of disgusting, to watch.

That said, I think the jury may still be out when it comes to meat. In fact, a recent article on the website of my local newspaper provides a great discussion: To Eat Meat or Not?

Pollan says “while it’s true that vegetarians are generally healthier than carnivores, that doesn’t mean you need to eliminate meat form your diet if you like it…which is why I suggest ‘mostly’ plants, not ‘only’.” He uses the term “flexitarians” to describe people who eat meat a couple of times a week and says that they as “just as healthy” as vegetarians. He goes on to say that the average American eats meat as part of two or even three meals a day, more than half a pound per day. And that raises the cancer question. Is it due to the fat or the specific type of protein or could it be that the meat pushes the plants off the plate?

On the other hand, the “paleo” movement, promotes eating lots of meat…and in some cases raw meat. And just like any movement, it has it’s studies and statistics to back up its claims.

This is where portion control comes into play: instead of 8 oz of steak and 4 oz of vegetables, switch it.

Based on the little I know, as well as my instincts, I much prefer the idea of having a good steak or burger as long as I know where it came from, and that means a local farm or from a farther-away farm that I know isn’t a meat factory. I prefer grass-fed over grain-fed. I prefer that the animal is treated humanely. I prefer that the animal is not pumped full of chemicals and hormones. I haven’t always been this educated or informed, but now that I am, I just can bring myself to eat any type of meat that comes from a source I don’t trust…and the list of sources keeps getting longer.

I’ve reached Part II: “What KIND of food should I eat?” And the answer is “mostly plants.”

Pollan says that if you’ve followed the rules thus far, you should be eating real, whole food most of the time…the key to a healthy diet. In this section he proposes a “handful of personal policies regarding what to eat, above and beyond ‘food’.”

Rule #22: Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.

When I read the title of the chapter, I thought, “oh no…I’m not a big fan of leafy veggies. I mean, I like arugula and spinach, but I prefer other types of vegetables  and I really love fruit. But he doesn’t say anything more about the “leaves” part of it, just that plants are really good for us: they are full of antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and other nutrients.

He says: “There are scores of studies demonstrating that a diet rich in vegetables and fruits reduces the risk of dying from all the Western diseases. In countries where people eat a pound or more of vegetables and fruits a day, the rate of cancer is half what it is in the United States.”

Hmmm…I never thought of weighing my produce each day, but that sounds like an interesting proposition! I think I’ll try it!

Rule #17 is  “Eat only foods that have been cooked by humans.” (versus corporations)

This is a good rule, but professional chefs are human and they often cook with lots of salt, fat and sugar. So limit restaurant eating and/or watch your portions! It’s gotten to the point where Tim and I will often split entrees, appetizers, salads, and desserts and STILL have leftovers!

Pollan follows #17 with four more rules that speak for themselves:

Rule #18: “Don’t ingest foods made in places where everyone is required to wear a surgical cap.”

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

Rule #20: “It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car.”

I have to admit that I have eaten a food-like substance that came through the window of my car: the turkey sausage egg white flatbread sandwich from Dunkin Donuts. In a pinch, it’s really a pretty good option, I think, although look at that ingredients list! I also have a pet-peeve with the whole drive-up/drive-through thing…it’s so much nicer to stop, get up off your bum and walk into a place, sit down and eat slowly, not behind the wheel of your car. Does anyone really enjoy and savor their food while driving? I think not.

Rule #21: “It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language. (Think Big Mac, Cheetos, or Pringles.)”

Remember the scene in “Pulp Fiction”?

Vincent Vega: “And you know what they call a … a … a Quarter Pounder with cheese in Paris?”
Jules: “They don’t call it a Quarter Pounder with cheese?”
Vincent Vega: “No man, they got the metric system. They wouldn’t know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.”
Jules: “Then what do they call it?”
Vincent Vega: “They call it a “Royale” with cheese.”
Jules: “A “Royale” with cheese! What do they call a Big Mac?”
Vincent Vega: “A Big Mac’s a Big Mac, but they call it “le Big-Mac”.”
Jules: “”Le Big-Mac”! Ha ha ha ha! What do they call a Whopper?”
Vincent Vega: “I dunno, I didn’t go into Burger King.”

