The Silence of the Yams

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Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

That is how Michael Pollan starts his wonderful article in the New York Times, that summarizes it all, the foodie version of the question put to Rabbi Hillel: "teach me everything while I am standing on one foot." He then goes on in true talmudic fashion to explain exactly what he means by "food" (stuff your great-grandmother would recognize, not any of the manufactured products filling our supermarket) "not too much" (how our diet has been distorted by too much of everything, that "the main features of the Western diet [are]: lots of meat and processed foods, lots of added fat and sugar, lots of everything — except fruits, vegetables and whole grains.) "Mostly Plants" - (we now eat a monoculture of grain and not enough green veggies.) He ends with a series of rules that all of us could live by without great sacrifice:

1) Eat food. (the great-grandmother kind). 2) Avoid food that makes health claims, Don't take the silence of the yams as a sign that they have nothing valuable to say about health. 3) Avoid foods with unpronounceable or unfamiliar ingredients, or any high fructose corn syrup. 4) get out of the supermarket. 5) Pay more, eat less. 6) eat leaves. 7) Eat like the French- enjoy your food, have small portions and don't snack. 8) cook. 9) Eat like an omnivore. Read the whole thing at ::New York Times