It begins

Let me start off by saying, I’m sorry, but I am terrified of this project. That’s probably the only excuse I can think of—besides not being chosen for a service learning project—for starting Food Rules so late, but at least I’m being honest. Food is not what I do best. I hate grocery shopping—everything I buy either gathers frost in my freezer or rots on a forgotten shelf in my refrigerator. Or it enters a place that even I’m too scared to enter after dark—the pantry, where I suspect colonies of bugs migrate over my food while I’m sleeping, infecting everything and then vanishing in the morning.

Until this class, I’ve really almost beat food. I’ve never learned to cook and I tend to eat out a lot. Or on days when my wallet can’t afford that, my diet usually consists of unbuttered toast and protein shakes, or free food from work (it’s a Chinese restaurant). I should also note that I have a mild genetic digestive disease that inhibits my diet from things that would be great for this project, like rice and raw vegetables. To put it simply—they make my tummy hurt. In fact, most food does. On top of this, I’m just finicky with food. It’s not pickiness per se; I’m pretty decent when it comes to trying new foods. But my appetite tends to border being non-existent. I won’t be hungry for days at a time because of my stomach, or I’ll binge eat. I know, I know, I know. Not healthy at all. I’m working on it.

So to start this project, it took hours of fear. It took trepidation and actual terror and driving to Winn-Dixie with a sense of dread so encompassing, words fail. It took a full hour in the grocery store, bracketed by bored employees wondering why I kept writing ingredients down in a tiny notebook. And it took the courage to come home and stock my mostly empty refrigerator with my purchases. Before I did, I took a picture of what I bought. I placed the groceries next to a creepy doll just to express to you my horror:





Yeah.

I chose Winn-Dixie as my first grocery store to stock up on Food Rules supplies. It’s cheap to begin with and I can always use my grandmother’s phone number for a membership discount. The absolute terror for the assignment at hand turned into absolute confusion—I had no idea where to start. So I consulted the text—What should I eat, Michael Pollan?

Food. I began with things I thought might be mundane enough to pass the rules. PB&J seemed like a good place to start, but of course there was no worse of a first choice. Peanut butter has a surprisingly short list of ingredients, but sugar happens to usually be listed as good old number three. The list of ingredients on the jar of grape jelly is the food equivalent to that doll in the pictures: concord grape juice, high fructose corn syrup, fruit pectin, citric acid and sodium citrate. Even picking out a decent bread was a fiasco of ingredients. My question is why there is sunflower and/or soybean oil in just about everything I found in that store. How can an ingredient be and/or? I thought manufacturers would have a better grasp on their products.

The food items I did manage to get:

-white mountain bread
-tomatoes
-mozzarella cheese—one of the few cheeses I could find without coloring dye
-Vlasic Kosher Dill Baby Wholes—pickles, which have a stunning ingredient list of cucumbers, water, salt, and vinegar, although I expect some foul play with preservatives.
-Ronzoni Pasta—wheats, iron, and sadly it contains some folic acid, but I tried.
-Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning—salt, red pepper and other spices, garlic, silicon dioxide (to prevent caking).
-Winn-Dixie bowl-o’-fruit
-Iams Kitten Chow—not for me, but It hought it was crazy how much animal fat and by-product chicken meal was in this. The ingredients list was torturous to read through.
-My personal favorite: Honey. Ingredients: Honey. Do not feed to infants one year and younger.

So now that I’ve taken the first step towards food enlightenment, I’m staring at the items unsure of how I should feel. Each item—minus the tomatoes—is packaged so nicely, I feel embarrassed opening them, as if that’s violating them somehow. I would rather just look at them. I really don’t know where to begin, so for now I’m singling out each item and sending it a telepathic message “I am going to consume you. Even if it kills me.”

Local Foods

I've bought grapes and cantaloupe from Mr. Okra, fish at an open market on the Westbank, and peanut butter from Whole Foods. Combining Food Rules with another eating philosophy I heard recently, I'm trying to avoid food altered from its natural state. This idea limits my intake of pasta, bread, butter, granola, anything processed. I don't remember the name of the advocate for the lifestyle, but he prescribed living on nuts and leaves with as little meat as possible and restricting how changed food is from its original form. His logic was that animals in captivity are healthiest when fed foods native to their environment, and that humans are no different.

