Eat Real Food. Period.

When Michael Pollan wrote his various food-related books (Food Rules most recently), he was trying to simplify the challenges we face when trying to select food for a healthy lifestyle.  While he provided some examples and more specific rules, his primary recommendation is:

“Eat food. Not too much.  Mostly plants.”

Simple enough. Right?  Well, yes and no.

For those that are happy with such a simple answer, then it is just that.  Your health will notably improve if you:

● Eat real food: Avoid food that makes health claims or has more than 5 ingredients.

● Not too much: Your body takes 20 minutes to recognize it is full and you know how much food you can eat in 20 minutes.  A lot!  So slow down and stop eating well before you feel full.

● Mostly plants: Meat and dairy are fine but can crowd out the fruits and veggies so make plants your focus.  Remember that your food is the sum of its parts and in consuming that food, you consume all the nutrients and toxins it consumed (this is especially important with meat).

For those that feel this is too simple and would like more guidance, here are some sources for you:

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan: Michael walks you through his reasoning and provides more specific detail to his three-part recommendation.

The Nourished Kitchen: For those that want to go all the way to making and grinding your own grains and taking the real food concept to the next level.  This blog is for you.  Not only does Jenny provide great recipes and tips for all, but also provided her readers the 28 Day Real Food Challenge which you can do yourself if so inclined.

Real Age: For a more personal experience, go to real age and take the real age test.  After the test, you can use the assessment to get free health and diet advice on the site along with doing other tests to further self-study.

Whatever you do.  Stop and think about what you eat and how it affects not only you, but also your family.  If you could change one thing today, what would it be?