Getting on with it
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Isaiah 50:4-7
Morning after morning God opens my ear that I may hear, and I have not rebelled, have not turned back ... The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced.
There is a lie we all believe at some time or other: "I am what I am. I cannot change. I am hopeless." Credit Robert McGee with the phraseology, but credit Satan with the lie. Satan goes on to say, "Actually things can get worse. Just don't expect them to get better."
God counters that with his "morning by morning" wake-up call. The sun will rise again today, just like yesterday. "I give you stability so that you can change. Just listen to me. I open your ears each morning, so listen. You will see that I have not abandoned you to ruin and death."
There are few more entrenched habits in my life than the way I eat. During Lent I have some respite from my tendency to poison my body with too much this and too much that. Don't I want to continue this more healthy way of eating?
Well, NO! I want to pig out on all the things I've been putting out of sight for 40 days. But in the morning, with my ears open, I hear God suggesting something better. And it has come in the form of a small book on sale at Amazon for $5 ($7.92 at Borders and Barnes & Noble) called Food Rules. The author Michael Pollan has been a recent guest on Oprah and is author of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, among other really cool books about food and eating. He summarizes his own approach with a pithy sentence: "Eat food - not too much - mostly plants."
In case you too would like to continue (or begin) living your gastronomic life with more satisfaction and less regret, here are the rules Pollan describes in his book. I've also attached a copy of them to your email, in case you like them so well you want to pass them on...
What should I eat? (Eat food)
1. Eat Food
2. Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
3. Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry.
4. Avoid food products that contain high fructose corn syrup.
5. Avoid foods that have some form of sugar or sweetener listed among the top three ingredients.
6. Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients.
7. Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third grader cannot pronounce.
8. Avoid food products that make health claims.
9. Avoid products with the word-oid "lite" or the terms "low-fat" or "non-fat" in their names.
10. Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not (e.g. margarine)
11. Avoid foods you see advertised on television.
12. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.
13. Eat only foods that will eventually rot.
14. Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature.
15. Get out of the supermarket whenever you can.
16. Buy your snacks at the farmer's market.
17. Eat only foods that have been cooked by humans (not corporations).
18. Don't ingest foods made in places where everyone is required to wear a surgical cap.
19. If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't.
20. It is not food if it arrived through the window of your car.
21. It is not food if it is called by the same name in every language (think: Big Mac, Cheetos, Pringles).
What kind of food should I eat? (Mostly plants)
22. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
23. Treat meat as a flavoring or a special occasion food.
24. "Eating what stands on one leg (mushrooms and plant foods) is better than eating what stands on two legs (fowl), which is better than eating what stands on four legs (cows, pigs, other mammals)." -- Chinese proverb. Also consider the healthy and entirely legless fish.
25. Eat your colors.
26. Drink the spinach water.
27. Eat animals that have themselves eaten well.
28. If you have space, buy a freezer.
29. Eat like an omnivore (expand the diversity of what you eat).
30. Eat well-grown food from healthy soil.
31. Eat wild foods when you can.
32. Don't overlook the oily little fishes.
33. Eat some foods that have been pre-digested by bacteria or fungi (yogurt, kimchi, sourdough bread).
34. Sweeten and salt your food yourself.
35. Eat sweet foods as you find them in nature (fruit rather than juice, etc)
36. Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.
37. "The whiter the bread, the sooner you'll be dead" -- Quote from Jewish and Italian grandmothers.
38. Favor the kinds of oils and grains that have traditionally been stone-ground.
39. Eat all the junk food you want, as long as you cook it yourself.
40. Be the kind of person who takes supplements - then skip the supplements.
41. Eat more like the French, or the Japanese, or the Italians, or the Greeks.
42. Regard non-traditional foods with skepticism.
43. Have a glass of wine with dinner.
How should I eat? (Not too much)
44. Pay more, eat less (U.S. average % of income spent on food - 9.6%. Italian average: 25.7%)
45. Eat less.
46. Stop eating before you're full (one definition of a full belly is 1/3 food, 1/3 liquid and 1/3 air).
47. Eat when you're hungry, not when you're bored.
48. Consult your gut.
49. Eat slowly (put down your fork between bites, eat in courses, eat with others).
50. The banquet is in the first bite.
51. Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it.
52. Buy smaller glasses and plates.
53. Serve a proper portion and don't go back for seconds.
54. "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper."
55. Eat meals.
56. Limit your snacks to unprocessed plant foods (e.g. fruits, vegetables, nuts).
57. Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.
58. Do all your eating at a table. (When eating at someplace other than a table, stick to raw fruits and vegetables).
59. Try not to eat alone.
60. Treat treats as treats (here's a formula: no snacks, no seconds, no sweets except on the days that start with S).
61. Leave something on your plate.
62. Plant a vegetable garden if you have the space, a window box if you don't.
63. Cook.
64. Break the rules once in a while. (Be moderate in your moderation.)
Whether or not it's morning, open your ears, listen to God and, as Pollan says, consult your gut. Then ... do what seems right to do.
Let me be lowly, Lord, and yet be glad, taking heart. You hear the poor, you do not spurn those in bondage. Let the heavens and earth sing praise! -- Psalm 69
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