With these changes, I expect my mood, weight, or energy to change soon, especially with people damning the effects of "ultra-processed" foods. Honestly, I'm anxious to feel the clarity, attitude, vitality-- whatever it is I'm supposed to be feeling.

The cost of our groceries has risen so our refrigerator is kind of empty, but I'm getting satisfaction from my sense of superiority when I eat an apple and my roommate a s'more (his favorite). Even so, I've tried to "treat treats as treats," "break the rules once in a while," and eat junk food as I prepare it. We made cookies without a pre-made dough.

Food Rules: The Edible Experiment, Week Four

Journal Entry
Week Four
September 24, 2010

Rule 3 “Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry”

So last visit to the grocery store I took some extra time to peruse the “organic section” that is laid out in a somewhat separate section of our local supermarket. I started seeing all sorts of things that I had always heard about, but had never actually looked for in a store. “Agave Nectar,” “Turbinado Sugar,” “Gluten-Free this-and-that,” etc. Yet then I came to a product line that advertised each of its products, yes, each, as “No Calorie, Carb Free, Sugar Free, Gluten Free” items, mostly fruit spreads and condiments. ?!?! YUCK?! Ok, so please tell me: How do you make a barbecue sauce that has no calories, no sugar, no carbohydrates, no gluten, and is good for diabetics and people on gluten-free diets? I guess it would have NO TASTE EITHER, RIGHT?! I admit I did wonder how that company stays in business.

I also noticed that all of the packaging for these “organic” and “natural” foods was much more attractive than your typical packaging! I guess they have to make you feel like you are spending those few extra dollars on something worthwhile and good for you.

Although I am not entirely convinced that “organic” is necessarily “better,” I did enjoy visiting that section and am willing to try some of those products in the future, as budget permits! I definitely am more aware now than I was before to be on the lookout for unfamiliar ingredients lurking in my day-to-day foods; however, I will say that some of the ingredients listed on the foods in the so-called “organic” section were unpronounceable too… yet more familiar for sure and more likely to be something that I could in fact “pull from my pantry shelf and cook with.” :)

Eat Your Colors.

This week, I plan on eating my fair share of colors for every meal. In other words, each plate of food shall be multi-colored--not every meal a different color. Pollan discourages meals of the same color. However, I am reminded of a time a few years back when my eccentric family decided to cook dinners of the same color for 4 days. Here is the menu (I cannot encourage it):

Green Meal

Green Noodle Casserole

Broccoli

Salad

Lime Sherbet

Orange Meal

Cream of Carrot Soup

Shrimp

Sweet potato fries

Peaches

Yellow Meal

Lemon Chicken

Summer Squash

Stuffing

Lemon Pie

Flambe Meal

Steak with Bourbon Sauce

Carrots glazed with Brandy

Salad with Warmed Brandy Dressing

Bananas Foster with Rum

You can pour brandy over anything and light it.

Is "Fire" a color in Crayola's box of 64?

Preparation Is Key To Success

So far I am finding the Challenge to be a very rewarding experience, as it has taught me alot about my own limits in terms of willpower or self-control. Lately, I find that when presented with the right food choices, I am quick to stick with the diet plan as I feel a sense of accomplishment after having successfully made it through another meal without deviating off course. But often times I find the hardest thing for me to conquer is preparing those healthy choices ahead of schedule so I do not stray too far from my goal. Like many others with busy lives and crammed schedules, I too lead a life of on the "go". So many times I will opt to grab things when I am out, and it's last minute quick fixes like drive- thru items that always seem to draw me in. I find myself dealing, trading in the fries for just the sandwich, and I might hold off on the additional condiments, or skip a meal to balance the bad food choices. I also attempt to rationalize that the behavior was necessary in making that last minute selection so I don't feel too horrible about myself.

To avoid making these critical mistakes, I have started writing out a grocery list in advance, so that I am not tempted to impulse shop when out. I try to arm myself with protein filled snacks like almonds to stave off hunger pangs between meals, and find filling up on the greens, soups, and other healthier alternatives at the chains is best; a simple philosophy of more of the good, is less of the bad. For me, it is the delicate balancing act between choosing the right "grab and go"selections that I struggle with most on this journey to better health. But with a little more effort in the preparation department, it allows me to remain true to my diet plan, keeping me on course, and following through on my goals that are aligned with Pollan's suggestions.