Rule #16: Buy your snacks at the farmer’s market.

Pollan says:

“You’ll find yourself snacking on fresh or dried fruits and nuts – real food – rather than chips and sweets.”

Now, I have been to many farmer’s markets and have found, in addition to fruits and nuts, cookies, pies, and other more highly caloric, sweet “snacks.” That’s not to say that these aren’t valid snacks, I’m just pointing out what I’ve seen at some farmer’s markets. But yeah, fruit and nuts are good snack options. I like to incorporate more protein, if possible, into my snacks.

What are your favorite snacks? Where do by them?

…whenever you can.

Pollan says you won’t find any high-fructose corn syrup at the farmer’s market, not to mention elaborately processed food products, packages with long lists of unpronounceable ingredients or dubious health claims, anything microwaveable, or any old food from far away.

What you will find is food that your great-grandmother would recognize as food; the kind that is alive and will eventually rot.

I currently purchase food via three main sources: Connecticut Farm Fresh Express (CTFFE), Fiddleheads Food Co-Op, and my local Stop & Shop supermarket. Oh, and I buy salmon and other seafood from Vital Choice.

CTFFE is like a personal shopper for all of the farms and farmer’s markets here in Connecticut, not to mention other vendors like bakers, fisherman, and other artisans. Depending on the time of year, CTFFE offers a range of fruits and vegetables, baked goods, cheese, eggs, meats, fish, poultry, and honey. It also offers locally grown coffee, olive oil (produced locally but made with olives grown in a grove in Italy), and products like tomato sauce and salsa made from local tomatoes.

Fiddleheads carries a lot of local items, but also products that are processed and that come from farther away. Still, it’s a resource for “wholesome natural foods, organic and locally fresh produce and products which are cruelty-free, developed through fair trade and with a commitment to preserving our environment.”

I still think it’s important to read labels (if there is one), no matter where you buy your food.

And all of this brings up an important topic. The cost of food. How much are you willing to pay for food? Do you think it’s worth paying more for food that is healthier? Is it “fair” that a bag of processed junk food is less expensive than a bag of apples? And why is that we, as a society, have developed such a “bargain” mentality when it comes to food? Is it worth cutting back in another area of your budget to make room for better food? I think it’s important to spend money on food. You put food into your body! And it becomes incorporated into your cells. It’s what creates new cells and fuels all of your bodily processes, so it’s one of the most important investments you can make.

This article provides an excellent discussion on the real cost of cheap food. And this link provides additional information.

Although this doesn’t come from Food Rules, it’s related and it’s important.

Food manufacturers sure don’t make it easy for consumers to shop conscientiously. We have to do homework just to decipher the nutrition labels on the backs of boxes and cans, otherwise they’re just a mess of percentages and multi-syllabic words. Even just trying to avoid certain ingredients is hard enough; manufacturers want you to buy their stuff, so they don’t want to make questionable content too obvious. As a result, ingredient lists on processed foods are long, jumbled, and full of words you’d need a science background to understand. Fortunately, figuring out whether foods have ingredients we don’t want—like MSG, sugar, or trans fat—isn’t as intimidating once we know what to look out for. Unfortunately, considering that something as simple as sugar has over twenty names, we clearly have our work cut out for us.

To read more, click here for “Decoding Ingredients: Different Names for Unhealthy Items,” by Vicki Santillano.

Have you ever seen an Inulin farm? Have you ever seen it in its raw state? How about ethyloxylated diglycerides. Do you know where they grow or what they even look like?

And so we have Rule #14: Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature. Pollan asks us to read the ingredients on a package of Twinkies or Pringles and imagine what those ingredients actually look like raw or in the places where they grow. By following this rule, he says we will keep all sorts of chemicals and foodlike substances out of our diets.

