Eat Food.

I recently read Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food. It is giving me just the push I needed toward eating more vegetables. I know I need to eat more veggies, of course. But I need to be hit over the head with it repeatedly, frightened by alarming facts, etc. etc.

I started down the path toward healthier eating after watching Food, Inc. a few years ago. If you haven’t seen that movie, see it. It will change your life, too. Then read In Defense of Food.

Actually, you don’t even need to read In Defense of Food if you don’t want to. Just abide by its simple manifesto. Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants.

When Michael Pollan says “eat food,” he means real food. Not the majority of “food products” sold in stores. Food that has five or fewer ingredients. Food that your great-grandmother would recognize.

Not too much = quality over quantity. If we are eating better (therefore, more expensive) food, we won’t eat as much. Bye, bye empty calories from crappy food. The better food tastes, the more satisfying it is, and the less we will need to feel full.

Plants are good for us. They contain antioxidants, omega-3, fiber, fewer calories…Pollan says scientists can’t even explain all of the reasons why they are just plain good for us.

If you have nothing to do on September 17, think about taking Slow Food USA’s $5 challenge and cooking a nice meal. Here’s a farmers’ market search engine.