Food Regime

So on Wednesday I had to go shopping again. This time, I needed veggies because I realized there was a lack of them in my diet. So here was my receipt.

Natural Oates and Cranberry Cookies (could have done without this)
Pomegranate/Blueberry Juice (could have done without this)
9 kiwis
16 roma tomatoes
a bag of carrots
a bag of spinach
a package of Provolone Cheese
3 packages of strawberries
3 cucumbers
2 bunches of bananas
2 bags of croutons (could have done without this)

I really have gone a bit crazy with my new food regiment. Also, during this process of changing my food habits, I want to see the changes that my body, health, skin, weight, and everything else in between are going through. Last Sunday, i weighed 175, and now almost 2 weeks later I'm down to 170. I'm really curious to see how this affects me in every aspect of my body and health. I have even given up rice on some accounts, but I think that might change when I start eating meat again. It's quite strange to be eating so many natural things all the time and not eat processed foods. I feel GREAT though! I have a lot of energy and my body is responding really well. I'm just trying to make sure I eat enough because sometimes I notice that I get lazy nowadays to eat and am careful not to binge eat because that can happen. I have done that with croutons which are my guilty pleasure! Overall, these changes are really good and I have never felt better. But I do think along with changing food habits for a healthier and better life, we have to include exercise. I for one hate exercising and never do it, but now it is something I'm trying to incorporate more into my life.

Feeling Like A New Man

When I first learned of the Food Rules Challenge, I must say I was a bit apprehensive in terms of my level of commitment and skeptical of the benefit that the assignment would provide. As an avid runner and general fitness enthusiast, I understand the importance that diet and nutrition has on the overall quality of health. I also have a medical history with a predisposition to high cholesterol, and desperately needed to make some personal life changes. Being the competitive person that I am, I decided to arm myself with the new text, and forego the challenge; I had nothing to lose. Mr. Pollan's simplistic writing style made navigating through the material an effortless task and I quickly read through all the book in one sitting. Although the content seemed a bit elementary in the science, I had realized that solid nutrition wasn't such a complicated process when stripped down to its most essential components. It reminded me of those days when parents and teachers would tell you to eat fruits, vegetables, and the daily three squares a day. I began to get excited about the assignment, and began to modify my eating habits by first incorporating more carbohydrates, particularly more vegetables or plant based foods at each meal. I avoided the products labeled with high-fructose corn syrup and high levels of sodium. Within days, I have noticed a tremendous difference in the way I feel physically, as I am not as sluggish and dragging through the work day. I am getting better quality sleep, and it has enhanced my running performance. I am taking the modification approach to dieting, limiting my intake to the forbidden foods to a few times a week and I try and treat myself to a cup of coffee and an occasional cookie in the early hours. I anticipate that in the latter part of this experiment I will be able to eventually wean myself of the evil, overly processed and heavily market foods. But for now, I am happy with my progression and I am interested to see how this diet may alter the course for the rest of my life in terms of the way I feel and deal with food.

Roommates and Food-tastes

Last night, coming home to the apartment full of college girls, I showed them my new "Food Rules" book. After telling them all about the challenge, they all showed interests and passed the book around. Some they laughed at, some interested them, and others just shocked or offended them. It was pretty interesting to say the least.

Now that I'm on this challenge though, I told them I'd have to be better at certain eating habits. We have a kitchen, but I tend to cook more than necessary. I try to eat small portions, but I found out that my Special K bar is a little more "special" then I bargained for. And I usually eat at the table, but its after classes when I can easily scarf down my pasta in 6mins flat.

