 This book is necessary... |
| Review Date: December 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Kristine Hale, Utah |
It is amazing how complicated we have allowed our diets, and our understanding of our diets, to become. Even Pollan's most recent book In Defense of Food: An Eaters Manifesto - which seemed to be a pretty simple premise - ended up being a (wonderfully) complicated journey through our food system. So when I read that this book was coming out, I wondered if it was necessary given the wealth of information already covered. The answer is: yes, this book is necessary.
While there are a million other guides to a healthy diet running around out there, few manage to boil down the essentials in such a usable way. Pollan takes the essential and fascinating information that he wrote about in his previous book and simmers it down into a succinct (the book is basically 70 half pages long) "manual" of rules for eating. While this book retains some of the bones of its predecessor, it is by no means a Cliff's Notes version. This manual is essential reading all on its own.
Food Rules is broken down into 3 sections (and this will sound familiar to those that read In Defense of Food): 1- What should I eat? (Eat food) 2 - What kind of food should I eat? (Mostly plants) and 3 - How should I eat? (Not too much). Each section includes 20 or so rules that you can pick and choose from in order to eat a healthy diet. Some of the rules overlap (Avoid food products that contain ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce and Avoid ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry, for instance) and some seem like such common sense that it is almost laughable to include them, but that is why this manual is so important. It distills all of this complex information that we see and hear every day and turns it into something relatable. We know, somewhere in our minds, that certain grains and oils are better than others. Pollan gives us an easy rule to help know which ones are best. We know that most breakfast cereals are little more than desserts and Pollan gives us an easy rule to know which ones are safe. Some rules are humorous (it's not food if it arrived through the window of your car) and some are serious; some rules are easy and others require a bit more dedication. But what this manual has is a wide range of useful tips that can be applied to any life at any time. This is no complicated diet; this is a little pocket book of sensible, realistic rules to help you eat your best. |
Food Rules Rules!
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| Review Date: December 31, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Norma Lehmeierhartie, New York, USA |
I picked up Food Rules: An Eater's Manual, because I have been searching for just this type of book for many of my clients as a New Year's gift. I read the slim book quickly in a bookstore and it is the perfect present for my clients who are not eating healthy diets (but who have confessed they wish to.)
I am an interior designer/organizer and see how my clients eat all the time when I redesign and organize their kitchens. Pollan's In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma are both excellent, but can be intimidating. Not Food Rules--it is short and easy to understand.
The book is divided into three parts and has 64 chapters or rules. The following will give you an good idea of what the book is about: Part I, What should I eat? Includes such chapters as "Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food", "avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients", and "avoid foods that contain high-fructose corn syrup".
Part II, What kind of food should I eat? Includes "Eat mostly plants, especially leaves", "eat your colors", and "the whiter the bread, the sooner you will be dead."
Part III, How should I eat? Includes "pay more, eat less," "eat less," and "limit your snacks to unprocessed plant food."
For those of you who desire a healthier diet, Food Rules is a terrific guide that makes understanding what to put into your body simple to understand and implement.
Finally, if healthy eating is a new concept for you, you will find the clever chapter titles easy to memorize, thus making the concept of healthy eating a simple one to learn.
Highly recommend.
By the author of the award winning book, HARMONIOUS ENVIRONMENT and SELL YOUR HOME FAST IN A BUYER'S MARKET
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You could buy a #3 at Mickey D's --- or start to save your life
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| Review Date: January 7, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Jesse Kornbluth, New York |
If you got in on the ground floor, you chewed every page of The Omnivore's Dilemma, (464 pages, $8.00 at Amazon).
If you were a second responder, the first Michael Pollan book you read was In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, (256 pages, $7.50 at Amazon), which boils theory and anecdote down to a tasty, healthy feeding strategy.
If you're new to the topic or haven't paid attention --- or love Pollan's work and want to spread the gospel --- here's Food Rules: An Eater's Manual (137 pages, $11 retail, $5.50 at Amazon), a skinny paperback that says pretty much everything you'd find in his longer books.
Or you can consider Pollan's reduction of his message to seven words --- "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" --- and read nothing more because you know how to crack that koan and adopt a way of eating that just might save your life.
Why, you may wonder, does a clearly written 256-page book need to be boiled down to 64 general principles?
Two reasons.
Those of us who read about food have, in the last few years, been swamped by the language of nutrition. Antioxidants. Polyphenols. Probiotics. Omega-3 fatty acids. But you can know all about this stuff and still not be able to answer the basic question: Yeah, but what should I eat?
Then there are those who have never heard Pollan's message. They're the folks on the coach, eating pre-packaged snack food, sucking down sodas, serving vegetables as an afterthought. In short, people who are devotees of the Western diet --- which is, says Pollan, "the one diet that reliably makes its people sick!"
Pollan wants to help both groups --- and break the cycle of self-created disease.
And the quickest way to do that is through lessons so simple even the guy chowing down a Hungry Man ("It's good to feel full") meal can understand.
