Food Rules

Customer Reviews

• 2 out of 5
  
  
  by Shelley from The United States | Jan 16, 2010
  

  It's a good thing I only paid five bucks for this book because I felt a bit gypped after reading it. This is basically In Defense of Food: Lite or, worse, In Defense of Food: Dr. Phil-a-fied. I read it in an afternoon - not because it was so riveting, but because it's only 140 pages long. And that's deceptive: Every other page has a picture of an onion or a pepper or something on it, so that cuts it down to 70 pages, and several of the non-onion pages only have a snippet of text on them, so that makes it, at best, a 40 page book. And those 40 pages were pretty much regurgitated from In Defense of Food which was mostly regurgitated from The Omnivore's Dilemma. Should I have known this? Perhaps I was a bit hasty in my purchase. I really like Michael Pollan. His thoughts on food have made an indelible impact on my eating habits, but, dude, write a new book!!!
  
  Overall, this book is fun and somewhat cute - it's classic Michael Pollan in tone. Most of his food policies are doable and helpful. But don't waste your money if you've already read In Defense of Food. There's nothing new here.

  
  
   10 people found this review helpful
  
  

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• 4 out of 5
  
  
  by Molly from Hanover, PA | Feb 22, 2010
  

  I read this super short book at lunch, upon the recommendation of a gorgeous 72 year old woman who claimed to be married to "the hottest 80 year old you've ever seen." Granted, I read it while eating ramen, but I <3 Michael Pollan and the IDEA of eating well.

  
  
   2 people found this review helpful
  
  

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• 5 out of 5
  
  
  by Tyson from The United States | Jul 30, 2010
  

  Excellent one hour read from the author of Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food.
  
  Pollan gives a list of rules regarding what to eat and how to eat, based on the results of research involved with his other books.
  
  Although there are 64 "rules" in the book, they can more or less be boiled down to a phrase from his last book: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
  
  The details are important though. Such as what actually counts as food in modern times as opposed to "edible foodlike substances" - which is what Pollan considers most of the processed foods on grocery store shelves.
  
  I like that the "rules" are practical. He does not suggest avoiding sweets or meat entirely. "Treat treats as treats," for instance. He mentions that some people have a rule to only eat sweets on the weekends. And he suggests that you only eat sweets that you bake yourself, always avoiding the freely available, cheap, and highly processed sweets from stores.
  
  Meat should be eaten as a side dish only a couple times a week. And if you do eat meat it really does make a difference that the animal you're eating was grass fed.
  
  But some of the best rules are in the section on how to eat: Stop eating before you're full; eat when you're hungry; eat slowly; don't eat seconds; do most of your eating at a table; leave something on your plate; cook your own food, etc.
  
  Anyway, I think it's a handy book and hopefully I can implement some of these rules.
  

  
  

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• 4 out of 5
  
  
  by Amy from Stow, OH | Jul 29, 2010
  

  Sixty-four rules along with easy to understand explanations are comprised in this brief book. Some of the rules are very obvious, while others ...
  
  Some of the rules are very funny ...
  
  Rule #2 -- Don't eat anything your great-grandmother (or grandmother) wouldn't recognize as food.
  
  Rule #10 -- Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not, e.g. margarine for butter.
  
  Rule #13 -- Eat only foods that will eventually rot.
  
  Rule #19 -- If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't.
  
  Rule #24 -- Eating what stands on one leg [mushrooms and plant foods:] is better than eating what stands on 2 legs [fowl:], which is better than eating what stands on 4 legs [cows, pigs, etc.:].
  
  Rule #26 -- Eat the spinach water. You'll have to read the book if you want to understand this one.
  
  Rule #37 -- The whiter your bread, the sooner you'll be dead. I hear this one a lot at farmer's markets.
  
  Rule #57 -- Don't get YOUR fuel from the same place your car does.
  
  Rule #61 -- Leave something on your plate. As kids, you may have been told to clean your plate. According to this book, you should "Leave something for Mr. Manners" or "Better to go to waste than to waist".
  
  Anyways, a very interesting book that provided some interesting tips and "tricks".

  
  

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• 5 out of 5
  
  
  by Amy from Oakland, CA | Jul 24, 2010
  

  In this book, Michael Pollan boils down what he learned from his research writing "In Defense of Food" to some simple rules. He makes a point in saying that a lot of the rules in the book are not ones he’s made up, but rather he has become a conduit of collective knowledge about food passed down through cultures and generations. Lots are common sense, and have become more important given the multitude of “edible foodlike substances” that line the shelves of our grocery stores.
  
  The book is separated into three sections with about twenty rules in each section.
  
  1. What should I eat? -- "Eat food.” Perhaps easier said than done these days with what passes for food in the American diet. Example: “Don’t eat anything that comes through your car window.”
  
  2. What kind of food should I eat? -- “Mostly plants.” It is generally known that too much meat in a diet is not healthy, and these are rules to help you remember that. Example: “Don’t buy breakfast cereal that changes the color of your milk.”
  
  3. How should I eat? – “Not too much.” All about portion control. Example: “Always leave the table a little hungry.”
  
  You can read this book in about an hour. It is full of common sense advice that is not a diet plan, but more like helpful ways to remember how important food is to our health and how to strive to eat better. It is very entertaining and humorous as well. It would be hard to read and not change at least something about the way that you eat.

  
  

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