With that said, there are many little things I have to start working on. Hopefully I can get some roommates to do the same (and stop going to the window feeders), but with the book for about 48 hours...I'll be taking this one rule at a time.

hometown events

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100816/ap_on_he_me/us_med_healthbeat_seafood_safety_2

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/09/100916-fish-kill-louisiana-gulf-oil-spill-dead-zone-science-environment/

The Importance of Salad

One of the dieting rules that stood out to me was the suggestion that we strive to eat foods of all different colors because they contain different vitamins, antioxidants, and other nutriants essential to our health. This rule proved especially difficult to apply because, as I discovered, most of my favorite foods are similar colors (I don't think adding ketchup counts as adding color to my meals). Even after a trip to the supermarket I found I was still cooking and eating meals in mostly the same color groups. Chicken and rice, pasta and cheese sauce, blackened fish and cous cous. I lacked fruits & vegetables as well as other more "colorful" food items. I found the easiest, and quickest way to "eat my colors" was through the salad bar. Luckily, I actually like salad (when the ingredients are fresh, not necessarily OR salad bar) so this has been less of an issue for me. Robert's fresh food market is a close drive and has an excellent, and cheap, salad bar with peppers of all colors, grape tomatoes, and baby corns. I've now been eating salad almost three times a week (hoorah!) and actually feel healthier.

Eating like Royalty.

With my campus meal plan, I am allotted 12 meals a week in the Orleans Room. All-you-can-eat options of breakfast, lunch, and dinner can be overwhelming when everything looks delicious and also disheartening when everything looks less than delicious. This is how it usually works: either I want some of everything or nothing at all.

I am guilty of swiping my card to enter and leaving shortly after with just a banana.

However, today's lunch was delicious! And, more (or less) importantly, Pollan-approved.

I enjoyed the New Orleans Monday staple, red beans and rice (small portion of white rice), a small portion of noodles with tomatoes and squash, *carrots*, and spinach greens with mandarin oranges and blueberries. It certainly was a lunch fit for a "Prince."

Unfortunately, this was my first meal of the day. One of Pollan's most difficult rules for me to follow is to "eat breakfast like a King." I'm the kind of person who rolls out of bed and zombie-walks to class. I really do not have time to eat breakfast in the O.R. [for the record, their breakfast options are eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, biscuits, fruit, and pastries- some healthy options, however I always seem to feel more sluggish after eating breakfast there]. I do have a fridge and stove in my dorm room, but the last thing I feel like doing in the morning is cooking.

~Class Request: How can I "eat breakfast like a King" on the go? Is it possible? Must I cook it myself?

Food Rules: The Edible Experiment, Week Three

Journal Entry
Week Three
September 17, 2010

Rule 58 “Do all of your eating at a table”

I live by myself and have an extremely busy, never-a-dull-moment life what with owning and running my own business, taking 18 hours this semester, and having a 1-hr commute each way to and from school every day. So when I eat, it’s usually hurried, on the road, or while multi-tasking, naturally. I actually enjoy coming home, making a bowl of oatmeal or whatever else might constitute as a “hot” meal that is quick and easy and doesn’t require a lot of effort on my part (even if “hot” only means hot temperature-wise, and “not a lot of effort” includes washing all the dishes afterward). I look forward to those blessed 15 minutes each evening where I actually get to sit… at my coffee table, on the floor, (Japanese style, right?) in front of the TV, as I watch reruns of ‘Real Housewives’ or ‘Plain Jane’ or ‘Criminal Minds.’

Yes, yes, I have a kitchen table. Albeit this semester there is hardly enough space on it for a glass of water since it is perpetually covered with any one of my 23 textbooks this semester, school syllabi, business paperwork, etc.
But I so enjoy sitting in my living room for those precious few minutes ‘to myself’ (more like me and the TV)... dinner in hand, attempting to ‘unwind’ from my jam-packed day.

Let’s just say that I have managed to eat more meals at my kitchen table this past week than I think I ever have in the 3 years I’ve been living in my house – perhaps because this week I didn’t even have time to watch those brief segments of my favorite TV shows and was forced to have a textbook open with me at the dinnertable, reading as I ate. I know, the whole point of eating at a table is to slow down, take time to enjoy your food, savor it, relish it, not be distracted by – oh, Pollan forbid – multi-tasking. But hey, a coffee-table is still a table, right? And I did manage to move to an actual kitchen table, with a chair, to eat most breakfasts and a few dinners.

Better luck next week? Perhaps.