"Food Rules" may be short, but it's elegantly organized. Part I addresses the question: What should I eat? (Answer: food.) Part II asks: What kind of food should I eat? (Answer: mostly plants.) And Part II considers: How should I eat? (Answer: Not too much.)
These are un-American answers. Advertising trains us to shop in the center aisles of supermarkets. We've been brainwashed to believe that fast food is food. Because we're so busy, we're encouraged not to cook for ourselves. And that way of living works for us --- right up to the moment we're overweight and diabetic.
But if we break the cycle?
"People who get off the western diet," says Pollan, "see dramatic improvements in their health."
What does Pollan tell you in these pages? Here's a sample:
--- "Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."
--- "Don't eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce."
---- "Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot...There are exceptions --- honey --- but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren't food."
--- "Always leave the table a little hungry.'"
--- "Eat meals together, at regular meal times."
--- "Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car."
--- "Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk."
Pollan would have you only eat junk food you cook yourself. He'd like you to buy your snacks at a farmer's market. He'd like you to use meat as a flavor enhancer, a condiment, an afterthought. And he'd like to see you hurt the bottom line of pre-packaged food companies by paying a little more for real food that's worth eating.
I can imagine a great many of of you nodding in agreement. And feeling superior. And still buying several copies --- to send, anonymously, to loved ones who are eating themselves to death. I can think of no better gift. |
The Tao of Food
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| Review Date: January 14, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Mick McAllister, |
People complaining about the size of "Food Rules" certainly missed the point. In Twitterland, any message that can't be reduced from "bullet points" to 140 characters will not be heard. The Eloi don't read books. Food Rules compresses the message of Pollan's food advice into its second simplest form.
Pollan mentions in the introduction his discovery, while researching In Defense of Food, that the answer to the question, "What should we eat to stay healthy?" turned out to be seven words: "Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants." As he points out wrily, that wasn't enough to satisfy his publisher, but fortunately explaining it was. Food Rules is the middle ground between The Three Commandments and the Food Bible. Clearly it is needed, if one hostile reviewer thinks his "Don't eat more calories than you burn each day, and eat a balanced diet" is comparable to Pollan's seven words.
Food Rules consists of 64 aphorisms with a few paragraphs of explanation as needed (no rule runs much beyond a single page). Like the Tao Te Ching, Food Rules can be stuffed in a back pocket, thumbed through when you are bored, or purchased for a clueless friend you care about. The rules are common sense, unless you suffer from the literalism of some reviewers (No, gentle reader, Mr. Pollan did not MY grandmother, who was a rotten cook, but the proverbial grandmother, who is not). Common sense distilled to aphorisms rather than platitudes, Poor Richard's Culinary Advice. In other words they are crisp, memorable, and quotable. Who wouldn't wish they had thought up, "Don't eat any cereal that changes the color of the milk"?
For the Twitterpated, this is the place to begin with Pollan. Some of them, at least, may discover that they would like to know more. If not, no harm done. |
Food Rules to Live By
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| Review Date: January 4, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Todd Bartholomew, Atlanta, GA USA |
| I'd previously read and enjoyed Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto and was interested to pick up "Food Rules". "Food Rules" is an extension of "In Defense of Food" and his earlier books as it offers a common-sense approach about eating smart. What primarily sold me was its in pocketbook size, compact and easy to carry when you're out and about grocery shopping or dining. And unlike other complicated diet schemes and faddish trends (Grapefruit Diet anyone?), the advice here is well thought out and well articulated. At 70 pages there's not a lot of complications but it is crammed with considerable wisdom and thought. Broken into three parts (much like "In Defense of Food") it answers the most essential and fundamental questions: what should I eat and avoid, what kind of food should I eat (e.g.: unprocessed plant based foods), and how much should I eat? Each section contains roughly 20 rules to follow for healthier eating and living. "Food Rules" winds up being a handy little reference guide that can help you create better new habits, gradually phasing out the bad ones. And that's the approach Pollan seems to take. It's easier to adopt a new habit that it is to break an old one. By following "Food Rules" you can get yourself on track to healthier eating habits and believe me; you'll feel better as a result! |
Food Rules is to eating what Elements of Style is to writing
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| Review Date: January 2, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Juhan Sonin, Arlington, MA United States |
| Food - from the growing to consumption to the entire system surrounding it - is a top 5 global issue. We're eating ourselves to death. This is Michael Pollan's excellent manifesto... that fits in your pocket and reads in 20 min. |
Kudos to Pollan
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| Review Date: June 3, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Justine A. Lee, Saint Paul, MN United States |
I have to admit that I hated Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemna. Due to scientific inaccuracies (hey, I'm a scientist), I couldn't finish it.