And speaking of Inulin, also called chicory root extract (which is easier to imagine growing, but still…), there was a brief article in the latest issue of O magazine (July 2010) that discussed “faux fiber.” I’ve discussed this here before, but it’s worth repeating. According to this article, even though faux fiber additives like Inulin pass undigested through our gastrointestinal tracts just like dietary fiber (which is why the FDA accepts them as the real deal), there are no scientific studies that link artificial fibers to the health benefits associated with naturally fiber-rich foods. Benefits like a lowered risk of heart disease and obesity.

“The additives are enjoying fiber’s halo without having proven themselves,” says Bonnie Liebman, director of nutrition at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest.

“Added fiber doesn’t have the ability to turn junk food into a nutritional superstar,” says Amy Jamieson-Petonic, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

Both say it’s best to get your fiber from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, because they also deliver nutritional value that goes far beyond keeping you regular. Not to mention that these whole, real foods have no added sugar or chemicals!!

Back when I was writing about the plastics industry*, I heard about a guy named William Rathje who studied garbage for a living. He discovered, at the bottom of modern landfills, hotdogs that had not degraded or rotted in any way. This was not so much because hotdogs are processed and full of preservatives as much as because the natural rate of biodegradation in a modern landfill is almost non-existent.

But still…

According to Pollan, food processing began as a way to extend the shelf-life of food by protecting it from those who compete with us for nutrients and calories: fungi, bacteria, insects, and rodents. He says this is done by making food less appealing to them by removing the nutrients that attract them. It also means removing nutrients that are likely to turn rancid, like omega-3 fatty acids.

The more processed a food is, the longer the shelf life and the less nutritious. Real food is alive and therefore it should eventually die. Pollan points out that there are a few exceptions, like honey, which has a shelf life measured in centuries.

Do you have anything in your pantry or refrigerator that is unlikely to rot? I think even the Coffee-Mate would eventually go bad, but it would probably take a long time.

*The plastics industry’s interest in Rathje’s study was due to findings that showed paper taking up much more space in a landfill compared to plastic.

…of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.

I think most of us have heard this bit of advice before. I know I have.

Pollan says that processed food products dominate the center aisles of the store, while the good stuff – produce, meat and fish, dairy – line the walls. So if you shop the edges, you’ll be more likely to wind up with real food in your shopping cart.

While I agree with this advice, I have found that stores have changed a lot in just the past few years and there are now plenty of processed “food-like” items on the peripheries of typical supermarkets: yogurts with lots of added sugar, juices with lots of added sugar, processed “cheese,” margarine, rolls of pre-made cookie dough, puddings, and frozen “meals,” not to mention my beloved Coffee-Mate.

And there are some good, minimally processed foods/products in the middle: all-natural peanut butter, pasta, dried beans, spices, and tea come to mind.

I’ve been doing a lot of my shopping (especially for meat and poultry, as well as in-season produce) at two supermarket alternatives: Fiddleheads Food Co-op and Connecticut Farm Fresh Express. After watching Food, Inc. I really can’t get behind eating meats or poultry from massive, industrial factory-farms and I really appreciate knowing that I can not only support local farms, but eat healthier, too. That said, I ALWAYS read labels (if the product I am buying HAS a label) no matter where it comes from!

How and where do you shop?

…or on the radio, or anywhere, really. This last bit is my addendum to the rule.

Pollan says: “Food marketers are ingenious at turning criticims of their products (and rules like these) into new ways to sell slightly different versions of the same processed foods: they simply reformulate (to be low-fat, to have no HFCS or transfats, or to contain fewer ingredients) and then boast about their implied healthfulness.”

So tune it out. As I have said, they spend TENS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS trying to get us to buy their food. And Pollan says that more than two-thirds of food advertising dollars are spent on promoting processed foods.

Another enlightening book on the subject of restaurant food (all of it…not just “fast food”) is “The End of Overeating” by Dr. David Kessler, which lays out lays out the science behind the obesity epidemic and explains how the restaurant industry has made modern foods “too palatable.” Rich in fat, sugar, and salt, they overstimulate the brain’s reward pathways, conditioning us to seek more and more.

Here are some of good reviews of the book:

Wall Street Journal

boingboing

New York Times