Lettuce Pray

I bought Food Rules at Tulane's bookstore and went to Le Gourmet, the health-conscious deli near Willow St. The friend I was with bought a bottle of Boylan's natural root beer which was really close to meeting Pollan's standard (ignoring the line on page 77 that "There is no such thing as a healthy soda."). Fruit strips, organic chips, granola bars, even the sandwiches made at the counter didn't qualify and as I'm compiling the rules I can practically apply to my semester the options seem limited when I can find only 2 or 3 items that won't break at least rule #6.

At the same time, it can almost all be condensed to eating natural foods, as unprocessed and close to their natural state as possible. Apples and not applesauce, yada yada. Keeping this in mind is comforting (so is a meal from Popeye's) and the real challenges to creating habits out of Food Rules are my own discipline and ability to pay the prices of quality. And fitting a freezer in here.

I've cooked fish the same way for 3 days, my roommates are eating fruit with me in the mornings, and I'm chewing so, so slowly. So. So. Slowly.

Veggies for Dinner

This week the goal was veggies for dinner. I found that veggies for breakfast was much more difficult than veggies for dinner. I tried a bowl of colorful veggies before my first cup of coffee and found that it is physically impossible. Broccoli in a bowl is not as appetizing as cold, crunchy, sweet, cereal. So, I compromised with fruit and delegated the veggies to dinner.

Now that fruit and of course the veggies have their domain, I decided that there would be no more eating of furry creatures. *small changes are good right? :)

• The fish was smokey (done on the grill)
• The chicken was spicy
• The turkey was tender
• The Bacon was crispy

I was able to indulge in the flavors and textures of the meal instead of over eating. Keeping in mind the meals should be prepared in such a way that my "Grandmother" would have recognized with rich and natural ingredients.

I must admit that carrying this philosophy over into the area of deserts has not really worked its way into my diet, this will be an area for future examination. I still really want snowballs and I am not prepared to find out exactly what makes them so tasty.

On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings I babysit an eighth month old baby, Jack. I adore the way his family lives and how they try to be as heathy as possible. I have certainly picked up a few things from them. They do not feed Jack regular baby food from a jar; every morning the mom mashes up a fresh fruit or vegetable and mixes it with fresh oatmeal (not the microwave packs). Jack does not have disposable diapers. He uses cloth diapers that work great (which I did not expect) and saves a lot of money. The family is all about recycling and organic food. Their fridge is full of Whole Foods and Farmers Market groceries, that I am more than welcome to eat :)! In the fridge is also a medium size container that olds all the left over fruit and vegetable peelings, which works as a compost. Seeing how a whole family works together to be "green" really does inspire me to work on my lifestyle.

Eat more, Pay less - Eat less, Pay More

This is a long over due post. I received my Food Rules book on Saturday and read it right away that night. Loved it and it was so interesting. I did feel like I had watch enough Oprah and learned enough in some of my classes to know most of those rules and I feel like it pretty common knowledge, but following some of them are hard! I have been doing some of my own weird food rules over the year. Since 2005, right around my birthday in the fall, I do about 7 or 19 weeks of no meat, including no fish. Since summer of 2006, I stopped eating pork and beef altogether (love rule 24). So when I do eat meat, it's chicken, turkey, and seafood. I'm from Vietnam and my parents we used to grow a lot of plants back in Vietnam and that has carried over here. We garden at lot at my house and grow 80% of the herbs we eat. We grow about 40% of the vegetables we eat like leafy greens and a lot of bittermelon, squash, and gourd. So rules about eating healthy, eating a lot of plants, growing and cooking your own food have been easy to follow. We mainly eat Vietnamese food so Rule 41 was an easy one to follow. We usually base our communal meals around a lot of veggies which some meat and yes we are guilty of eating white rice. I don't really eat much rice nowadays, but in my cultural defense, in Vietnam we mainly eat vegetables with small portions of meat and most people don't have a lot to eat so we are able to eat white rice and still be healthy.

With all that said, for us being college students living in a major US city with so many amazing food, it's hard to always be healthy, especially on a budget that can't afford it. You can buy a lot of food for not much, but most of it has a lot of preservatives, sugar, and white flour. On the other hand you can buy healthy things, but they cost more and you don't get as much. It's hard to try to find a balance, plus sometimes I just want to snack or eat a big piece of cake!