That said, Food Rules ROCKS. I loved the simplistic, fun, daily rules to read through. Simple rules like shopping the periphery of the supermarket to not eating cereal that turns your milk weird colors seem basic but easy to follow. It's a fun book that you end up quoting to friends. I aim to live by these practical, realistic rules. Two thumbs up. Easy, simple read. You can finish it in an hour. |
The Healthful Snack Version of IDoF
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| Review Date: February 1, 2010 |
| Reviewer: A. Marrelli, Utah, USA |
| Sure it's just like In Defense of Food but it's concise! It has everything you really need from the first book but you can read it in a few hours and that's what Americans need. Why are people complaining?? This unassuming book is much more likely to get out there and get read and do some good. |
Easy to read, easy to remember
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| Review Date: January 2, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Sam Davidson, Nashville, TN |
| Michael Pollan's latest book, Food Rules, can be read than less than an hour. Its advice, however, must be lived over a lifetime. A handy follow-up (and Cliff's Notes-esque version) to In Defense of Food, this pocket-sized book contains 64 rules about what to eat (and what not to eat). Distilling scientific conclusions down to handy maxims, and justifying timeless folk wisdom with science-like ideals, the book is a must read for anyone looking to eat healthier or live better. |
Rules to eat by
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| Review Date: February 9, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Erik Namløs, New York, NY |
| Although nothing in here is particularly novel, the format is very accessible and should be read within an hour....if that. Michael Pollan keeps his thesis simple: eat food, mostly plants, but not too much. The philosophy behind this is simple: 1) being healthly in the absense of artificial food-substances, which can lead to diesease and 2) sustainable food production vs. eating mass processed foods that deplete our energy resources. His thesis is divided into 64 "rules", sometimes as short as a sentence and others as long as a paragraph. What's wonderful about the rules is that they can be understood by anyone with a primary school education, and the explanations allude to studies or stories supporting his ideas. Many seem fairly self explanatory: Rule #18 states that one should eat foods from plants, not food made in plants. The best thing about the book is that this is a way of life and not a temporary quick-fix; applying these rules should leave the reader satisfied, instead of bouncing from diet to diet. Recommended for everyone! |
How to Eat to Be at Your Best!
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| Review Date: January 22, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Vincent Harris, Trenton, MO USA |
| Wow! Each sentence of this book literally pulled me to the next, one page after another. Have you ever read a book that was so good that you stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, unable to put it down? This is another such book. You will never view food, or eating the same way again, and as a result, be much healthier and happier. |
Bring this Little Book With You Everywhere
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| Review Date: January 22, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Elizabeth Hendry, New Jersey USA |
Michael Pollan rules. I've enjoyed all of his books and seek out anything else he has done--magazine articles, radio interviews, movies including the very excellent Food, Inc.. His message is both inspiring and important. Now, you can conveniently carry this message with you when you shop. The book has little bite-size food rules, words of wisdom Pollan has gathered from his readers and fans, organized by his manifesto: "Eat food, mostly plants, not too much." I recommend reading a few of these rules before you head out to the supermarket, or while you are waiting in line at your local big box store. He'll make you think twice about the processed food-like substance you may be purchasing, and maybe will inspire you to cook your own food. Some of these rules are humorous, some inspiring, and frankly, some are a bit of a challenge. I think if more of us read, re-read and tried, at least, to live by these rules, we would be healthier and happier. Enjoy in good health!
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Gets to the point
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| Review Date: January 28, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Emily Gillespie Clement, Severna Park, MD United States |
I have read, enjoyed and recommended The Omnivore's Dilemma, also by Michael Pollan.
This slim volume, Food Rules, does not take the place of the more in depth investigations he carries out into the sources of our dietary staples, but it is the best at delivering the take-home points in brief and comprehensible bytes. Bytes that make absolute sense. I might quibble ever so slightly with the title, Food RULES, because nobody wants a set of rules. We have enough, and it's precisely the militarism so often exhibited by the proponents of the various dietary regimes floating about that often turns people off and drives them back to their established comfort foods.
So it's best to look at the title the way Captain Barbossa explains the Pirate Code to Elizabeth Swan: "...the code is more what you call "guidelines" than actual rules."
They're good guidelines, which don't force anyone into rigorous dietary practices, but can make you consider what you eat with a bit more background knowledge. |
An easy to read reminder about what's good to eat
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| Review Date: February 12, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Jardin de Vie, Eugene, OR |
| This light-hearted book serves to remind us of what we already know, but often forget to put into practice, about eating right. This would be make great gift to a friend just starting out on (yet another!) effort to eat in a more healthy manner. |
Book for the times
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| Review Date: February 15, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Mary, Detroit, MI USA |
I read Pollan's "Botany of Desire" book several years ago, so I knew that I liked his writing.
This book is thin, a quick read and perfect for all of us who know we need to eat healthier but are confused as to where to begin. The book is comprised of common-sense 64 'rules', broken into three logical sections. I read it in about an hour. I liked it so much, I bought three more for family members to promote their eating healthier. I strongly encourage you to buy this book!
Postscript: These are common-sense rules. If you want more nutritional science, read another of Pollan's books, "In Defense of Food." |
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