What We're Reading: Rita

Food Rules: An Eater's Manual by Michael Pollan

This is Pollan’s handbook for the message he delivered in his last book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto – “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much”. Some of the rules are homey maxims whose messages are still relevant in our wired world, for example, #37 “The whiter the bread, the sooner you’ll be dead”. Others serve as helpful reminders to eat the right thing, like #19 “If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t” and #36 “Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk”. This is an easy-to-read, easy-to-follow guide to eating right - or at least eating better - for those of us who are feeling overwhelmed by the volume of nutritional information (often conflicting) that we’re bombarded with every day. The practical advice in Food Rules makes it possible, with only some conscious thought and a few behavioral changes, to avoid the pitfalls of the Western diet, “the one diet that reliably makes its people sick”.