Lessons from Michael Pollan
/I'm feeling that feeling again... the one where I suddenly feel overwhelmed with nutrition and lifestyle information on how to live my life, all of which I MUST do immediately in order to get healthy, stay healthy, be happy, be less stressed, live longer, sleep better, set better goals, meditate more effectively (is that an oxymoron?!) and then all will be well.
And I'm assuming if I'm feeling this way, then many of you might be as well. So I want to share with you a few "go to's" that might help.
First and foremost, read a few pages of Michael Pollan's book (one of many) titled "Food Rules: An Eaters Manual". Written in 2009, he was, and still is, ahead of his time. Case in point: he is now writing about psychedelics.
Pollan coined the phrase, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.", which is the basis for Food Rules.
A sampling of his rules are as follows:
Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food
Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself
Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce
Eat only foods that will eventually rot
It's not food if it came through the window of a car
If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't
Eat mostly plants, especially leaves
Eat your colours
Milk is a food, not a beverage
Make water your beverage of choice
Don't ingest food made in places where everyone is required to wear a surgical cap
Avoid sugary and starch foods if you are concerned about weight
In the same vain, there is another article recently written in the NY Times, titled, "How to Be Healthy, in Just 48 Words", by Yoni Freedhoff, an obesity doctor and professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa. Among other tips, he includes:
Cultivate relationships
Replace saturated fats with unsaturated if you can
Nurture sleep
Exercise as often as you can enjoy
Minimize ultra-processed food
He referenced a study in his article, comparing two different diets: Low Fat/High Carb (such as in traditional societies such as Okinawa, Japan) vs Low Carb/High Fat (ketogenic, etc) within the context of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Both "camps" have their studies to back them up, their followers and their differences. But what do they agree upon?
With a focus on nutrient quality --> good health and low chronic disease risk can be achieved for many people on diets with a broad range of carbohydrate-to-fat ratio
My point is this - don't get caught up in the fine print or the "right way" of approaching things. Once you start going down that rabbit hole, you will throw up your arms in distress and overwhelm.
Get back to basics, as per both Michael Pollan and Yoni Friedhoff.
And remember... it's a lifestyle change. Whether it's about food, sleep, stress or movement, we often intuitively know the steps we need to take. But those steps need to be achievable so you can keep them in the long term.
Choose wisely and trust your gut ;-)
On that note, should you need help figuring out where to start, help getting to where you want to go, or help understanding how everything is interrelated (food, sleep, movement, stress, relationships, etc), reach out. I'd be happy to help.
In the meantime, as always, thanks for reading :)
gillian xx