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(Photo: Marais Market, Paris RLW)

Ten Principals of Healthy Eating
(Adapted from “In Defense of Food,” Michael Pollan)


Avoid Food You Do Not Understand
Do not eat anything your great grandmother would not recognize. Avoid food products that have ingredients you do not understand, or more than five unrecognized ingredients, or high-fructose corn syrup.

Avoid Engineered Foods
Avoid food products that make claims. An apple does not need a label. Fresh food does not need supplements. Humans do not need food pyramids. Eat more plants and their leaves. That is where the antioxidants are.

Learn To Market – Buy Often – Buy Fresh
If you must shop at a supermarket, shop around its edges (fruit, vegetables, bread, cheeses, meats) and stay out of the middle where the engineered foods are. Find a bakery, butcher, fruit and vegetable stand and farmer’s market that you like. Shop fresher and more often. Make it a habit.

Know Your Food’s Origin – Buy Quality – Buy Variety
You are what you eat eats too. Be aware of where your meat, dairy, vegetables and fruit come from. Closer is better. Grass-fed is better. Antibiotic and steroid free is better. If you find something that is perfect, buy it in quantity and freeze it.

Buy Local – Buy Heritage, Organic, Wild and Artisan Foods
Eat well-grown foods from healthy soils. Ask. If they can’t tell you where it is from, don’t buy. There will be an organic farm near you. Call and ask about heritage fruits and vegetables, artisan meats and cheeses, and wild plants.

Emulate Cuisines That Endure – Be Informed
Eat more like the French, Italians, Japanese, Indians, Greeks, or Turks. Google their diets. Buy cookbooks. Use them. Be informed about nutrition. Pick a good multivitamin that fits you and take it, especially as you get older.

Dine Together and Talk
Dine together as a family. Dine at a dining table. Not in your car, or on a bar stool, or anywhere that is not receptive to the enjoyment of food over time. This is where you teach your children manners, behavior, patience, ethics, humor, values and build their character. Have a glass of wine with dinner. Take your time and practice the art of conversation.

Practice Moderation
Pay more for quality. Buy better food in smaller amounts, unless you are preserving or freezing. Spend the same by eating less and stabilize a healthy weight. Don’t look for a magic bullet in the traditional healthy diet. You keep a healthy weight through being active and eating in moderation.

Respect Your Mind and Body
Listen to your body. It tells you how it feels, what it craves and when you are abusing it. Your body is the organism that takes care of your brain. Do not abuse it. You can’t trade it in. Eat slowly. Try not to eat alone.

Learn to Cook
Be in control. Meet and talk to people who grow and raise your food. Make the connection. Plant a garden. Plant and keep herbs. Learn to cook and then cook. Preparing food for people you care about is an act of respect and love. Enjoy life!

Richard L. Wottrich