You Are What You Eat

In recent cooking demonstrations, magazines and newspapers articles... I've noticed a huge push to really make people understand the importance of eating healthy and the direct impact on their health, and the environment.

One night during practice, my yoga instructor told us to "Remove the factory between you and your food." I guess you could say that I've been fortunate that my body rejects the chemical-ly food I try to put into it. I've sat on the floors of bathrooms, and have woken up in ill sweat in the middle of the night more times than I can count after drinking sodas sweetened with aspartame, sweet popcorn sweetened with sucralose, Bits and Bites and Cup O'Soup with ingredients you can't pronounce... the list is long. I say 'fortunate', as after having to deal with the effects of eating garbage (which is what it really is) it has made me think twice as to what I put in my mouth.

Last night, I was flipping through the January 2010 issue of the Martha Stewart magazine. There was a small book review for a new book: Food Rules by Michael Pollan... "If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't." It's a how-to manual for weaning oneself off the Western diet of processed foods, meat, sugar, fat. I made note of it, and continued with my magazine reading. I had an article to finish in October 2010 Vogue: Force of Nature, about a doctor who discovered the world's healthiest diets, and wrote a book about the therapeutic power of food, and how she prescribes recipes for such ailments as the common cold and depression. In the article it mentioned "Michael Pollan-ized foodies'! I had not heard about Michael Pollan before, and now twice in five minutes on two random magazines! Coincidence?

I've learnt so much about healthy eating, and how we have the power to control what we eat in order to feel good. All we need to remember is how the food made us feel after we ate it. There's the sick (not to mention guilty) feeling you have after consuming a bag of chips. Then there's the satisfying contentment in your belly after eating a yummy, nutritious meal. Maybe remembering this will help us all adopt a healthy eating lifestyle.

Michael Pollan - books
Dr. Daphne Miller