I went out on Sunday and spent $35 on mainly fruits and vegetables and the cashier looked at me like I was crazy. I didn't buy anything process. I brought mushrooms, sweet potatoes, strawberries, mix greens, kiwis, bananas, whole wheat/grain pasta, and a few other really great stuff! I guess I'm lucky that I live at home and have access to a kitchen to cook so it's easy for me to make meals instead of having to buy it sometimes. The only thing about healthy foods like fruits and vegetables is that they are eaten fast! I had to go back to the store on Wednesday to buy another $25 worth of food because I ran out of fruits and needed more vegetables to eat. I have really been thinking about what to buy that I know I can eat for a while that's healthy and cheap. So you have to be creative with your meals and balance it out well.

So this week I've been eating a lot of fruits like strawberries, kiwis, bananas, grapes, and apples. I ate salad, sweet potatoes, stir-fry mushrooms, tomatoes, and tofu! I know a lot of people don't like tofu, but I feel like it's a must if you're not eating a lot of meat and need the protein. I have so much more to talk about, but I'll save it for a later post. If anyone wants recipes for vegetarian dishes, let me know!

Margarine vs. Butter

Last Friday I read the text "Food Rules" from cover to cover trying to absorb the information it covered and simultaneously assess how it relates to my own diet. The main issues I will have following this diet stuck me as follows:

1) $$$- As a poor college student, I just cannot afford Whole Foods, organic brands at the supermarket, high-quality meat products (certified organic, farm-raised), buying butter instead of margarine etc.

2) An "industrial-sized freezer" is not practical for my lifestyle (Pollan's suggestion for limiting costs: buying in bulk and freezing)

3) Time- Preparing my own meals, although I try to do this as much as possible, does not always fit in with my busy schedule. Microwaving frozen meals is pretty much my idea of cooking on a busy schedule.

4) "Eating my Colors"- may seem like a great concept, but I've noticed that much of my food tends to take on a yellowish-grainy hue. Mostly pastries, breakfast foods, pastas, chicken etc.

I will examine all of these issues as I try to utilize these dieting rules to the best of my ability.

Rule 64

looks like a good place to start.

"Break the rules once in a while."

Last Friday, I decided to start following Michael Pollan's deliciously impossible rules. That night, I failed. Every year, usually around the new calendar or academic year, I tell myself, "Tom, we're going to start eating healthily this semester." I get all excited. Maybe buy some vegetables. Then, I'm offered one sweet treat and I never look back. From there, it's candy and icecream snacks and fried and microwaveable dinners.

On Friday, the culprit was a Blue Raspberry Airhead. I hadn't had an Airhead since sixth grade! The smiling balloon was calling my name. In three bites, I broke Rules 1-7, 39, 42, 56, 57, and 60. Luckily, 64 told me it was okay.

What am I doing?! I am breaking the rules on the first day! I caught myself justifying the situation by thinking of the first day of this experiment as a "special occasion."

[Airhead ingredients: Sugar, Corn Syrup, Maltodextrin, Dextrose, Modified Food Starch, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Water, Citric Acid, Artificial Flavors, Blue 1] Water is healthy, right?

Food Rules: The Edible Experiment, Week Two

Journal Entry:
Week Two
September 10, 2010


Rule 7 “Avoid food products containing ingredients that a 3rd Grader cannot pronounce”

So I hit the local Supermarket today for the first time since reading “Food Rules.” I had made a list of some of the things I typically buy, but was determined to check the ingredients of each product that I usually purchase. So to begin:

Grape Tomatoes: Ingredients – um, grape tomatoes. Grown in Costa Rica vs. grown in Alabama. So I opted for the more “local” of the two packages and added the bright red “grown in Alabama” tomatoes to my cart.

Fresh Broccoli: check.

Fresh Squash: check.

Salad Mix: Yes, typically I go for the whole “salad in a bag” deal. Although I did check the labels on the different packages, making it a point to see if there were any additives or preservatives listed on the ingredients list. Something that struck me as funny was the catch-phrases on the different product packaging: Dole brand packaging used wording like “Preservative Free,” whereas Earthbound Farms’ Organic Mix used wording such as “No Preservatives” and was marked “Organic.” Well, they were both the same price so for this trip I went with the “No Preservatives, Organic” mixture. Hey, organic might just be a word. But it makes me feel healthier, as if you weren’t already being pretty healthy by eating some iron-rich rabbit-food! 

Deli: Went with the Low-sodium Boar’s Head Turkey, a staple in my fridge!

Feta Cheese: Well, I searched the labels and picked the one that had the least amount of things I couldn’t pronounce. However, I remembered another rule in the book that said opt for full-fat rather than low-fat or fat-free, since the sodium content and additives are usually higher. In this case, the “Reduced-Fat” plain option was not much different from
the Basil and Tomato option I was considering; so, I ended up with the reduced-fat, non-flavored Feta.

Cream Cheese: Wow, now here was a surprise. I usually buy fat-free Cream Cheese. However, I decided to actually check the ingredient label today and see what exactly was in the “fat-free” version when compared to the “real deal.” A slew of unpronounceable sodium-glutamate, vitamin A fortified, xanthan gum, gelatin flavored mess! You mean I was eating that stuff? No wonder it had no taste! I decided to try the Whipped version of the real cream cheese: less fat since it was whipped, but also less sodium, more familiar ingredients, and definitely a whole lot better taste!

And so it went for the remainder of my little shopping list. A very interesting and eye-opening experience! Just when you thought you were eating well… :)

Food Rules: The Edible Experiment, Week One

Journal Entry:
Week One
September 5, 2010


I took “Food Rules” out to my parent’s house today to enjoy the cool front that blew in over the weekend and to peruse the pages of this text. I have to admit, I was rather skeptical of this book when I first heard of it and of what (I thought) it was about. I thought, “Oh boy, here we go again. Another someone from somewhere telling me the “somethings” that I should or should not be eating. He will probably promote a whole bunch of organic stuff and free-range this-and-that and other expensive, fanatical foods.” I already consider myself to be a pretty healthy eater: I exist on mostly natural, fiber-filled and vitamin-rich foods; foods which are not over-processed or strangely colored or artificial-tasting. That is, I exist mostly on vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, skim milk, Greek yogurt, fresh fruits, and the like. I never have bought into the whole “Organic” craze; I figure that something is probably just as good if it is not necessarily “organic” or bought up the road at our local Farmer’s market. (Although, don’t get me wrong – I love strolling through the Farmer’s market on a beautiful Fall day!) Thus were my expectations for this book laid out.

However, upon opening the pages of this pretty little book, I quickly fell in love! I read it in one thirty-minute sitting, taking to heart all the practical, simple tips that Pollan suggests in his easy-to-understand pages.

I have decided to adopt 15 of my favorite rules and try to follow one of them per week for the duration of the semester, building upon ones from previous weeks as I go. Hopefully, these will form good habits that I will keep for the rest of my life … the life that is now going to be longer since I of course will be eating even healthier in the days to come. 

Buzz words

So I have been reading the book and I must confess I think I'm in love. Or at least I am in love with the grand idea of healthier eating and the beautiful buzz words associated with eating green/whole. I have been putting off the start of what I am going to call my "love affair with veggies". Finding a reason to procrastinate has been very easy, but today was the day. Starting out small and working my way into this over the course of the week is the way I'm going to go. Finding whole foods has been a bit more of a challenge today than I thought when examining the book. I started out very excited, now I have realized that this will take some planning, and I will probably not be an over night success. Todays goal: search out healthier quick and easy foods with some kind of portability.

Since my book has not arrived, I'd like to comment on the recent avocado craze that is going on. I have noticed when I order a sandwich, soup, salad, etc. there are avocados on or in it. I never cared for avocados when I was younger but now I am pretty much obsessed. My new obsession has brought me to wonder what these green fruits are and how they benefit my health. After a little research I realized avocados have a lot more nutrition than I thought. They contain almost twenty nutrients and the omega three fatty acids, which are good but too much can cause weight gain. Also it is now known that eating avocados helps fight heart disease.

This sight provides more than enough information about avocados and their value.

www. avocado.org

My favorite recipe for avocados

-one full ripe avocado

-white vinegar

-extra virgin olive oil

-salt and pepper